Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls

21^st August 2012

After traveling and a late night, we had a bit of a lay in. The heat woke me up at 9am. Shifting the curtain to the side a little, the weather was lovely, no doubt it’ll be another scorcher. All of a sudden, to my left, I caught sight on someone. Sitting on a balcony area, staring straight at me was the English woman from last night, who we affectionately named “Pyscho Killer”. Dropping the curtain, I could still see a little from the slight in between the two. Surely enough she was still watching my window!

Fede made the sandwiches, I sorted the coffees and Hernan focused on staying awake.

Our hostel is a short walk from the bus terminal where you’ll find around 40 bus companies offering pretty much everything. Stopping off at a company called Rio Uruguay, we picked up our bus tickets to the Cataratas del Iguazu/Iguazu Falls. A return ticket will cost you 50 Argentinian pesos (US$10). It’s a short trip, about 20 minutes until you’re in the National Park.

Staff at Rio Uruguay warned us, well, me, about the price differences. His advice was for either Hernan or Fede to order the tickets and I stay well out of sight and keep quite. Why? I had no idea until we got to the National Park’s entrance. The price you pay is determined by your country of residence/origin.

Entrance Fees:

Argentina – 50 Argentinian Pesos (US$10 approx.)

Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil – 90 Argentinian Pesos (US$18 approx.)

Other Countries – 130 Argentinian Pesos (US$26 approx.)

I don’t know whether I was more shocked or insulted that the prices are displayed so freely. Unfortunately the plan didn’t work as we all had to show I.D. so I was felt to pay full whack. Of course, they thought it was great that they got in for a much cheaper price, on the other hand, I didn’t. It’s not the first time I’ve seen the discounted prices for Argentinians, but it is the first I’d experienced it. Argentina sure has a way of welcoming the tourists to their country – by biting the hand that helps feed them!

Once inside the National Park of Iguazu, the entrance fee was forgotten about. I’ll do my best to describe everything, but it won’t justify anything! Words can’t even begin to describe how amazing Iguazu Falls is.

Rather than taking the train, a free service, that runs you around the National Park, we decided to walk. It was a great choice! If you can walk, walk. You’ll miss out on so much if you do decide to take the train.

Hernan and Fede - Walking One of the Many Trails

Massive ant against Hernan's hand

As we were walking along one of the tracks to the lower falls, I spotted a massive ant. Living in Spain introduced me to large ants. This Iguazu ant made the Spanish ants look minuscule. It was easily an inch long with enormous curved nippers. You wouldn’t want to get bitten by one of those buggers, that’s for sure! 

We had our eyes peeled for exotic birds and animals. Tucans can often be found in the National Park but hard to spot. The same goes for monkies. Coati’s are as common as grey squirrels in England. 

Walking the Upper Trail

Salto Escondido, Salto San Martin and Salto Mbigua

. Upper Trail

Coming to a junction we decided to walk the 650 metre Upper Trail. You’re just above the waterfalls and get a great sense of how high the waterfalls actually are. It may be a bit hairy if you’re scared of heights. We got a great views of Salto Dos Hermanas, Salto Chico, Salto Ramirez, Salto Bossetti, Salto Eva, Salto Adan and Salto Bernabe Mendez from above. From the Upper Trail you can also see Salto Mbigua, Salto San Martin and Salto Escondido. Having said that, it’s not the best place to see the last three falls. That’s down on the Lower Trail.

Watching the greeny water pelt down the water fall, crashing down into a huge mist-like cloud of water is unbelievably amazing. You don’t realize how high up, yet so close to the crest of the waterfall, you are until you are there.

Around the paths is a jungle like area where the birds perch themselves onto a branch and watch you. Obviously used to the people constantly milling around the waterfalls, it was so easy to get close and take photos. Unfortunately, I don’t know the name in English, but one of the most common exotic birds we saw was the Urraca Común. The Urraca Común was far more intrigued by us!

Urraca Común

Crossing the bridge to start the Lower Trail, we saw a small crowd of people staring up into the trees suspended over the river. A little boy had spotted a Grand Tucan. According to the Parque Nacional Iguazu guide pamphlet Grand Tucans “are the centre of attention during the early hours of the morning and early evening.” We were visiting in the middle of the day so we were obviously quite lucky to spot one.

Grand Tucan (Hernan's Photo)

Heading down the Lower Trail which directed us towards Salto Dos Hermanas, Salto Chico, Salto Alvar Nuñez and Salto Lanusse. The trail is approximately 1,400 metres and takes roughly two hours to get around. This time, you’re either midway down the waterfalls or further along the trail, right at the base.

Right at the end of the Lower Trail is Salto Ramirez. It’s a great photo opportunity (if you have a waterproof camera). Be prepared to get soaked as you are only a couple of metres away from the waterfall’s base. You are literally at the edge of the water cloud provided by the waterfall chute crashing into the pool below. It’s surprising just how loud it is too. Absolutely incredible!

Hernan & Fede at Salto Dos Hermanas

Base of Salto Dos Hermanas

Can You Spot Us?

Along the lower trail, about midway along, there’s a fantastic stop off point with an outstanding panoramic view of the waterfalls. The scale of the waterfalls, amount of water gushing down the chutes into a mist of spray is absolutely immense. You can’t help but gawk at the sight and sheer size of it all!

Next we made our way down the Macuco Trail, a 7,000 metre path towards Salto Arrechea. The twin waterfalls, both approximately 20 metres high, are the lowest point of Iguazu. The guide book says (this is a rough translation): “For a millennia, here were the falls which were retreating to its current location by erosion of the river bed. Today the area has several courses of water flowing in the Iguazu River.”

Salto Arrechea on theMacuco Trail

Along the Lower Trail

Stopping for something to eat, we became a huge point of interest for the coatis. There are warnings everywhere about not feeding the coatis and that the animal, from the raccoon family, can give you nasty bites. The coatis are cute looking and many people wrongly mistake them for being friendly creatures, especially as they are so fearless coming up to you. The coatis will obviously think you are a harm to them if you try to grab hold of one and attack. The results, as shown on the warning boards through the park, can be nasty!!

As soon as food is about, along come the coatis, herding towards you. All three of us had to get up from the bench to stop the coatis trying to climb up us to grab our food. Coatis will literally steal the food right out of your hand and rummage around your bag with their long slim noses, dragging out anything that might be of interest!

While standing up eating, we had to keep waving a foot around to keep the coatis at bay. It was absolutely hilarious! Hernan made out I had a coati crawling up my back by padding his hands up me, before grabbing my arm. Obviously, I let out a high pitched, girly scream - much to everyone’s amusement haha!

Coatis sniffing around for food (Hernan's Photo)

 

Coatis

Featured in the guide is a small leaflet about being careful while walking around Iguazu National Park. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any pumas or jaguars, could you imagine that? That would be fantastic! The advice the guide gives you is “look it (the animal) in the eyes and don’t run away” – as if you could outrun a wild cat!

If you encounter an aggressive animal, it suggests you “do whatever you can to make yourself appear bigger by standing on a rock (but don’t climb a tree) and raise your hands above your head”. Should the animal attack you “push it away from you as hard as possible”. It’s always good to know what you should do in case a puma or jaguar attacks you!

There are a large amount of snakes around the park, but we didn’t get to see one. We were lucky enough to not spot a spider. Quite honestly, if I’d have spotted a beasty looking spider, I’d have run in the opposite direction crying!! Such is my fear of spiders! The advice for finding a spider or snake “don’t touch it” and in case you are looking to find either “don’t put your hand into hollows”. Finally, “if you get bitten, please make your way to the medical centre”.

Back on track, while walking towards the station to get a train to the Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo), hawk-eyed Hernan caught sight of a monkey in the trees. They are incredibly hard to spot, but also a rare find. Usually the monkey travel in packs but as far as we could see, this monkey was climbing and jumping from branch to branch on its own. 

This particular monkey we saw was a “Mono Caí” and is only one of four species found in Argentina. Cai monkeys live on a diet of mainly fruits but also some insects and occasionally chicks.

Arriving at the station, we sadly found out we’d missed the last train to Garganta del Diablo by five minutes. It was only 16.00 and we thought we’d have had enough time to get around the entire park before it closed at 18.00. Unfortunately not, and it was too far to walk because of the National Park’s closing time. Instead, we had a bit of a mooch around and popped into the Iguazu National Park Museum.

At around 17.00 we decided to call it a day and head back to our accommodation. As plans have been vague and determined by Eve and her friend, who aren’t even with us yet, I thought we might be able to get a chance to come back tomorrow to go up to Devil’s Throat. That wasn’t possible as Hernan informed me we would be traveling to Foz do Iguacu on the Brazilian side to meet the girls.

It’s such a shame we didn’t make it to Garganta del Diablo, but overall it was an absolutely fantastic day! If you haven’t been to Iguazu Falls, it’s a real must see! We spent around 6 hours wandering around the National Park, taking photos and enjoying the sights!

All Together Now: Me, Fede & Hernan

Fede & Hernan at Salto Alvar Nuñez

Back at the hostel, we all got an update on what is going on. Turns out Eve cannot get to Argentina because her visa and temporary passport will only allow her access to her next country, so she chose Brazil. Ideally, the idea of the temporary passport is to get you home, isn’t it? So, as I said before, Hernan has decided that tomorrow we are traveling over to the Brazilian side. To be honest, I’m unsure of what’s going on as there is so much more to do and see on the Argentinian side and wouldn’t mind staying longer. The lads however seem to be chasing two girls around like lost puppies. Incredibly frustrating from an outsider/girl’s point of view!

I’ve started to feel ill, maybe I’ve had too much sun today or it’s from the air conditioning?

During the evening, Hernan received a message from Image stating they wouldn’t be having him back for another contract. Image fire you three weeks into your vacation? No warning, no notice, just BOOM! Bye bye! He will, however, get his deposit back as he finished his contract. Hernan seems over the moon, but jobs are few and far between in Argentina so it’s a bit worrying what he might do now. Until the time comes to find another job, Hernan is more than happy celebrating being “free from Image”. If that’s the case… then let the party begin!

More photos will be added to my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ticklephotography and my Flickr account: www.flickr.com/lou_tickle