One Lap of the Americas: South America, Day 11: Parque Nacional Iguazu, Argentina

On Chris's advice, I hadn't booked a hostel in Iguazu. Turns out the advice was good; I got off the bus, and right across the street was the Marcopolo Inn, one of the hostels on my short list to check out. Dropped off my backpack and immediately went back to the bus station to catch the half-hour bus ride to the falls (less than US$2 each way).

your humble correspondent

When the bus arrived in the morning, it was foggy, overcast, and cold, but the fog burned off rapidly, and by noon it was a beautiful day in Iguazu. Cold, but beautiful. There are two main sets of falls in the park: the San Martin falls and a number of falls nearby are visible from the Argentine side, near the center of the park. The Garganta del Diablo, or Devil's Mouth, is a gigantic waterfall separated from the other falls, and can be seen from both Argentina and Brazil. I couldn't be bothered to get a Brazilian visa, so I only visited the Argentine side.

After walking the Sendero Verde (Green Trail) to get from the entrance to the central area of the park, the first target for the day was the Circuito Inferior, or Lower Path. This trail descends from the central station to get a view of the San Martin set of falls from below: ranging from halfway down the cliffs, to the level of the lower river.

San Martin Falls

I was told to definitely take the boat ride that, from the lower river, visits both the Garganta del Diablo and the San Martin Falls, coming closer than you would think wise. From the lower path, you can see just how close the boats get. The boat makes two passes; the first time, you're allowed to take pictures, but you're fairly far away. The second time, you get super close, but have to dry-bag the camera, or it'll get ruined with water - so there aren't any really awesome pictures from down there. Suffice it to say, it's worth the US$25, and I'm properly amazed at the performance of my Novara rain pants.

The lower path terminates in a spectacular viewpoint for the falls, so of course I had to get a picture there:

Right after this I put on the rain pants because the spray was soaking me, even on the observation deck.

Dude, double rainbow...

On the falls boat ride, I met Imani, a student at Brown doing a study-abroad program in Brazil and visiting Iguazu for the weekend. After the falls boat, we took the free park-provided boat to Isla San Martin, an island sitting in the middle of the river, and took advantage of the beach and the sunshine to dry off and warm up. Afterwards, we hiked up the trail to the viewpoints on the island. The first was very disappointing - just a hole in a rock face that provided a (very small) view of the Garganta del Diablo. However, the other one provides probably the best view of the San Martin falls in the entire park:

Couldn't have asked for better photo conditions.

Yeah, it's really wet there.

On our way up Isla San Martin, we met Becca, who was on vacation before starting an MBA program. The three of us joined forces and headed over on the last train to the biggest attraction in the park: the Garganta del Diablo falls. Being there right near sunset was a fantastic idea: it really brought out amazing colors in the water:

I don't have any really good pictures of myself against the falls, because they're just too big. Nevertheless, I tried:

I'd claim this picture was 'shopped, except that I took it myself.

Really, the only way to get the idea of the extent of the falls is in panorama (the same picture I posted a couple days ago):

This is in winter. I bet in the summer, a lot of the falls on the left would connect.

The walkway out to the falls takes you over the upper river; at sunset, the view is just beautiful:

After getting back to the hostel, I realized the Internet connection was down; this would continue to be the case for the next day or two, which is why I wasn't blogging. Later that night, I met up again with Imani, Becca, and a few other people we'd met through the day for dinner: