Day 3: We fly to the Iguazu Falls and see
them from Argentina
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A hot day in Iguazu, with some
amazing sights as we walk the upper and lower circuits
of the falls and have lunch in the national park.
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The above schedule gives a clue to what
turned out to be a badly planned day as far as we were
concerned. What the schedule doesn't spell out is that
we walked the Upper Circuit, immediately followed by the
Lower Circuit before lunch. We were on our feet for over
four hours and the temperature was 35 degrees C. After
lunch, we were then driven to our hotel where nothing
else was planned until dinner time. Some of our fellow
passengers opted out of walking the Lower Circuit because
of the heat and therefore missed out on the only opportunity
to do so. The obvious solution, if anybody had thought
it through, would have been to walk the Upper Circuit
before lunch followed by the Lower Circuit before going
to the hotel later in the afternoon.
Furthermore, it was wholly unnecessary
to have a 4:30am start to the day. A quite reasonable
schedule could have been made with a later flight. Significantly,
the very early flight departed from the international
airport, rather than the nearby domestic airport, requiring
an extra hour of travelling time. It seemed to us as though
Noble Caledonia or its local agent in Argentina had opted
for the cheapest flight they could get, or left it too
late to get a better one. Either way, we booked this trip
(which wasn't cheap) more than a year ago and we expected
better.
Having said all of the above, we did see
one of the great sights of the world and that aspect was
wonderful.
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A very early arrival at Ministro Pistarini International
Airport (Ezeiza) for our flight to Iguazu.
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Geoff, putting on a brave smile, despite it being
5:30am.
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At least the sun had risen by the time we boarded
our flight, which left on schedule at 7:10am.
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Our route to the Falls,
which is located in Misiones
Province, in the northeastern corner of the country. |
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...A bit of research
reveals that the aiport has been significantly upgraded
in the last few years and this is what it used to look like
when Bruce was last there. |
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From the airport, we
were driven straight into the Iguazu
National Park, a short distance away, to begin our visit. |
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From the entrance, we
walked the short distance to Estación Central to
board a train. Sadly we would not be going to Estación
Garganta, the closest station to the walkway to the Devil's
Throat (Paseo garganta del diablo), because the walkway
had been damaged by storms and wasn't accessible. Bruce
was a bit disappointed for Geoff, because this had been
one of the major highlights when he visited in 2018. Instead
we would be walking the Upper Circuit (Paseo Superior) and
the Lower Circuit (Circuito Inferior), both accessible from
Estación Cataratas. |
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Geoff had wondered why
it was necessary to get a train at all thinking that we
could just walk to the falls. Bruce, on the other hand,
remembered that the falls covers quite a large area and
that walking would take a long time, especially in today's
heat. We disembarked at Estación Cataratas, close
to the start of the upper circuit walk (see "Paseo
Superior" on the map). |
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This photo (not one
of ours) shows the full extent of the falls. We would be
seeing most of them in sections over the course of today
and tomorrow. |
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The photos tell the story!
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Geoff aimed his camera at the fish - the butterfly
photo-bombed the picture!
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We were wilting in the heat and humidity. Ever-cheerful
Caroline kept us going!
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A selection
of some of the wildlife we encountered. |
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This was a fungus of sorts.
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While we were walking
along one of the quite narrow walkways, people in front
of us called out for us to walk on the right-hand side because
this coati was scurrying along the handrail on the left,
seemingly oblivious to us. Geoff just managed to get these
pictures as he passed us. |
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We joined the lower circuit walk (Passeo
Inferior on the map) near the white tower.
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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. |
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By now, we were really struggling in the heat,
but still cheerful!
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Caroline was still looking as cool as a cucumber
as we caught the train back to the starting point.
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Finally,
we arrived at the restaurant where we could sit, relax and get cool! |
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After lunch, there was
an opportunity, for those who wanted it, to go on a boat
trip for a guaranteed wet ride to get up close and personal
with the falls. Initially, Bruce was keen to go, but the
morning's heat and long walk had taken it out of him and
he reluctantly said no. As we've mentioned before, today
could really have been planned so much better.
By 3pm, we were at our hotel, The Loi Suites, which was
a haven of peace and tranquility. Bruce had stayed here
before. For Geoff it was a new experience.
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The bridges that connect the various parts
of the hotel are fun, if a little rocky!
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An afternoon rainstorm contributed to the atmosphere
as we sipped drinks in the lounge before dinner.
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Dinner at the hotel was
excellent. We really enjoyed the King Crab Empanada starter. |
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