CLIFFS NOTES

What We Did

• Explored Iguazu Falls. It was an incredible sight. Great blend of beauty and fury :)
• Lots of walking around town
• Visited Triple Frontier - you can stand in Argentina but see Brazil and Paraguay as well
• Hummingbird garden

What We Liked Most

• Seeing the falls
• Seeing the animals at the park
• Walking to the Triple Frontier

Memorable Moments

• Being drenched in water from the "up-spray" from "Devil's Throat" at the falls
• Each viewpoint that we walked to seemed to "out-do" the previous

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THE PLAY-BY-PLAY

We departed Peru with a 20 hour door-to-door, overnight itinerary including flight times, layovers, and taxis. Since this was our longest itinerary since our Miami debacle, we were prepared with snacks, layers of clothes, and newly loaded reading material on our Kindles. We ended up having to check our bags, which is always nerve-racking but especially when you have carefully selected the only things you will use for 4 months in the bag. Upon arrival in Iguazu, we collected Charley's bag and, in place of my bag, a nice note from the airline saying that they planned to find my bag and get it to me in the next 48 hours. Needless to say, I was a little nervous - but fortunate for all, our overnight itinerary made me a little too tired to get too cranky about it. All I could really think of was getting to our hotel to take a nap.

Our hotel was very clean with a stocked room including soap (!), television, and safe tap water. When we told the guy at the front desk that my bag might be arriving at some point, he gave us a knowing look and let us know that it happens all the time. I felt a little better that the loss of bags was not unusual.

We stayed in that evening and ordered food. The next morning we checked the front desk to find that my bag had been delivered! What a relief!. Then we made our way to the bus station to get to Iguazu Falls - which is really the sole reason we were there.

On our walk to the bus station, we discovered that it would be a nice little town to explore on foot. Though small, it was a bit larger and much more modern than Aguas Calientes in Peru (supporting Macchu Picchu). We scoped out a little sandwich shop and a helados place for later in our trip. Iguazu also seemed to be a bit of a "junction" for busses - it was a large bus station and had long routes available to Brazil, southern Argentina, Peru, etc.

Iguazu Falls is one of those places that seems like it might be a little too much time, money, and trouble than it is worth to go see. We contemplated whether or not to go - thinking to ourselves "should we spend the extra money on the flight that goes just to Iguazu? spend extra transit hours dealing with airports and flights? how great can a waterfall be? is there anything else to do in that area once we see the falls?".

It was worth it.

This set of waterfalls was spectacular. Charley's concise description: "a blend of beauty and fury". The photos will not quite do it justice unless you have a way to project them onto an IMAX screen and then still remember that you are seeing only a slice of the view. One of the amazing things is that there is a network of walkways elevated above the rivers and marshes all around the falls, so you can walk to your heart's content to see various angles and views of the falls. And when I say "falls", what I really mean is that there is a whole collection of falls that makes up this thing they call Iguazu falls. There are sections that are kind of like Niagara Falls. Sections. And there are other smaller streams of water that fall from different terraced levels. As with any major sight, there are a few classic "postcard" spots to stand and get pictures and there are places to stand in the spray of water that rises from the impact of rushing water hundreds of feet below. The most popular spot to see and stand is called Devil's Throat, which is a U-shaped area that water flows through which created an "up-spray" that sprays well above the top of the falls.

For you analytical types, here is a comparison (you're welcome :->):
Snoqualmie Falls in Washington state is less than 100 feet wide and 270 feet high
Niagara falls is 3950 feet wide and 170 feet high
Victoria Falls in Africa is 5600 feet wide and approx 350 feet high
Iguazu Falls is 8800-9500 feet wide and approx 300 feet high

I (diana) have been to all of the falls listed above and it would be tough for me to say whether Iguazu or Victoria was more impressive. I saw Victoria from both the Zambia and Zimbabwe sides which was a really neat way to explore all views and angles. We chose to not view the falls from the Brazil side because getting a visa would take too long and going without one was too risky (though we did meet a guy willing to help us with this), BUT I can't say that I feel I missed out. Just seeing Iguazu from the Argentina side was truly impressive.

Another point of note is that, while it was no Galapagos island, there was quite a bit of wildlife. We saw a 4-foot long cayman, monkeys, many turtles, lizards, and birds. And some 8-legged creatures that I refuse to spell out We also saw two different animals that we cleverly and scientifically named: Rabbicrat (cat + rabbit + rat) and the Possoon (possum + raccoon). No snakes, though I was looking in the trees as we walked by in hopes of seeing one.

For our last day in town, we walked the entire length of the town to see a few of the sites and to just to see the town a little more. At one point, we ended up on a mostly empty road along a steep embankment down to the water. We were a little started when 3 guys emerged from the woods on the embankment wielding machetes and started walking toward us. The guys completely ignored us and walked on by, machetes in hand. We guessed that they were doing some landscaping on the embankment, but seeing people walk toward you with machetes can give a little boost to the heart rate :) We continued on to the Triple Frontier - the viewpoint where you can stand in Argentina and also see parts of Brazil and Paraguay. On the way back, we happened on a hummingbird garden that was a little treat of peacefulness.

Overall, if you find yourself in South America with an extra 2-3 days, and if you enjoy seeing this type of sight - do make time for it. It is impressive and a sight to behold.