Day 6. 8th Sept. Iguazu Falls – Argentinian side.
Up at stupid o’clock to head off to Iguazu. Why stupid o’clock? Because we were on the Brazilian side and had to go back to the Argentinian side for our day at the falls. So 2 ½ hours driving to the Argentinian side, through immigration etc.
It was raining. Fairly hard. Persistent rain AKA Pissing Down.
Iguazu – is made up of 275 separate cascades, making it the largest broken waterfall in the world. It’s a chain of waterfalls falling from the Rio Iguazu.
The Argentina side is a high flat plain. With the river running across it. A lake with a massive amount of water.
A “ train” took us a few km into the jungle and dropped us at the trailhead for “Estacion Garganta Del Diablo “ – The Devils Cauldron. A huge ‘U’ shaped canyon where much of the 1,756 m3/s flows over.
The Brazilian side is down below where the tectonic plate had just dropped.
Off we headed on the amazing steel raised boardwalk. Well it was amazing when I was here years ago. Today it was so slippery. People did fall. But what a beautiful walk.
You could hear Diablo roaring from a distance.
It was amazing. Saw some of the giant catfish and a number of raptor birds.
After going back we headed off on another walk – the Lower Trail. This tracked along the side of the canyon with amazing views. Of so many waterfalls. An uncountable amount. We saw a few Toucans on this walk.
And then the adrenaline packed jet boat ride.They didn’t tell us in the advertising that doing it from this side involved 300 stairs. Each way! Steep, wet and slippery.
But first we did the 25 min trip through the jungle in a truck.
We were totally soaked at this stage. Well so we thought.
We geared up with dry bags and life jackets and off we went.
Slipping and sliding through the rapids was fun. The rain was still falling hard. Like needles into our eyes.
We went right up into the bottom of Del Diablo. Under a few of the falls. Insane amounts of water dumped onto us.
There was not a part of you left dry. And water didn’t just dribble in under your poncho. Buckets and buckets of it wet every part of us. It was pooling in our seats and undies, rushing down our fronts. But due to the cold rain all day and the wind, the falls were like a warm shower.
Then back up the stinking stairs. And into the truck. We saw more birds – vultures, a turkey thing and more toucans. Also some large orange deer.
And don’t forget, back into the bus for the 2 ½ hour rip back to the Brazilian side – through immigration etc.
Day 7. 9th Sept. Iguazu Falls – Brazilian side.
We got to sleep in today. Didn’t have to be in the bus, with suitcases until 8 am! And off to the Brazilian side we went. It was still raining.
We did the walk there where we walked along the low side of the drop off for a different view. Amazing.
It’s hard to comprehend that much water. Many stairs of course. But again worth it. And yay. We saw Coatimundi’s.
And as we were leaving – a tiny bit of blue sky peaked out.
Some of us were going for a chopper ride. We had been told the flights were canceled due to the rain, but by lunch time the rain stopped and the clouds lifted enough for us to go.
And it was amazing. So lucky to have gone up.
Wow Iguazu. You are amazing. No wonder it’s now one of the “7 Natural Wonders of the World”.
It was then off to the airport for our flight to Rio. Rio De Janeiro. We arrived in the evening and went to our hotel. WOW. Right on Copacabana Beach. From my room I could look left and see THE beach, and right to Christ the Redeemer up on his hill.