Iguazú Falls is on every must-do list for Argentina for good reason. Listed among the elite waterfalls of the world, it is often compared to Victoria Falls in southern Africa and Niagara Falls in the U.S. Reportedly when Eleanor Roosevelt saw the Iguazú Falls, she exclaimed, “Poor Niagara!” It is easy to see why.

As with all road trips, this one takes some planning. The map at the left gives some perspective; it is roughly 800 miles from Buenos Aires (blue) to Puerto Iguazú (red), the city that serves as the staging area for the falls. The road there is mostly two lanes with heavy truck usage, so the going is slow. We debated renting a car or taking the long bus ride on Argentina’s much touted bus system. Short of flying, which we deemed too  expensive, the bus seemed best.

We bought our tickets and arrived at the BA bus station in Retiro early for our 7:30 pm red-eye bus. The schedule called for us to arrive in Puerto Iquazú at around 11 am the next day (Friday). We anticipated a brutal 16-hour bus ride and it was long, but the modern bus complete with our “couch” chairs, reading and listening materials, and nonstop movies made the ride doable and interesting – although much of it was in the dark by design.

Arriving mostly on schedule, we rolled on over and checked into our hotel which was a couple of blocks from the bus station. A little dazed from our checkered sleep, we decided to wait until the next morning to visit the park .

 

 

 

Our room at the Yreta Hotel was about what we expected; two  bedrooms, a kitchen and a large common area. Unpacked, we headed out to explore Puerto Iguazú, a small and walkable town with tourist shops, restaurants, adventure sport shops, and  jungle excursion companies, all centered around the waterfalls. We asked the usual sources about a restaurant for dinner and discovered Doña María, which we all recommend after eating there two nights. The salad buffet was extraordinary.

The weather report for Saturday was not looking good with rain in the forecast. After dinner we stopped into the bus station and on the spur of the moment scheduled a tour for Wanda and the Jesuit Mission San Ignacio, a few hours away. We all looked at each other to decide if we could take another bus ride, but faced with the probability of rain at the waterfalls we booked it. More on that trip later… I am going to jump  a day ahead to Sunday and our visit to Iguazú National Park.

Iguazú Falls, called Foz do Iguaçu in Portuguese and Cataratas del Iguazú in Spanish, sits on the Argentina – Brazil border and is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. It was discovered in 1541 by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and established in 1984 as a Natural World Heritage Site.

There are anywhere between 75 and 275 independent waterfalls, depending on whom you ask. The largest, four times the width of Niagara Falls, is the U-shaped Garganta del Diablo, “Devil’s Throat,” which measures 269 feet tall, 492 feet wide and 2,296 feet long. At one spot, visitors can be surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls.

The mighty Garganta del Diablo !

Here is video we took at Garganta del Diablo which speaks for itself (turn up the volume for a realistic sound):

Enjoy some of the other falls in the park…

You can see a rainbow in this photo, which was common but always an added bonus.

You can start to see just how spectacular these falls are. It is one breathtaking view after another. It is the variety and intensity among the beauty of the natural setting that make this park so amazing.

We spent all day Sunday in the park. On Monday we returned and started our day with a three-hour nature hike, hoping to run into some of the great variety of wildlife. From the World Heritage Convention Web site:

“Fauna recorded within the park include giant otter, La Plata otter, ocelot, jaguar, puma, margay, brocket deer, American tapir, collared peccary, white-lipped peccary, great dusky swift, solitary tinamou, ornate hawk eagle, red-breasted toucan and harpy eagle. Giant anteater has been recorded as well as pampas deer, black howler monkey, capybara, puma, black eagle, chimango caracara, crested cayman and urutu viper. Noteworthy birds include solitary tinamou, harpy eagle, black-fronted piping guan, glaucous macaw, vinaceous-breasted and red-spectacled parrots and white-tailed trogon.”

We quietly hiked the 6-km path that Monday morning hoping to spot some of the exotic birds and animals. On this day it was the black howler monkey that made a spectacular appearance:

Okay, if you have seen Niagara, then by now you know Mrs. Roosevelt was commenting on the obvious.

Later that day we decided to take a boat ride closer to the falls:

While we did take a thorough drenching, we also got even closer to the Garganta del Diablo. Cameras were pocketed as the boat brought us closer to the Devil’s Throat and under another waterfall.

The natural beauty of this park defies description.

Fun Facts

Horacia Quiroga‘s Tales of the Jungle was inspired by this wondrous place.

Iguazú Falls was shortlisted as a candidate to be one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation.

The falls have been featured in several movies including Moonraker (1979), The Mission (1986), O Trem Caipira (1994), Tummy (1995). Happy Together (1997), Mr. Magoo (1997), Miami Vice (2006), In the Hands of the Gods (2007).

Interesting side note

Why Hydroelectric power belongs in the world’s energy mix explained: Itaipu Dam located a few miles upstream from the Iguazú Falls.

“Having more power than 10 nuclear power stations, it supplies the second largest city on the planet with zero-emission electricity since 1984, still being extended until 1991. 26% of the electrical power consumption of Brazil and 78% of Paraguay are supplied by ITAIPU.”

 

 

After an amazing road trip, it took courage to face the long bus ride home. Here is one of us with our game face on.