Iguazu Falls

Puerto Iguazu is a quaint little town full of hostels, some restaurants, and a few mini markets. There is a bus terminal, one working ATM, one broken ATM, and two dance clubs. Most of the tourists here are Brazilian or from Paraguay, and this is where they stay when they are going to visit the famous Iguazu waterfalls.

From the airplane, the weather didn’t look promising and by the time I checked into the hotel, torrential rains had knocked out electricity to the entire city. Armed with a $3 poncho and a $2 round trip bus ticket, I headed to the falls (leaving my photo gear behind was frustrating).

There is a reason they call this place “Niagara on Viagra.” It is about twenty times the size of Niagara, and words simply cannot describe the beauty here or the power that drives it. I met three wonderful girls from Paraguay. Liza is a doctor, Martin a surgical assistant, and Mariely is an administrator at the hospital where they all work together.

Together, we hiked to “Garganta Del Diablo” (The Devil’s Throat), the largest of the falls, so called because of the earsplitting noise of the water. Afterwards we went on a boat ride into the river, though Martin was afraid and decided to meet us back at the station. From the boat we saw a few toucans, two alligators, and Mariely swore she saw a serpent occasionally poking its head above the water. After the ride, on the hike back, we saw tons of butterflies and tried, unsuccessfully, to catch one.

Back at the station, the girls had to rush to catch the bus back to Paraguay, and I continued on to the two other major hikes in the area – the Upper Falls trail, with astounding views of the falls, and the Lower Falls trail, which takes you underneath the falls.

Pictures from Iguazu