South America Day 38
Iguassu Falls - Brazil Side
We woke up at day break still on the bus. We stopped at a place called Cascavel to transfer to another bus only to continue for another 3 hrs or so. Finally after having been traveling for 20 hrs we arrived at the hotel at Iguassu. Our rooms weren't ready at that point and I don't think anyone in our tour was amused. All we wanted to do was have a shower and a nap for a bit.
Instead we were hustled back onto the van that bought us from the bus station to the hotel and taken to the Brazil side of the Iguassu falls.
It was a good option in the end because the weather was predicted to turn nasty later in the afternoon (and it did too!). The map above gives an idea of the general area.
The photo above
was our first sight of the Iguassu falls. It was a shame the weather was
a bit crap because it took the edge off it a bit. Most of the view you
can see here is in Argentina. The river running through the middle is
also the border between the two countries.
The Coatis around the falls are incredibly brazen. They just don't even
register that people are even a threat. We'd heard stories about how
many were around the area, but this was the only one we saw on today.
Bugs
Not long after we started walking along the trail we were mobbed by
butterflies! They were everywhere and had no qualms about landing on
us. I took photos of about 10 different varieties that day. The falls
create a lot of water spray and make for some excellent conditions for
flowering plants. Where there are flowers there are butterflies.
It wasn't just butterflies either. This colourful grass hopper was quite happy to have its photo taken as well.
These stripy centipedes were all over the place. They must be a crucial part of breaking down the litter on the forest floor.
The further we walked along the path & closer to the main water
falls, the wetter it became. The spray off the incredible amount of
water cascading over the falls was quite amazing (and wet!).
The Iguassu Falls are made up of 170 odd individual water falls. The
massive flood plain the water surrounds the drop zone and drops into
the river below at multiple places. I guess Victoria and Niagara falls
are similar.
I think this is an experiment to see what people will do given the
opportunity despite the discomfort. Needless to say, most of us walked
out on this platform to get a close look at the main falls.
Unfortunately we didn't see much because of the spray, & got a
drenching.
And this would be the result of walking out on the wet walkway. (Drowned
rats from left to right :- Sandra, Kerri and Corina). They knew it
was going to happen, but went anyway. Somehow I managed to go out there and not get anywhere near as wet. Not sure why...
We had to leave the falls at that point. We're supposed be visiting the Argentina side tomorrow or the next (weather depending).
By
the time we'd reached the hotel the weather was turning down right
nasty. A storm front belted the area for rest of the evening and into the night with a spectacular lightning show and heavy rain. I can't
say I was upset because I like the rain and hadn't seen much since our awful time on the Lares trek a couple of weeks back..
A band of us went to dinner at
the restaurant nearly next door to the hotel. We still got drenched
walking 30m, but it was worth it. The food was excellent! We even had Nic
(a sworn vegetarian aside from the odd bit of chicken) eating lamb and beef (and enjoying it!). Kerri's sister Julie came back to the dark
side (red meat eaters) while she was on the same tour a few years back.
After the bus journey last night it's early to bed. Hopefully we'll get to see the Argentina side of the falls tomorrow.
