As the plane touched down and the door opened we instantly felt the stinking heat and humidity. We're now in jungle land...good for the complexion!
No matter how you spell it, Iguazu Falls, Iguazú Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil, however, most of the falls are on the Argentinian side.
Short story long, the name "Iguazu" comes from the Guarani words "y", meaning "water", and "ûasú ", meaning "big". Legend has it that a deity planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a rage, the deity sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to record the existence of the falls was the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541. Our guide Diego told us that when Álvar first saw the enormity of the falls he yelled "Santa Maria" and for the first years the Falls was known as the Santa Maria Falls....we had to wonder what the name could have been had he exclaimed something else, like Holy F***! instead. WTF (Wow Terrific Falls)!
Once established, we caught a local bus, again, cheap by our standards at 50 cents per person, and headed for the great divide between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina (Hito de Las Tres Fronteras). We stood in Argentina and snapped pics of all countries. It was hot in the shadiest of places but great vistas.
Our hotel was nice, with a bonus rooftop pool, which many places here have. We arranged to have dinner there with new friends Steve and Val from Stonebridge, whom we met on the ship and who were, coincidentally, staying in our place as well.
The next two days were fun! We toured the Argentinian side of the falls with Diego and the Brazilian side the following day with Eduardo, both excellent tours but very different.
In Argentina we walked to and around the falls and chose an option to do a jungle safari jeep trek followed by a high speed boat to the heart of the falls. The safari was something we would have skipped but the boat made up for it in spades! In preparation for the boat to the falls they issue everyone with a waterproof bag for your belongings... and after an uneventful trip down the river we came upon the first massive falls. At this point, the guide advised to put everything away after we snapped a few last shots before our impending doom. Hearts thumped as we sped right into the water wall, millions of gallons of water just pounding down and you realize the enormity and power of it all. On regaining our breath our driver asked if we wanted to go again, to a resounding "Uno mas" as we turned and headed back in. We were recovering from the second drenching and the guide asked once more if we wanted to go again, and again the response was the same.
Except, this time the driver turned the boat, hit the gas and we moved over to the biggest part of the river and the Devil's Throat. Without hesitation the boat rammed full-throttle into the mammoth falls! It was so awesome, it just takes your breath away and you just throw your arms up into the air and take it all in. We looked like drowned rats, but it was just an amazing experience. Speaking of rats, did I mention they consider Guinea pig a delicacy in Peru?
The followin morning, we packed our bags and left our Argentinian friends and were picked up by Eduardo, a nice happy guy, for a private tour of Brazilian side and shuttle to the airport. Oddly, you drive through customs at the border, stop, park and bring your papers in for inspection. We didn't even go in, just stayed in the car and happened to run into people we had met in transit so got to chatting as our driver shuffled our papers... fellow Canucks from Kemptville, Judy and Dave, who actually used to live in our street. The world is shrinking.
The Brazilian side was very organized in comparison to the other, and the park well-maintained and manicured. We took a train to the starting lookout point and progressed on foot through to the falls. Such an impressive array. One review I read had said, "How many times can you say 'Wow' in three hours?" The pictures just don't do it justice. You just have to see it.
There's always a party pooper and coati, a relative of the raccoon, run amok and overpopulate the parks. They wander around oblivious to our presence, in one case a woman had her empanada stolen right out of her hand as she ate when she looked the other way. We even saw a coati crap in one of the outdoor restaurant chairs! The nerve! Some people were petting them, but with babies around and signs warning of the dangers of being gnawed we kept our distance. We didn't see any monkeys. One clever cayman was hanging out in the cool water - he had the right idea.
At the Iguazu airport the crew noticed that our luggage was 10K overweight, and levied an additional cost $174,90 ($79.57 CDN). Thus began what we refer to as the luggage shuffle and garbage toss. Ironically, I asked a flight attendant nearby what we were allowed and turns out the limit is 5 LITRES each on domestic flights so I was left carrying two 40 ouncers of Canadian Club Maple Whiskey, a bottle of red and a few beers and the damned Panama hat which just may not make the next carry on. I'm jamming it in a box. Hah.
On to Rio!
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