We awake this morning and are all ready for our Argentinean
Iguazu Falls experience. John the
American has booked a bus for around 7pm tonight so he decides to come to the
falls with us even though he went the day before. His reasoning was the falls were that amazing
he doesn’t mind going for a second time and he had nothing else to do that day
since he couldn’t get into Brazil! We
catch the bus (bus leaves every 20 minutes, cost is $10 pesos each one way). Today I am prepared to get wet, I don’t have
that much gear on me and most importantly I can leave the passport safely
locked away at the hostel. We arrive at
the falls and pay our money, but the attendant passes back a $50 peso note and
tells us it is fake. We inspect it and
sure enough it was fake. There is a
‘black market’ of fake Argentinean notes going around tourist areas, it is
especially prevalent in Buenos Aires. We
had been given this by the attendant at the bus office and hadn’t checked the
ticket as the bus was just about to leave.
Usually we check every note we receive but this time we hadn’t. The one note we don’t check and it is a fake. That will teach us. Oh well at the end of the day it is only
about NZ$15. Lesson learnt, let’s move
on.
We inspect the map and find out there are 3 separate walking
paths. We have been told by numerous
sources to do the lower walk last as you get wet! Sounds good to me. We decide to do the middle walk first. This walk takes you to the top of numerous
waterfalls and you can look over the drop on platforms. Just like the Brazilian side I have no idea
how these platforms were made, I definitely would not like to be constructing
them and putting them in place. The
scenery was spectacular and the noise the water was generating was
unbelievable! Already I was enjoying the
Argentinean side of the falls better as we were in amongst the action. The water was furious as it seemed like the
river was in flood, as mentioned in yesterday’s blog. We then decided to take in the Upper level. This required catching a train with the ride taking about 20 minutes to an area in the forest. From here we walked on a platform that went for 1.1 kilometres over half of the Iguazu River (the Argentina side). At the end of the platform was a magnificent site. This is where the half of the river pours over into a mammoth waterfall, called the Devils throat (Garganta Del Diablo in Spanish). This specific waterfall is 82 metres high, 150 metres wide, and 700 meters long. It is huge and is U-shaped. The ferociousness of the water crashing down into the river below causes a large amount of spray, which also is easily visible from the Brazilian side of the river. This spray does not allow you to see the bottom of the fall, in fact it is difficult to see half way down! If we thought the waterfalls were making a loud noise, well this was nothing in comparison to the thunderous sound the Devils throat was creating. We stayed here for a wee while admiring what we were seeing and hearing (surprisingly with not too many tourists around as we timed it to miss the tour groups as they visit this site at the beginning of their tours – yes we did our research!). We then made the trek back over the long platform, caught the train back and started walking to the lower trail.
When we reach the lower trail, we pass people on their way back who are drenched. This looks promising, we must be going pretty close the falls here! We make our way through the forest with some small waterfalls to view and as we get closer to the main waterfalls we can hear the noise getting louder and louder. We arrive at the edge of the cliff where the waterfall is. Since the river is in flood the end of the platform as been blocked off, and rightly so as the water is pounding on the edge where people would usually stand. This water would easily knock them off their feet if not drag them into the water at the bottom. Best not climb over the barrier. We get to the barrier and are drenched within seconds. We are not getting hit by the waterfall but by the spray. Great experience and would definitely recommend.
That is the end of our Iguazu experience. Before we leave I want one last look at the falls so I quickly take the middle track for a look and walk over the top of the falls. We then catch the bus back into town and go out for dinner before John leaves for his journey back to Buenos Aires.
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