So I woke up today, thinking it was 6am and then looked at the alarm to realise it was 9am. Bugger, Iguazu opens at 9am and i wanted to beat the crowds. I hastily showered and dressed and rushed across the road to wait for the bus. Two buses passed me and didn’t stop. I don’t know why, it may be a great mystery that never goes solved but the third bus stopped and I was on my way to Iguazu. Night time was great, but the day promised to show so much more.
The ticket price is enough of a rort, 85 pesos for foreigners, 45 for Brazilians, Paraguayans and Uruguayans then down to 20 for Argentineans and 10 pesos if you actually live in the state. Its hard to say no to Iguazu though and they know it. I gave the guy a 100 peso note and he refused to accept it as he had no change. Another person had the same then another. He quickly said “I am closed now”. But there were no other ticket windows. They never want to give you change in Argentina, they hoard it for rainy days or something. He reopened a few minutes later though, when someone with change paid.
I walked into the park and headed along the green trail. They have a train to take you the long way around to the first set of walks. But given the park has two main areas closed due to high water, the train is quite useless and saves you a 600m walk. The closed off area is a couple of kilometers away.
Coati
I started on the superior trail, which is the one I did the night before. The first thing I came across was the park is infested with Coatis. Coatis are related to raccoons and look similar and are a hassle around picnic areas with people. I’ll let you work out which photos are of Coatis and which one are of waterfalls.
The superior trail was crowded with hoards of package tours. all of them had a name tag on that said what tour they belonged too. If there is one thing worse than senior citizens, it is senior citizens with cameras blocking the path. Then there are those people that must have a photo of themselves with every waterfall from 5 different angles regardless if they are blocking the walkway.
Iguazu falls
Onto the walkways though, they literally cross the seperate falls with the rushing water below. Some of them are right near the edge of the falls themselves. It gives you a truly spectacular view of the falls. Some get too close but more of that later.
I tried to skip viewing platforms to avoid tour groups, but alas it was a struggle. Still I managed to enjoy the falls and get some good photos. Onto the inferior path, which really is a matter of opinion, but suspect it has to do with being the lower trail. This path was kind of like a log ride at a theme park, you basically got drenched. The first such spot was the rainbow bridge. You couldn’t cross the bridge without getting wet. But of course it was slow going because everyone wanted to get drenched have a photo with the rainbow, then have a photo of the rainbow coming out of their arse too. Then there was the family doing a small cinematic masterpiece of their child running through the rainbow about 1000 times. I feel sorry for their friends, that will be one gripping home movie. Luckily my camera is weathersealed, which means its waterfall proof. While others stashed their cameras into bags etc. my camera got wet. Only one problem with this, is that everyone was concerned for my cameras life. I had to show one person it was working fine when wet. I dried it off though, just to be safe.
Iguazu falls
There was a platform on the inferior trail that was closed off. where a piece of tape was you got drenched. heaven knows what happens if you go to the far end, I suspect being pummelled to the ground by the force of the waterfall might be something that could happen, or you just get wet much more quickly.
The last fall I found, had rays opf light bursting through the jungle canopy in an almost peaceful way to overpower the force of the falls behind it. I then wandered up for a late buffet lunch at the restaurant. the cool thing here, was they had decent nice food and a window called Barbeque/Parilla. You walked up to the window, gave the guy your plate and named an animal. He then put that animal in all its tasty goodness and BBQed nicely onto you plate. Then there was the salad bar and desert bar. Enough said there I think.
Iguazu falls
So a totally awesome day was had by me. How was your Saturdays in Oz? Tomorrow, I get a brazilian, I mean go to Brazil… To see the falls from the other side, more of a panoramic view from what i’ve been told. Plus a few other things i may visit while on day release from Argentina.
Ohh spanish phrase of the day. hmmm today its for the ticket seller. Be nice or don’t play is what I’d tell him so in spanish its “Ser agradable o no jugar”. They seem to have an attitude in this place, that foreign tourists are here to be milked of cash. Maybe its because they do get a lot of package tourists who don’t know better and pay up.
Anyway until tomorrow…