Iguazu Falls round two

To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, on seeing the Iguazu Falls: 'Poor Niagara'. If you come to South America at all, you have to drop in and see this natural wonder. The first lady was right. Iguazu is taller than Niagara, and it's 275 cascades are twice as wide. I came to South America for a whirlwind month about two years ago, which included a visit to some of the continent's highlights: Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, a few days in Buenos Aires, and of course the Falls. These gems were one of the reasons I came back for an extended period of time, as I regretted rushing through and only seeing a tiny piece of some amazing places. I've digressed. Back to Iguazu.

Jules was really keen to see the Falls on her visit, and I had no second thoughts about hopping on a bus and going for a second time. We had planned to do both the Brazilian and Argentinean sides in two days and one night, but after our seven hour "roadworks" delay, we had to extend it to two nights.

This meant two nights in the not-so-exciting Puerto Iguazu which has seriously no purpose other than as a pit-stop for the Falls (sorry Puerto Iguazuans). We did, however, make the most of our first night in this uninspiring town by eating great meat and drinking good wine, perhaps a little too much of the good wine. With benefit of alcohol, we put faith in our friendly waiter who said he'd take us to a club up the road. Unfortunately, all faith was lost when the club turned out to have closed hours before, so we chose bed over his idea of fun which was walking the deserted streets in search of beer. Thanks for the memories Puerto Iguazu.

The next morning we pulled ourselves out of bed (some may or may not have popped a few panadols), searched the streets far and wide for breakfast, and headed to the Argentinean side of the Falls. Here, we invested in the 'Grand Adventure Tour' which included a jeep tour through the surrounding rainforest and a boat ride. To be honest, I didn't get a great deal out of the rainforest part. We followed a man-made jeep trail for about 20 minutes with a guide who stopped to point out trees. Then again, I wouldn't call myself a nature fanatic. There were, however, a good number of butterflies.

My enthusiasm kicked in for the waterfalls - that part of the tour was unbelievable. Not only did we get in a speed boat that wildly meandered down the centre of the Brazilian and Argentine border, but it actually took us into the Falls, and I mean into! Of course, the force of the water meant we couldn't get all the way under (which is generally a plus as, if you could, there's no way you'd make it out), but we did get an idea of their enormity and intensity. While the spray from the pounding water soaks anyone within 50m from head to toe (as you can see in the pic), it's also difficult to breathe at times due the sheer barrage of water. The soaking part actually wasn't a bad thing as it was about 40 degrees that day. The breathing part was a minor drawback, but who needs air...

Having completed the lower circuit of the Argentine side, we spent the rest of the day wandering the upper-circuit. This included various trail walks along boardwalks and a trainride out to the 'Devil's Throat' (of which you get a better view from the Brazilian side). We also got some entertainment from an irate Argentine who blasted an American for feeding a monkey.

On my second time around I was reminded that the National Park makes a killing from tourists. To give you an idea, if you're Brazilian, Paraguayan or Argentinian, you can enter the park for a measly 5 pesos. Tourists, on the other hand, are charged a whopping 80 pesos! Seeing as I'd seen the Brazilian side on my last trip, I let my backpacking stinginess do the talking and on the following day opted for the hostel pool while the girls went exploring.