Iguazu Falls are magnificent

We came to bus station shortly before 8am. Bus has been 5min early and already full, but we managed to get in. The ride to Parque National Iguazú was really long and it was already hot.

We bought tickets (they are more expensive for foreigners than Argentinians) and we hurried to boat trip company to check-in for our trip hostel staff booked for us yesterday.

Then we went to waiting place where we waited for lorry that will take us to river. Many people have been already there, but we could not hear roar of the waterfalls. No wonder, it took our lorry 25min to get there. But it might not be the shortest way.

Getting wet under waterfalls

Our long ride on lorry (with proper seats for tourists) was not boring. Our guide talked about many interesting things about Iguazu Falls and local area. At least I think, because he spoke more in Spanish than in English and people next to me were chatting loudly, so I did not catch everything :-)

We arrived to destination, and walked couple of hundred metres to the river. We got waterproof bag and life jacket. We will need that bag later for hiding camera, rucksack and shoes. Most of other people stripped to swim suits.

Boat roared and started to move quickly against the flow of river. Water was dark brown, both banks were covered with lush vegetation. Right bank is Argentinian side, left one is in Brazil. After couple of minutes we sighted the first rather small waterfalls, then another, nicer. But all interesting had still to come.

A guide talking about Iguazu.

And notice that big spider.
    

We are going to board a boat over there.

The first glimpse of waterfalls. Not big one, yet.

Shortly after that we could see more waterfalls in distance. It was misty, later we learned most of them produce huge amount of mist, making photos less contrasty.

We turned right into a "bay" ending with wide curtain of falling water. It was amazing. Boat slowed down, people started to take photos and I have managed to take successful panorama (it stitched correctly). We got quite close to falls, but we did not feel its wetness yet. Then we returned and headed along main river (it is very hard to describe without showing a map, so I will stop doing it) where we stopped again. After having time to take photos we were asked to hide our stuff into waterproof bags and it started!

We got really close to falling water, that we got wet with splashing water. Of course, we did not go directly beneath the waterfalls, because we would sink....

Then we returned to previous place and they soaked us again. This time it took longer time, spraying water was much more powerful. We probably got closer, or maybe wind started to blow. Whatever. It was amazing experience. Our wet clothes cooled us down for another 3 hours, in that hot weather it was wonderful. I am glad we left our clothes on.

Salto Bossetti.

They are going to catch some moisture.

And those are catching it right now.

To waterfalls and beyond!

Once at shore we unpacked our dry stuff, put shoes on, returned bags and stepped out for more adventures. And to take photos...

Unfortunately Isla San Martín was closed. I wanted to go there, because I have seen wonderful photos from there, but if it is not possible...

We came to Salto Bassetti, got wet again on platform created for that reason and then retreated into jungle to get to top of falls.

There are 2 "lost" waterfalls in jungle, far away from all glory, but that makes them easier to stand out, because they are not overwhelmed with all those waterfalls curtains with 2 layers you can see just couple of hundred metres away. They are called Dos Hermanas.

Whole panorama after getting off the boat.

A lizard enjoys a view of waterfalls. Or maybe not. But I did. As well as the rainbow.
    

Why umbrellas? You are going to miss the best part.

Aren't they fantastic? Dos Hermanas. Finally some waterfalls without big misty cover.

We came to restaurant area. Not very interesting, apart from presence of coatis - smart animals that learned tourists are easy way to get fed. Despite all those warnings "don't feed the animals".

We watched how one of them tried to negotiate a deal with German tourist eating on bench. Tourist went away, but his rucksack stayed there providing nice opportunity for wildlife watching. Unfortunately coatis did not manage to open it. It would be interesting to see its owner in action too :-)

Here it comes.

Hmm, that might provide some food for me...

But how to get in...

Waterfalls below your feet

We continued along the steel walkway at the top of higher cascade. (Most parts of these waterfalls are in 2 cascades, created by 2 subsequent magmatic flows.). It was very interesting to see all that water vanishing over the edge, but the views were little limited at some places. Only later we got to place with great panoramic views of other waterfalls.

We were going through sunny part of walk and there were many butterflies around. I will show some photos on next page. Temperature got higher and our wet clothes started to dry.

Viewing platform we have been before. Now we could see it from the top.

Detail of the edge of waterfalls.