These falls are famous, and if you’ve ever seen a wildlife documentary about South America, you’ll have seen stunning footage – most likely taken from the smaller but less spoiled Brazilian side. And most likely taken a long time ago, or in carefully selected spots, because what you hardly ever see in footage or photos is just how filthy the water is, from top soil being washed away from denuded rainforest, or how degraded the forest close to the falls is. (It’s clearly all secondary forest, and that together with the constant presence of humans at least at this time of year, explained the absence of monkeys.)
But bearing all that in mind, Iguazu Falls is a mind-blowing place. Not as mind-blowing as Antarctica, but still one of the wonders of the world. To get there from Buenos Aires, one has to fly, and the flight we took was unpleasant because of shitty passengers, a pretty nasty ‘snack’, and turbulence. (The return trip was worse because we were put in a row without air vents, and that, combined with the turbulence in which we were in a holding pattern for far too long, made me vomit from travelsickness for the first time since I was ten. Not fun for me or those around me 🙂 )
The other complication as I mentioned elsewhere was that I had a badly sprained ankle (torn ligaments and all), so even though there are some lovely flat walks and we were there for three days, I only saw the scenery close up on the third day. Consequently, Doug took almost all the photos you’ll see below. I didn’t mind because walking in 34° heat with 99% humidity isn’t really my thing anyway, and this was the view from our balcony (the one with the self-locking door, ask me how I know!)
Black vulture riding the thermals
So the first day, Doug rode the ‘ecological train’ to the Devil’s Throat (garganta del diablo) Falls, and came back with photos of all this.
A cayman, lurking under a footbridge
A golden tegu lizard
And coatis
The train
One of the many streams feeding the many falls
Stuck in the hotel, I didn’t miss out on wildlife. People would insist on feeding the birds on the bar terrace, and these enterprising Saffron Finches had made their nest in a space behind the retractable roof
Other birds just perched on the terrace rails.
Sadly, despite the warnings on our balcony door,
I didn’t see any other wildlife than birds close to the hotel.
On the second day, after the morning walk on the upper and lower circuits around the falls, Doug and most of our group went on a boat ride which takes you through the falls (and involved steep staircases and a long walk which is why, once again, I stayed behind.) He had a blast but couldn’t take the big camera (for obvious reasons), so the photos of the falls from river level are not as amazing as the ride itself apparently was:
On our last day, before we flew out, my ankle felt up to a short, flat walk, and so I finally got to see the falls. Doug is still the photographer though:
An Amazon lava lizard
If you look closely there are green parrots with orange bills at the top of the tree
Coatis near the back of residences.
Coatis, as you can see, are a bit too approachable, and they hang around the food court near the hotel, raiding the laughable un-‘raccoon’ proof bins and being fed by idiots. I liked the cute cartoon the park made to discourage contact (I’ve spared the gruesome photos of coati/monkey caused injuries above the drawing.)
Despite the ankle and the airsickness and the heat, I was glad we went to Iguazu (ee-gassu as some Americans in the hotel and on the boat insisted on calling it). Our two guides, Sylvia and Nelton, was very kind and helpful, and the hotel itself was lovely – great food, and powerful pisco sours, with extremely pretty men and women doing the bar waiting. What the photos can’t convey is the sheer noise of the falls – it’s like being near an airport with jets constantly idly or taking off – or the ferocious volume of water going over the falls every second. I’m not actually a huge fan of waterfalls – water, it falls, is pretty, meh – but this one is a monster, and deserves its reputation as a must see.