March 1 - Iguazú Falls/Argentina Side

Today we stayed in Argentina all day!  There was much more to see on this side than in Brazil yesterday; the National Park is a lot more extensive at least as far as walking and seeing the falls.  We weren’t planning to meet our guide, Francis, until after lunch, so I took a solo morning walk along the “Lower Trail” in the park here, which begins more or less behind the hotel’s pool.

The Lower Walk went through the jungle, with several overlooks as it crossed over some of the smaller waterfalls on the side, then emerged on a broad viewing platform overlooking Isla San Martin, with the “Garganta del Diablo” (Devil’s Throat, the main falls) to the left, and a series of other falls to the right.  If you zoom in on the Devil’s Throat, you can just make out the walkway, on the intermediate level, where we were yesterday on the Brazil side).  Later today, when we were at their Devil’s Throat, we couldn’t even see where we were yesterday across the way, the mist was so dense.

After returning the the hotel for lunch, we headed out again, with the guide, to walk the Middle Walk, again heading through the jungle on a protected walkway, and right out to the edge, and then behind, a long series of incredible views.

After leaving that spot, we returned through backwaters and over streams leading to the falls, and hopped on a narrow gauge railway that took us for a 15-20 minute ride to the final walk of the day, the Garganta del Diablo.  We learned that this walkway had been destroyed by a flood and closed for the last five months, and that today was its reopening day, so it was something of a mob scene.  Anyway we got there and it was worth all the effort!

It seems like all these photos are of Iguazú itself, but there has been a lot more to see than just the falls! One thing that has disappointed a bit is that there haven’t been as many birds as I was hoping, and the ones we’ve seen are elusive to photograph.  In particular, the toucans that fly back and forth near the hotel are very distinctive, but impossible to get on camera.  Tomorrow’s outing may remedy that. In the meantime: