counterclockwise

OK, wow.

The Iguazú Falls are every bit as impressive as advertised. It’s not just one big waterfall - there are dozens, any one of which would be a star attraction at another nature reserve. I lucked into great weather. Enough sun for rainbows, enough clouds for a bit of drama, chilly enough for clambering up steep stairs, and warm enough to enjoy getting drenched along the way.

For visa reasons, the Argentine side was way more accessible to me than the Brazilian side. Fine by me - Argentinos got the lion’s share of the view.

I started out on the lower circuit trails, getting up close with smaller side falls like Salto Bossetti, which was almost too bright to behold when the sun hit the spray.

Then I took the boat (included with park admission of 60 Argentine pesos, about $16 USD) to San Martin island. Lots of wildlife, and then there was this:

Those big falls drop into a tight little channel and send up huge plumes of spray as they churn down to the river below.

And then from the Upper Circuit you get a broader, more tranquil view of the falls and river that feeds them.

But all the ones so far are just the small fry. The park’s star attraction is the Garganta del Diablo, the Devil’s Throat. This is a U-shaped shelf of rock where an incomprehensible volume of water plunges down from the main channel of the Iguazú River. It doesn’t really photograph well:

You walk over a footbridge to get to its head. The only way to see the bottom is to jump off, and believe me that’d give you a brief glimpse at best. As I crossed the bridge over, it was raining. When I crossed back, it was not. But I couldn’t tell you when the rain stopped - I’ve stood in showers less drenching than the viewpoint as a windy weather front blew in. So you mainly just have to experience it. The noise, the spray, and the grandeur of it all.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Travel, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.