Iguaçu Falls

At the end of our trip, we went 2 days to the Iguaçu Falls. Iguaçu means 'big water' the indian language Guarani. Indeed a right name, 'big water', the falls are quite impressive, really enormous, long rows with cascades, at some parts divided in 2 levels.The Iguaçu Falls consists of 300 cascades over a width of 2,7 km and drops 80 meters down.

What a mass of water thunders down, especially at Boca de Diablo, the devil's throat, where the waterfall starts, here the water really thunders with a tremendous strength and noise down. Fine mist sprays up and within a few seconds you look like a drowned rat.

As we were at the other places often the only guests, sometimes one couple more, Iguaçu is of course mass tourism. We had chosen to stay at the luxury hotel in the Iguaçu National Park, which overlooks the falls. The park opens at 9.00 AM, with special buses you are brought to the falls, so mass tourism arrives not earlier than 9.30 AM. At 6:30 AM it was already light, we were already accustomed to get up even earlier, but other tourists from the hotel were no early birds. At 6.00 AM we saw nobody at breakfast and afterwards in the park also nobody, although the hotel was half full. Against 9.00 AM we saw a first couple.

We also went to the Argentinian side, after walking first several hours around to admire the falls from the Brazilian side (from here you have the best view) without seeing any tourists, at the Argentinian side we had to walk in a long line of hundreds of tourists, step by step, to admire the falls. At this side you have trials, wooden and some metal decks along the edge of the falls and you could walk over the huge river which feeds the falls. Although we walked here in the middle of a big crowd, it was worthwhile to have seen the fall from this side as well, both sides have their charms.

And everywhere nose bears, they are quite accustomed to tourists and are running all the time around your legs begging for food.