Water Falling in the Jungle

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu in the late afternoon heat, and stripped out of our warm clothes before setting out to find a place to stay. The town is small and pleasant, shaded by large trees, and surrounded by jungle and a river bearing the same name that passes alongside it. We selected a hostel, which seemed nice enough, and headed into town to find some dinner. We ate our usual healthy dinner of pizza and beer, and returned to the hostel exhausted from the long bus journey that we have just completed.

Unfortunately, whilest Timb was in the bathroom having a well deserved shower, I discovered that we were not as alone in our room as one would have hoped. I picked up my bag to discover a large black cockroach huddled beneath it. I let out a shriek and it ran, and i jumped back against the wall. As I did so, I spied another cockroach scampering into our room from beneath the door. It was all I could do to keep my composure, as I had never seen a cockroach in real life before, and I am sure Timb would say that I didn´t do a very good job of remaining calm. He emerged from the bathroom, quite confused as to what the problem was, and proceeded to heroically squash all the cockroaches that he could find. I think there were only about 8 in total, but that was enough to make me sleep with one light on, very uneasily. The next morning we made the decision to switch hostels, to a cleaner, bug-free environment.

I got to pick the next hostel, and we treated ourselves to a well-deserved four star hotel suite, with a lovely balcony, and jacuzzi tub! I felt this was well justified, and we did not have any problems with cockroaches in our new hotel room.

We set out for the falls that afternoon, taking the local bus to the national park entrance. It was a scorchingly hot day. We took the passenger train out to the path to the biggest set of falls, called Garganta Diablo. A boardwalk through the jungle and over the widely flowing upper Iguazu river lead us out to the waterfall view point. You could hear the water falling before you could see it. The river pounded over the face of the cliff, and incredible amounts of water rushed over the face. It was an amazing site. We took many photos, and then headed back to the train.

Timb at Garganta Diablo

Before we left the park that day, we explored the second of three trails to the water falls, the upper trail. Another boardwalk followed along the upper portion of the falls, which spanned a large distance. The Garaganta Diablo was just the largest of the falls, there were many other smaller falls, following the cliff face. It was incredibly beautiful. The water flowing out over green, jungle rock faces made it a unique experience, and I was happy to have made the long journey just to see the falls.

The next day we returned to the park under a cloudy sky to complete our trip along the third and final path to the water falls. This was the lower path, and the longest of the three. It took us down to the base of the smaller falls, above which the upper boardwalk followed. It was a cloudy day, and we were able to make it most of the way around the lower trail before it began to rain. The views from below the falls were spectacular, the best being from an small island that we reached by boat. We snapped a few good photos, and then headed back up the path for the train, dripping wet.

A view from the lower trail.

The next day was our last in Iguazu, and it was a hot one. We walked the long street, aptly named Tres Fronteras, to the confluence of the Rio Igauzu and Rio Paraña. Here there is a viewpoint and a monument errected to mark the Argentinian border. Similar markers are visible across the rivers, marking the borders of Paraguay and Brazil.

It was an interesting feeling, standing on the edge of the country, it gave me a sense of our trip and how far we had travelled to arrive at this spot. Later that day, we gathered our bags and caught a bus to Buenos Aires. Like usual, we were moving onward to explore a new place and experience new things. How lucky we are...