Iguazú

At the park, we walked the green trail to the train station. Iguazu has a natural gas powered train that takes you from the entrance station to the various trailheads. It has a very narrow gauge and barely makes 10 kilometers per hour, but it is a functional method to move about a little faster than walking. We had to go 2.3 kilometers to the trailhead for the Garganta del Diablo trailhead.

Leaving the train station, it is still another kilometer to where the devil's throat was located. Clearly, the water was flowing as strongly as the day before. From the Argentine perspective, you could see the top of the throat more clearly, and you saw there was another shelf, perhaps three meters below the top of the falls, on the Brazilian side that was covered with white water. We saw how the water leaves the wide, shallow river and crashes into a gorge. There was a lot of spray that created rainbows, and helped get us wet. Some of my photographs are distorted from the water on the filter.

On the hike to the falls, we passed a pair of caimans, small alligators native to the river. There was also a sign that was probably intended as a warning, but looked like "please feed the tourists to the local poisonous snakes."

This side is probably more heavily visited than the Brazilian side. For a starter, the handicapped access is better, as many trails are level, and can be easily walked with a wheelchair. The train also makes access easy. The park police are alleged to be more honest (there was some talk of Brazilian park police being bribed to allow poachers to take jaguars and pumas) as well.

The trail is mainly an elevated steel pathway, where you walk on a steel grid over the Iguazu River. Here, it is wide, shallow, and slow. Approaching the falls, you first see the mist. As you clear the last stand of trees on the last islet, you see where the water disappears into a hole. Closer you get, the more you see of the devil's throat. It is amazing to think you could probably stand in the water less than 100 feet away, and feel very little current. It is more amazing to thing that this little water causes this much commotion.

Apparently, in 1992, the river flooded, and took out an older, wood pathway. So, it can get very high (I'd estimate the remains were ten feet above the current water level) when it floods. That would be something to see, from a safe distance.

After taking the train back, I opted for the upper circuit trail. This isn't as long, but it visited the tops of several waterfalls on the lesser Iguazu side of the river. These are the arc of waterfalls that stretch for about a kilometer, some fall onto a lower shelf and others fall to the floor of the canyon. The views were different, and magnificent. Also, it was warming up, so there were butterflies around us. I tried to photograph a few.

Building a nest	Building a nest
Building a nest	Unidentified Bird
A Toucan	Spider Webs
A Web	Unidentified Bird
Unidentified Bird	Unidentified Bird
A Caiman	A Caiman
A Caiman	A Caiman
Lapwings?	Lapwings?
Lapwings?	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú River
An Egret	An Egret
An Egret	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Canyon	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
An egret	An egret
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
A Rainbow	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Unidentified Bird
Unidentified Bird	Unidentified Bird
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú River
Iguazú River	Iguazú River
Iguazú River	Iguazú River
Iguazú River	Iguazú River
A Butterfly	A Butterfly
A Butterfly	A Butterfly
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Canyon
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
A Butterfly	A Butterfly
A Butterfly	A Butterfly
Iguazú Falls	Iguazú Falls
A Butterfly	WHAT
IS THIS	BIRD?

Click on any image to see a larger picture

We left the falls in the early afternoon after a quick coca cola light, unharassed by wasps. The next stop for the day was a quick trip to Paraguay. The confluence of the Iguaçu and Paraña Rivers marks the triple junction between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. I figured that since I was here, I should check out the Paraguayan side of the river.

Return to Brazil.