Iguazu Falls

The first peak ...
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Iguazu Falls or as the Brazilians call it Iguaçu Falls ... always a "must see" on my to do list ... and it was more than worth it to go there. I was impressed!! Forget the Niagara Falls, compare to these falls they are just cute ;-)

Here are some facts about the falls ... so you know what I am talking about. The falls are right at the border between Brazil and Argentina. The Rio Iguazú opens out to a width of 4km on the the top of the first falls. There are raids for 3,5km above the 75m precipice (I hope, I remembered it correctly) over which the water plunges in almost 300 falls (maybe more?) over a frontage of 2,5km, at a rate of a huge amount of water ... here I forgot the numbers ... most important fact is, that their are just breathtaking, amazing, awesome ... just indescribable!!!

... amazing ...
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So, since Monika and I read, that the best time to visit the Brazilian side is in the morning (the light was suppose to be much better for photography, a fact I could not ignore ;-) ...), we got up very early. I mean, it was still dark, when my alarm clock rang! After riding couple of buses and getting all the necessary exit and entry stamps (our campground was at the Argentinian side of the river) we arrived at the visitor center just to learn that it would not open for another hour. Argentina is a hour ahead of Brazil and somehow I forgot this fact, when I set my alarm clock the night before. I could have slept an hour longer ... oh well, at least we were not too late ;-) ... and I didn´t mind that I had toget up early. For nature I hardly ever mind ;-)

Just breathtaking ...
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At 9AM the park opened its gates and we head straight to the walkway which will take us along these amazing waterfalls ... and there they were ... there is no way, that I could have taken one picture of this ... first of all, the waterfalls are way too wide to fit on one picture and second of all, every angle changed the view ... one was more impressive than the other. It is one of the things which are hard to describe. Just go and see it by yourself. It is just unbelievable! I could write about the beauty of these falls for hours ... OK, I don´t want to bore you, so I will stop right here ... but believe me, they are just something else!

"My" Toucan ... can you see it?
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So we walked along millions of waterfalls (at least it felt like it), and whenever the sun peaked through the clouds beautiful rainbows appeared. Did I mention, how much I liked these falls? ;-) ... at the end there is a walkway put into the water which leads you right in front of the main falls. While I was standing there I could feel millions of water drops of the mist the waterfall produced ...

Next day we went to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. That national park seemed to be bigger. From this side you don´t have the big overview of the falls, but you are able to get closer to the falls. There are plenty of walkways on this side and so I started to hike to the different parts of the waterfalls.

... many colorful birds ...
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The region of the waterfalls are already considered to be art of the rain forest (i is even yellow fiber region, but I was prepared, so don´t worry). There are many different kinds of rain forests, but I forgot which one this was - shame on me! The plants and flowers were very different from the ones I am used to see in the gardens at home ;-) ... it really felt like I was in the jungle already. The only thing missing were the monkeys jumping from one tree to another ...

I saw countless colorful bird in different sizes and forms. And I saw a Toucan!!! Actually, I saw at least 5. It was really cool. This is a kind of bird, you always see on posters and pictures, but to see them in reality was much better! And then I saw so many different butterflies. Amazing! Also here, the colors, shapes and kinds were so plentiful. Sometimes at least 50 butterflies were flying around a single flower ... it really looked like these cartoons from Walt Disney, were a million of butterflies fly around a person. Now I know, they went to the jungle and steal the idea there! ;-)

... and the varity of butterflies were just amazing ...
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There were also crocodiles and turtles in the rivers, many raccoons crossed my way and then there were mosquitoes everywhere. While I was walking around I asked myself if this region was a Malaria area ... well, if so, I didn´t get bitten by one ... puh ;-)

I spend way more time at the Argentinian side of the park. A boat ride to an island was for free and there you could even swim in the river. I wished I would have know about this possibility. Because it was hot, humid and sticky that day and any way to cool of just sounded great. Even that means, I would have to share the river with crocodiles ;-) ... There was also a free train ride which brought you to the very end of the waterfalls. A bridge build of many little side arms of the river brought you right to the edge of where the main waterfalls are going down ... amazing and impressive and very loud :-) ... did I mention already, that I really loved he waterfalls? :-)

Monika and I split up right after we entered the park and I didn´t see her in the park again, but it was a big park anyway. Later I learned, that Monika decided to delay this side of the park for a day. She went back to the cashier, got the full refund of the park entrance fee and went back to the campground. Good for her :-). But I met Lina, her brother and a friend of them (never knew their names) again while I was resting on the little Island. We met the three German in La Paloma, Uruguay for the first time and since than we were travelling almost in the same buses.

When I returned to the campground I did my laundry and finally used the pool. Yeah, we had a pool at our campground. There were also a couple from Italy. They are going to travel trough South and North America with a camper. How I know this? They had a detailed map on the side of their camer which showed the complete route and timetable. How impressive and so different from what I am doing ;-). But I was planning ahead as well. I booked my flight to Africa. On March 20th I will fly from São Paulo, Brazil to Johannesburg, South Africa. Some people plan stuff two years in advance, and some do it two weeks before ;-)

Later that night we had salad and enjoyed our company for one last night. Next morning I packed my things and it was time for Monika and me to say goodbye. After all together over 4 weeks we travelled together here our paths were dividing ... it was a great time, we had our ups and downs (both our passports got stolen while we travelled together), we didn´t agree on everything (yes, I really liked Argentina way more than Chile because of the people ;-) ...), but still, I really have taken Monika into my heart. I am sure, we will see each other again. Monika gave me a cup and mate tea, because we travelled through the "mate tea" countries together (we even had one together and after the first sip the taste really becomes OK ;-) ... ). I will esteem the cup :-)