Back on the Road: Iguazu Falls

It's official: we are back on the road again. A 16 hour overnight bus ride took us from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu. Our mission was to check out the famous Iguazu Falls.

Puerto Iguazu is on the border with Brazil and Paraguay. There is an overlook outside of the town where you can see both countries just across the river.

In the photo below, Brazil is directly behind us and Paraguay is on the left. This is the point where two rivers meet. You can't tell in the picture, but one river is blue and the other one is brown. It was kind of fun to watch them meet and see the colors blend.

On our first full day in Puerto Iguazu, we woke up, ready to see the falls. However, Mother Nature had other plans for us. It was pouring rain. We accepted that we would have to wait another day to see the spectacular sight of the falls. It is at times like these that we are glad that we have no fixed itinerary. It was no problem to wait out the weather. (plus our hostel had about 200 movies and the German girls staying there picked out some fun chick flicks. I was a happy girl!)

The following day was sunny and clear. It was worth the wait! We walked on a trail to get there and you could hear the roar of the falls from a couple of miles away. You could also see where the mist was being thrown up into the air. The first glimpse of the falls was breathtaking.

There is a whole lot of water falling over those falls. 3 times wider than Niagra, 275 waterfalls make the roaring leap into the river below. For your reference, I have included a photo of a sign comparing famous waterfalls of the world. From left to right, it shows the name of the falls, which river it comes from, the country, height in meters, and volume of water in meters cubed per second.

A great part about the park is that there are walkways and balconies to get different views of the falls. It seems like there is water spouting out from everywhere.

I should mention that when we went, the water level was four times higher than usual, due to heavy rains. This caused a great deal of flooding that closed some of the walkways and tour options, including the ferry ride. Below, you can see a dock that is completely under water from the floods.

I'll just let the photos do the talking.

On a few of the walkways, we enjoyed a moderate soaking from the mist!

Since the falls are in the jungle, we took a hike in search of wildlife. I really had my heart set of seeing some toucans. We failed in that adventure but saw other really cool birds.

Coatis also made an appearance. They were quite bold!

On one nature trail, we came across two monkey families. This made us happy. It had been awhile since we had seen monkeys and these appeared to be a different kind. I liked their fuzzy ears.

After our nature hikes, we walked on the balconies again. The shining sun created spectacular rainbows in front of the falls! Beautiful.

Below is a photo of the most famous part of Iguazu Falls, La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). When the water level is normal, you can apparently see this attraction. With the high water levels, we could only see the mist. The balconies to walk close to La Garganta were under water so this was as close as we got. I wasn't disappointed that we couldn't go because we got to see the falls in a unique state. It was fun that it looked different from all of the postcards and photos we see online.

It was an amazing trip to the falls. The day was capped off by a toucan sighting on the bus ride home. Bonus!