In Search of a Wonder: Iguazu Falls

We were honourably discharged from the Oceania Regatta in Buenos Aires (BA) early Monday, March 17, 2014 but we would only be in that city for a few hours. We left the pier at 8:30 AM and had a domestic flight to catch to Iguazu Airport in northeastern Argentina. Thus we would begin the 2014 Argentina Land Tour. We had a very busy schedule over the next three nights and four days and it would start with a thorough exploration of Iguazu Falls.

Everything we would be doing over the remaining time we had was arranged through a tour compnay called Andes Drifters out of North Caroline and they did an excellent job of looking after us. Normally they cater to fly  fisherman from the U.S. and Canada that go to fly fish in Patagonia but a friend of mine said they could handle anything that we wanted to do in Argentina and they did.

We were met at the pier by Carlos who was our main contact in BA. He and a driver picked us up on time at the pier and drove us to the domestic airport to catch the flight to Iguazu. Carlos guided us through the airport, acting as our interpreter and only left us when we had our boarding passes in hand and were headed through security. We would see Carlos again the next day when we returned from the falls.

Argentina Aerolineas has attractive, young stewardesses but after we strapped in and took off we never saw them again until the conclusion of one of my most bumpy 737 plane rides I'd experienced. The cabin crew was not allowed to take their seat-belts off. That would have been fine if it wasn't for the barrel roll the pilot wanted us to try just before landing.  Luckily the wings stayed attached to the plane. Excitement over, we rolled our carry-on through the baggage area and Marcos was there waiting for us. Marcos was our guide for the next 24 hours. Within minutes we were in a car and on our way to a the Loi Suites Hotel to unwind our scrambled nerves after that memorable 2-hour ride up from BA.

lobby of the Loi Suites in Iguazu

looking down over the restaurant and pool

our room, with nice high ceilings

foot bridges between the buildings of the hotel
though the middle of the subtropical rainforest

jacuzzi on the fourth floor deck at canopy level of the forest

The next day (Tuesday, March 18), Marcos picked us up at the hotel to begin an intensive exploration of the park. We were to hike all three major foot paths above and below the falls and enjoy a boat trip into the base of two main parts of the falls that day. We would also ride in a truck and a train that had been built to get people from one area to the next through the rain forrest. It was a full day but we were rewarded with excellent views of the various parts of the falls and plenty of wildlife. The park itself is a clean, modern facility that tends to the needs of thousands of tourists per day but I think they are also doing a good job of protecting the unique environment surrounding the falls. Let's face it, most South American countries have a poor track record protecting these very rich ecosystems.

Near the front entrance, you can see how nice and well maintained
the park is notwithstanding thousands of visitors per day

Our entire exploration of the park was only from the Argentinian side but Argentina actually has more trails and claims more of the actually falls and cataracts inside its borders. On our return trip we will see what it looks like from the Brazilian side. The falls themselves are one of the new Seven Natural Wonder of the world. Now that we've seen Iguazu, Victoria and Niagara, two conclusions can be made; the first is that Iguazu bumps out Victoria just slightly as the most impressive of the three and the other is that Niagara is such an embarrassment because of the carnival that has been allowed to be built right up to the river's edge.

Mrs. Gym took these next shots from the Upper Trail:

This is one of our first views from the Upper trail. You can see another part of the
trail that we would be standing on later as we made our way along the excellent steel pathway that crosses
each section of the falls to the islands thats separate them.

This is a shot along a number of the individual cataracts from the Upper Trail

Some cataracts fall to an intermediate area and then fall again to the bottom of the gorge.

We are on the walkway here, looking over the edge

An alligator near the edge of the falls

Viewing the Lower Trail from the Upper Trail

This is a Coati stading on it's hind legs. It is a skinnier member of the raccoon
family. It has a longer narrow nose.

The Lower Trail:

Looking up at the Upper Falls trail from the Lower Falls

I think Marcos called this an Oka. I need to do some research for the scientific name.
There are 450 species of birds here so it might take me a while to peg this down for you.

A coati in the tree. Nice shot Mrs. Gym.

Another shot looking up at the Upper Falls from the Lower Falls.

Marcos, our Iguazu guide, at the Lower Falls.

We would ride this boat up underneath the falls.

The boats go right into the spray from the cascading falls.

Look!

We spotted this little guy just before we got on the boat....

...this guy too....

The oat Ride:

Our ride awaits!

A shot from the boat.

Another nice shot before the camera got too wet.

The starting point of the trail to the Devil's Throat is reached by traveling by a natural gas powered train from near the entrance to the park. You then hike out 1.1 kilometres over the elevated steel walkway the stretches the entire way to an excellent viewpoint where you are looking right into the Devil's Throat.

The walkway to the Devil's Throat.

You can see the re-inforced cement pilings which support the trail.

Here is a good shot of Devil's Throat but as you can see we are getting soaked.

This is the Devil's Throat. Unfortunately, it is so wet there photography is difficult.  When standing above the Devil's Throat where water is flowing in from three sides and you can hardly talk to each other, you understand why this is one of the new Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

We would return to BA that night. The plane ride was thankfully smooth and upon arrival we were taken from the airport to downtown BA and checked into the Fur Seasons Hotel by our friend Carlos, the BA guide. Tomorrow would be another busy day. We were going to play some polo and attend a Tango Show.