Today we went to the Argentinian side of Iguazu falls. They are the largest waterfall system in the world, a chain of waterfalls almost 2 miles wide.
This is from the Lonely Planet guidebook, “According to Guaraní tradition, the falls originated when a warrior named Caroba incurred the wrath of a forest god by escaping downriver in a canoe with a young girl, Naipur, with whom the god was infatuated. Enraged, the god caused the riverbed to collapse in front of the lovers, producing a line of precipitous falls over which Naipur fell and, at their base, turned into a rock. Caroba survived as a tree overlooking it.
Geologists have a more prosaic version. The Río Iguazú’s course takes it over a basaltic plateau that ends abruptly just short of the confluence with the Paraná. Where the lava flow stopped, thousands of cubic meters of water per second now plunge down as much as 80m into sedimentary terrain below. Before reaching the falls, the river divides into many channels with rocks and islands separating the many distinct cascades that together form the famous 2.7km-long cataratas (waterfalls).”
We got lost several times on the way to the park but eventually found it.
There were three trails around the falls, upper, lower and Devil’s Throat. As the names suggests the upper trail is a set of trails/grated metal walkways above the falls and the lower trail was below the falls.
We walked on trails through the rainforest to get to the falls. This picture of the rain forest shows how dense the vegetation is.
There were lots of coati, a member of the raccoon family, and capuchin monkeys around. In fact there were warnings about how aggressive they can be to get food. We also saw lots of butterflies, several turtles, and an alligator.
The falls were simply amazing. The roar of the water was loud. You really felt the power of Mother Nature. Words cannot describe it so I will leave it to the pictures . . .
From the upper trail
From the lower trail
From Devil’s Throat
One interesting sign said that 40 years ago the water on the falls was clear but there has been so much logging that now the water looks reddish-brownish from all the soil run off. (The soil is very red here due to the fast decomposition of organic material.). Of course they are trying to remediate that.
After the falls, we returned to the room. We walked into town to get groceries and had our typical picnic for dinner. Off to the Brazilian side of the falls tomorrow.