Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A full day at the Iguazu Falls
(Argentinian side)
Saturday 10th November 2018
 
We were up early for breakfast at the hotel, followed by a full day of local sightseeing.
 
A Great Kiskadee (I think) seen in the grounds of the hotel.
 
A last view of the lovely hotel pools which we hadn't even had an opportunity to go close to!
 
Instead of going back to Buenos Aires after breakfast as originally planned, we spent the whole day at the falls as we made up for the delays caused by the airport strike two days ago. We only found out late in the day that Derek and I would be returning to BA on different flights... more about that later.
 
 
The entrance to the national park was a short coach ride from the hotel.
 
 
After our guide had obtained our tickets, we boarded this train.
 
From Estación Central, we took a 25 minute slow ride to Estación Garganta, from where we walked along raised walkways to the top of Garganta del Diablo (Devil's throat). Yesterday, we had only seen the Devil's throat at a distance, from the Brazilian side.
 
Our train, after disembarking at Estación Garganta.
 
Several photos taken on the raised walkways as we walked towards the top of the Devil's Throat.
 
 
 
 
 
Approaching the top of the spectacular Devil's Throat!
 
 
 
 
 
Like yesterday, it was quite difficult to take photos because of the spray.
 
 
A few minutes later, there was a slight breeze and we got really wet from the spray!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I could have spent hours there, but we only had about 30 minutes before we had to move on.
 
 
We loved seeing the wildlife, such as this coati, as we walked back to the station.
 
 
 
 
We got back on the train and went back towards the park entrance, but the excitement wasn't over yet! We got off the train at Estación Cataratas, which is close to the start of the upper circuit walk (see "Paseo Superior" on the map).
 
The upper circuit walk provides panoramic views of several waterfalls which are set in a semicircular chain. The trail is set on top of and at the edge of the falls. We certainly got some amazing views!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Looking down at the lower walking circuit. We would be walking that a bit later (after lunch).
 
 
 
 
Looking across to Brazil. We were standing in front of that hotel yesterday and looking in this direction.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We caught the train for the short ride back to the park entrance. We had a buffet lunch at the restaurant below. There was plenty of food on offer and it was good.
 
After lunch, we set off again on foot, this time to do the Circuito Inferior (lower circuit) via the short Sendero Verde (Green Trail). We joined the lower circuit walk near the white tower. Following our guide, we walked left from the tower. The path took us down several long flights of stairs to the lower Iguazu shore where we saw the Alvar Núñez, Elenita, and Lanusse waterfalls. Afterwards we walked up again and, turning right, we were treated to excellent views of the Isla San Martin and a bit further on, the ring of falls that we had seen from the upper circuit. As we got closer to the first of them, the Bosetti Waterfall, we were able to get very close indeed to the wall of water, which was very exciting. Continuing our walk, we saw about three smaller falls as we made our way back to our starting point. After such a long walk, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that our final destination for a rest and later, dinner, was only a short walk away (the hotel in the centre foreground of this map).
 
 
 
 
 
Isla San Martin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bosetti Waterfall
 
 
 
Dos Hermanus Falls
 
Finally, a chance to have a drink and a rest before dinner!
 
 
 
This was the amazing view we enjoyed over another large meal!
 
The group photo - we had bonded well!
 
 
 

It was time to receive the bad news about our return flights to Buenos Aires. Apparently, heavy rainfall in BA had caused major delays to all flights, which were still recovering from the strike action two days ago. Consequently, further revisions to our flights had had to be made and the group was going to be split into two. The first group, including Derek, would be flying back later this evening. The second group, which included me, would only fly back at around 4:00 am tomorrow. This meant that I would have to return to the hotel I had checked out of this morning and I'd need to get up at 2:30 am to return to the airport. In the end, both of our flights got delayed by a couple of hours. Derek finally got back to BA at around 2:30am and I arrived at about 7:00am.

I got a somewhat unnecessary room upgrade. I was so tired that I couldn't appreciate it very much.
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble