Iguazu Falls - Part 1

So Iguazu Falls is always listed as one of the major highlights of South America, and I've often seen it listed as the most impressive waterfalls in the world, so I was a tad sceptical of all the hype. But even though I try hard to avoid overusing superlatives, I have to say that the entire falls system is in my opinion the single most awe inspiring natural wonder I have ever seen. All the mad facts and figures for the falls are on Wikipedia here (including an interesting comparison with other falls around the world), so no point in reiterating them here, but needless to say it all adds up to one hell of a show. My overall impression was enhanced no end by the suberb infrastructure that the Argentinians have constructed to allow tourists get so incredibly close to some of the major individual waterfalls.

It really is just one of those life experiences which no amount of writing, or photos or even video clips can ever hope to capture - I really think it's something that must be experienced personally (if I ever have kids the only place in the world so far I'd really recommend them to see before they die would be Iguazu Falls!). The shear force of the water is unbelievable, and the whole spectacle really is, in every sense of the phrase, awe inspiring. The beautiful natural forest setting is just another bonus.

So the whole day was spent just strolling around the whole park complex, including using a small train line with three stops along it's length, and a very short ferry trip to a natural island in the middle of the whole thing (that had the best views of the hugely powerful San Martin waterfall, my personal favorite). Although often listed as the most spectacular waterfall in the whole system, the "Garganta del Diablo" was fantastic, but due to the constant spray of mist churned up by the volume of water, you couldn't see the bottom, and so all the water just seemed to disappear into an endless abyss. But it was still great to stand literally right on the edge of this massive waterfall, get well and truly soaked and if you hung around long enough you'd catch the odd glimpse of the river below (and watch the hundreds of swifts that somehow live behind the falls themselves).

With so many trails and walkways to navigate it took us the entire day from early morning to see just about all of it, and obviously I was stopping regularly to soak up the spectacle from every angle. Although it is supposed to be shoulder season now (although I'd timed it not be a weekend), I never found the place crowded, and we often had entire viewing platforms all to ourselves (if a platform was getting sprayed from the water then people would run in, take a posy photo or two and then run away (even if they had rain capes), but I never minded getting wet, it's all part of the experience really, so by simply waiting a few minutes a platform would often be deserted for a few minutes at least.

Even more kudos goes to the Argentinians for offering a second day in the park for half-price, an offer I wasn't going to forego. It was great to get back the second day, as the weather was a bit better and the volume of water seemed a little higher due to rain the evening before. It also gave us the chance to stroll around a bit more leisurely, as we now knew our way around. It also meant we could hike along an easy but long trail we hadn't had time to do the day before, and although we hoped to spot a toucan or two we didn't see much life really, but the forest was lovely and peaceful, with very few people. I wish now I'd taken the opportunity to go back for a second visit to Victoria Falls when we were there - strangely that experience seems a bit of a blur now, and so it's hard for me objectively compare the two waterfall systems now (hopeful looking at the photos of Vic Falls when I get home will refresh my memory!).

So after another long, tiring day it was time to head back. I decided to hike the short forest trail back to the park entrance, although initially Sarah wanted to get the train back. I told her I'd meet her back at the entrance so, but then she decided to do the hike too (although she moaned a bit as usual about being tired). Just before the end of the trail we spotted a small group of people up ahead obviously looking at something up in the trees. At first I thought it was probably a beautiful, but common, bird we'd seen many times over the past couple of days, but it turned out to be a toucan. It was something I'd hoped to see for the entire two days, they really are mad looking birds, just like the ones on all those old Guinness posters, and I was really chuffed to have gotten such a good view of this one (although I hadn't time to get any photos before it flew off). It struck me though as another great example of how you get 'lucky' only by giving yourself the opportunity to get 'lucky' - in other words, if I'd been lazy I could have just gotten the train back with Sarah, but although I was tired too, I really wanted to spot a wild toucan, and so I perservered by doing one last hike, and lo-and-behold we get to spot a wild toucan.

During that second day we kept passing a Scottish couple, and on the bus back to the town we met them again. It turned out they had found an even better accommdation deal than we had, so when we got back to the town we checked out their place.