Thurs., 1/3/13 - Iguazu, Argentina
We spent today in Parque Nacional Iguazu, which is the Argentinian side of the Falls. First we rode the cute narrow gage railroad from Central Station to Garganta del Diablo Station, which is closest to the walkway overlooking the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo). There seemed to be more water flowing today than yesterday and the roar and the mist and spray were tremendous. We got quite wet, but at 95° F it felt good. On the grate-like walkway we saw large catfish in the muddy water below us and a three-foot long broad-nose caiman. After a long look at the falls we rode the train back to the Cataratas Station and walked the Yellow Trail out to view Bossetti and San Martin Falls. They are all big water! We ate a planned menu lunch at El Fortin Restaurant in the Park.
Iguazu Falls - Argentinian side - National Park sign
Park logo
Map of the Argentinian Park
Guide's Mate drink in a traditional calabash gourd
Train to the falls
Calm water before the falls
Above the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo)
Above the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo)
Above the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo)
The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo)
The Devil's Throat
Brazilian falls next to The Devil's Throat
The Devil's Throat
The Devil's Throat
Old walkway to the Devil's Throat
Caiman sunning in the upper center of the picture
New walkway to the Devil's Throat
We liked the grammar
Plush-crested jay
A moving Capuchin monkey
After lunch we got into clothes that could get wet and walked the pathways down river from the Devil's Throat. Along the way we were on a level with the top of many of the falls and passed the base of many others.
Argentinian falls
Argentinian falls
Argentinian falls
Iguazu River
San Martin falls
Salto Bossetti falls
San Martin Falls
Eventually we arrived down at river level at the boat dock to board our boat for a trip into the falls. We put our backpacks into dry bags and put on serious life vests, supplied by the boating concession, and boarded a high powered 40-seat boat. We went up toward Devil's Throat to get wet in the spray and then back to San Martin and got totally drenched. It was a very wet and wild ride. Looking at the falls from the bottom may be more impressive than looking from the top. The volume of water is tremendous. We ended by going through some Class III rapids downstream from the falls. Soaking wet, we walked up a bunch of stairs to get on an open truck for a ride through the "jungle." It was tame and we saw no animals or birds. It did, however, transport us back up to the top to where we had had lunch and we met the rest of our group – those who had not braved the boat ride. We got back on our bus, not entirely dry, and bused back to our hotel. The shower felt wonderful!
Boat dock on the right
Boaters
Boaters going into the falls
Departure platform
San Martin Falls - from water level
San Martin Falls - from water level
San Martin Falls - from water level
Into the falls
Into the falls - this was seriously WET
"Jungle Safari" and train
Fri., 1/4 & 5/13 - Iguazu to Buenos Aires to Lima to Los Angeles to Denver
Our flight on Lan Air to Buenos Aires (1 1/2 hours) was delayed, so Marge and I had less than an hour at the Bel Air Hotel in Buenos Aires to repack our suitcases and change into warmer clothes for the trip home. We had a nice taxi driver take us to the international airport and waited 40 minutes to check in, even though we had boarding passes. Then we found out the flight to Lima was delayed an hour and a half.
We flew 4 1/2 hours to Lima and 9 more hours to LA and 2 1/2 hours to Denver. Nearly 18 hours in airplanes is getting more common as we look for new adventures around the world!
A snow-filled driveway greeted us on our return to Estes Park but a little bit of shoveling and the all-wheel drive Subaru quickly took care of the problem.
On this trip we visited Buenos Aires on the east side of Argentina and Bariloche on the west side in Patagonia. Then we toured subpolar Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of south America before going to Antarctica. When we came back to Argentina we flew to Buenos Aires and then to Iguazu in subtropical northern Argentina. We kind of feel like we have been around the world with these varied experiences. Walking on Antarctica was definitely the highlight, but Bariloche was an adventure, and the Iguazu Falls were magnificent.