It was an early morning as we left the hotel before seven to fly to Iguazú.
After getting off the plane and getting into our small bus with our local guide Lucas we drove towards the border with Brazil. We switched to a different bus to cross the border. The crossing went smoothly, and much quicker than usual according to Barby. We were worried that it would be slow because it was the day before Easter, and there were cars lined up on the shoulder of the road for miles leading to the border, but instead it appears the border authorities just wanted to get us through quickly. In Argentina many people had been off work Thursday and Friday as part of the Easter holiday, and then Monday would be a national holiday as the anniversary of the Malvinas (Falklands) War.
We arrived at the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu and got checked in at the entrance station, then got to get back on our bus to ride to the path down to the falls. As noted on the Wikipedia page:
The Iguaçu National Park is spectacular as well as pioneering. The first proposal for a Brazilian national park aimed at providing a pristine environment to “future generations”, just as “it had been created by God” and endowed with “all possible preservation, from the beautiful to the sublime, from the picturesque to the awesome” and “an unmatched flora” located in the “magnificent Iguaçu waterfalls”. These were the words used by André Rebouças, an engineer, in his book “Provinces of Paraná, Railways to Mato Grosso and Bolivia”, which started up the campaign aimed at preserving the Iguaçu Falls way back in 1876, when Yellowstone National Park, the first national park on the planet, was four years old.
On November 17, 1986, during the UNESCO conference held in Paris, the Iguaçu National Park was listed as Natural Heritage of Humanity and is one of the largest forest preservation areas in South America.
The corresponding national park on the Argentina side of the falls is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lucas said that citizens of both nations pushed for this because the World Heritage Site status brings additional protections which can protect against politicians who might be tempted to “sell out” the Parks. It was for the best because it turns out that in addition to preserving these magnificent waterfalls, these Parks are part of a dwindling amount of relatively undisturbed jungle, and they provide important habitat to increasingly endangered species.
There were lots of people and it was hot and humid, but not bad in the shade with a breeze. We got lots of great views of the falls as we made our way down.
We followed a trail that slowly descends as it goes up-river to a walkway that goes out over the water. The walkway was jammed with people, and most of our group decided to skip it, but I eventually pushed past the hordes of selfie people and made it to the first of three platforms. It may have been worth it only for the sometimes misty breeze. We saw a couple of coatis on the way down.
We met back up with the rest of the group at the top and had some delicious dulce de leche milkshakes. The overlook at the top of the falls offers an amazing view.
It’s interesting to think that the Iguazú river powers several hydroelectric dams before arriving at the falls.
Our crossing back to Argentina went almost as smoothly as the other way, and we were checking in to our hotel by about four thirty.
Most of the group kind of crashed after walking in the heat but I managed to catch up a little with captioning photos on Flickr.
Dinner at the hotel was pacú, a fish from the Paraná River, for everyone except me - I got a really tasty small steak. We gathered in the lobby before dinner to try Caipirinhas, the national cocktail of Brazil.
A few of us took a late-night walk to the Tres Fronteras park near the hotel.
You can see three countries from this point where the Iguazú River meets the Paraná River. The Iguazú River is the border between Argentina and Brazil, Paraguay is on the other side of the Paraná River.
