Friday 20 January 2012

Iguazu falls

From Santa Fe to Iguazu is well over 1100 kms that we covered in 2 days.

The first 800 kms once again are on a straight road with 40 degrees and no sign of shade.

The ruta 127 is full of bumps and holes for a good 50 kms after Federal, then around 3pm we find some road works for the construction of a bridge and we get redirected into the ruta 119.

We realise that we are off track as we reach the small town of Curuzu where we make a quick u turn and head back to the ruta 127.

Finally, after 1 hr we are back at the bridge under construction where a nice man this time points us in the right direction to ruta 14.

It is still a long way to Posadas, where we get well after dark.

In the meantime the rear light has stopped working and we drive the last 25 kms in the dark using the BMW blinkers to signal our presence in the night.

The following morning we change the rear light and leave Posadas heading to Iguazu on the ruta 12.

Finally the scenery around us changes.

The ground is red, bright red like a brick.

There is a weird but nice mix of trees from pines to palms

It feels like being at the tropics again, and in fact the tropic of Capricorn is only 500 kms north as the bird flies.

Thanks to the shade produced by these tall trees it no longer feels so hot.

This area has been originally colonised by the Jesuit missionaries.

If we had time we would have loved to visit a couple of missions on the road, but unfortunately today we are on a very tight schedule.

We get to Puerto Iguazu around lunch time but we don’t really feel like eating.

We are so excited to be here that we drop our luggage at the hotel and head immediately to the Iguazu National Park entrance.

The entrance costs around £15 per person per day, but you can get a 50% discount on the price of the entrance for the following day.

That is quite useful as 1 day is certainly not enough to visit this beautiful park.

The waterfalls are of course the central piece of the park

The falls can be divided almost in 2 parts.

The first section on the right side of the Isla San Martin can be visited via the “circuito superiore” which takes you right above the falls

and the “circuito inferiore” . (below the falls)

The second section is the “garganta del Diablo”

that can be reached by a short train ride.

Once again in this circumstance words are not good enough to describe what we see. Luckily we took well over 400 pictures.





As you walk around the park you can only fall in admiration of flora and fauna that surrounds you.

Among others we were able to spot monkeys,parrots, toucans and the coati (of the raccoon family)

Colourful butterflies are not afraid to land on your hand and walk around with you for minutes.

Something that in our opinion should not be missed is certainly the ride on the boat under the falls.

Unfortunately it only lasts 15 minutes but that is more than enough to get a monumental shower.

Don’t even think to keep your camera out when they tell you to put it away in the waterproof bags provided.

If you want some pictures or a video to remind you of this amazing boat ride you can always buy the DVD at the end. They will deliver it to your hotel in the evening.

We truly loved every second we spent in the park.

The facilities are excellent and the suspended catwalks take you safely right to the edge of the falls.

The only negative comment we can make is about the ugly Sheraton hotel placed right in the middle of the park.

We seriously wonder how many politicians they must have greased back in the years to obtain the permission to build the hotel right in the middle of this national park.

And if they really had to do it at least they could have built it in a style a bit less offensive to the eye.

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