Iguazu Waterfalls

On the way in!
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We left Rio at 2.30pm and 22 and a 1/4 hours later we arrived in Foz do Iguazu.  That was our longest bus jouney to date!  We decided we wanted to stay on the Argenine side of the Iguazu Falls, where it´s a little safer so 3 buses and 2 border crossings later, we were back inthe land of Quilmes, the pesos, bife de chorizo (steak) and most importantly...wine!  We had only spent 2 weeks in Brazil..we could have easily spent a month there but it´s quite expensive, so we needed to head back to the cheaper countries.  So we were back in Argentina.

One of hundreds of butterflies in the area
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The main reason people come to Puerto Iguazu is to see the mighty Iguazu Falls - one of the biggest and most awe-inspiring waterfalls in the world.  It rates up there alongside the Angel Falls in Venzuela, the Nigara Falls in Canada and the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  This is a must-see on any bckpackers trip of south america.  We had trvelled 22 hours to see it so we were hoping it was going to exceed our expectations.

the gargante del diablo......

On the upper circuit
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The following day we caught the local bus out to the falls.  The area is easy to get around.  There are 2 walking circuits , the upper and lower circuits and a train to the most amazing ´gargante del diablo´(the devil´s throat).  We decided to walk the upper circuit first, which was only 650 meters long.  We got a good view from above a lot of waterfalls.  The whole area stretched out so far - it was impressive.

To make sure we saw the ´Gargante del Diablo´, we caught the train and rode the 2km further out of the area, where we then walked 1km to the falls.  People were passing us as they were heading back from the falls and they were soaked!  As we approached, we could see why.  There was so much spray coming off the falls.  What greeted our eyes was the biggest, thunderous, ferocious waterfall i´ve ever seen.  It was amazing.  We got soaked s we got up close and personal to it but we didn´t care!  It was very invigorating!  It was some sight.

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We walked the 2km back to do the lower circuit, which is believe it or not, below the upper circuit!  The views from there surpassed everywhere else, in terms of scenery.  The views of the falls were quite something.  The last fall on the bircuit ws another invigorating, get-soaked, wet t-shirt competition waterfall.  Some of the locals had the right idea by walking around in their bathers!

The following day we had a toss-up between seeing the falls from the Brazilian side or seeing the 2nd largest dam in the world.  We plumped for the dam.

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Itapu dam belongs to both Paraguay and Brazil.  We had to go back into Brazil to get there, althought the tour of the dam took us into Paraguay.  Here are some facts about it:

- The height of the dam is equivalent to a 65 storey building

- The construction was equivalent to building a 22 storey building every 55 minutes

- The iron and steel used in the construction would be enough to build 380 Eiffel Towers

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- The volume of concrete used is 15 times greater that that used to make the Eurotunnel

- The spillway can discharge as much as 40 times the average flow of the Iguazu Falls

Hence it´s mighty big!  It supplies 90% of Paraguay´s total electricity and 20% of Brazil´s.  There is currently a dam being built in China, the 3 Gorges Dam whcih will be bigger but it won´t surpass the amount of hydro-electricity the Itapu dam creates.

Enough of the facts!  The tour of the dam was actually quite disappointing.  They drove us around on a coach as we couldn´t see much.  We were expecting to see this mighty dam spilling water but they only open the dam 10% of the year.  Doh!  I was far too hungry and tired (from the night before, when i didn´t get a lot of sleep because a cockroach ran over my face and buzzing mosquitoes decided to try and land on my cheek every 10 minutes) to enjoy it so we went back to Puerto Iguazu, on the Argentinian side.  We caught the bus that night at 9pm, bound for Salta, in north-west Argentina.