Argentinian Iguazu

  Iguazu National Park, Litoral, Argentina Sunday, June 6, 2016

We were up very early today as we were going back to Iguazu Falls. The falls lie on a river that separate Argentina and Brasil, with 80% of it lying in Argentina.  So today it was time to visit the other side and we were told we needed a full day for it as it is so much bigger. Passports in hand - off we went. We had elected to take an organised bus trip as although it is possible to get there by public bus, it's just hassle and takes longer. For only an extra £2 each, this bus would take us all the way saving time changing buses and not having to stop every mile to pick up/drop off, and they do the whole immigration thing for us. Ultimately giving us longer at the falls. Perfect! Also waiting for the bus at the meeting point was a young French couple who had spent the last two years working in French Guyana. Well they had some stories about that we can tell you. Not going to put that on our list of places to go now for sure! Angie & Viktor were really nice and we chatted to them at the back of the bus all the way to the falls. Angie was actually from Vanuatu and we had never met anyone who actually came from there before. Immigration went smoothly - as the driver does this trip every day during high season he knows what to do to get us through immigration quickly, and we arrived at the entrance to the park about an hour later. He provided maps of the park, outlined the best routes so we would see more and gave us the rules - basically be back at the entrance by 5 or I leave you here. Not 20 past 5, not 5 past 5 - it's 5 o'clock. Ok. So we paid our entrance again (bit more expensive on this side) and set off up the long winding footpaths with Angie & Viktor. On this side too were the billy bumblers that had been on the Brasilian side. It was nice to see them again although the warning signs about not feeding them were a bit stronger and a bit more graphic here. Definitely not as cute as they look. Their real name is a Coati (say co-at-i) but we will stick to calling them billy bumblers. First stop was for coffee. Trouble was nowhere was open at this early hour but eventually we found a little snack type place where we could get a cup of tea - and a coffee for the Frenchies - and all charge up our batteries. Refreshed, we all walked on together towards the falls. There are different routes you can take and we decided to take the advice of our bus driver and start with the lower route. Eventually we came to the start of the falls. Just little ones at first but the further we walked, the bigger they got. Apparently there are 260 separate places where the water drops and together form the largest waterfalls in the world. Walking on this side on the falls, we were walking along the top of them whereas on the Brasilian side we were walking almost along the bottom of the cliff face that the river lay along. So from up here we had a very different perspective. Some of the waterfalls were like natural infinity pools as we looked out over the top of the drop but we knew this was no illusion - there really was a 100ft drop over the edge. The highlight of our day came around 12:00. We had tickets for a boat ride - just a 12 1/2 minute ride but we were really looking forward to it. Jody had remembered to bring along two rain ponchos for us to help a little bit towards keeping us dry but we weren't that confident about them keeping us very dry really. Poor old Viktor & Angie had nothing so Viktor went on the scrounge to get a poncho somebody had already used and Angie - brave little Angie, just zipped up her jacket and said "oh well - I've brought some spare clothes with me". Bryan made a fabulous video of our boat trip Actually the rain ponchos kept us pretty dry - we still got a few wet patches but we certainly escaped the worst of it. Unlike Angie who had to completely change all her clothes - she was drenched. But still laughing. We continued to enjoy the company of Angie & Viktor for the rest of the day.  After lunch we took the train up to the very top and The Devils Throat  (how many Devil's Throats are there in South America?) which lay at the very end of the trail. We have to say this was definitely the most dramatic part of the falls. The noise, the power of the water was just immense. We are told that half of all the water that passes through these waterfalls, passes through the Devils throat so you can just imagine the incredible volume of water and the noise. Trying to describe it feels almost impossible and probably only the people who have actually been there themselves can understand the sense of power we are trying to convey. Well we had a fabulous day out and it was so nice to have company for the day too. So often it is just the two of us - which is great - but having company is a bit of a treat for us. It is definitely one of our top recommendations for Argentina and Brasil and we are so glad we took the time to visit both sides - very different and nice in their own way But this side is the side we shall remember most. It's definitely more dramatic - and considerably wetter!