Iguazu Falls

Iguazu falls had been high on our list of places to visit, but unfortunately for us Sara´s time in Sth America was quickly coming to an end. There was no way we could ride there and get back to Santiago for her flight, so we bit the bullet and decided to leave the bikes in Santiago and fly to Iguazu falls and then Buenos Aires.

When we arrived at Iguazu, it was nothing like we had experienced for the last 3-4 months... Suddenly we had gone from the dry desert like landscapes of Western Argentina and Patagonia and stepped out of the plane into a tropical rainforest. The houses in Puerto Iguazu, the small town that acts as a tourist service town to the falls, were all made from the red mud that coated the ground everywhere and made a stark contrast to the dark green of the rainforest.

We stayed 1 night, then headed to the falls early the next day... WOW!!! WOW!!! and WOW!!! There´s not much more that I can say to describe these falls, except that you should look at the pics I´ve already posted. People that have been to Niagara and here say that Niagara is not nearly as beautiful. The falls themselves are 2 km long and consist of several sections, some with multiple small falls and then the ¨Gargantua del Diablo¨ the most amazing single waterfall I have ever seen, which sometimes creates a plume of mist that can be seen from more than 2 km away.

It was grey and rainy the day we were there, so we missed out on the thousands of butterflies that usually inhabit the area as well as the rainbows created by the mist from the falls. But the rain could not dampen our spirits and although it did dampen us a little, we had enough spray from the waterfalls and particularly when we took a jet boat ride which ran right up underneath one of the falls that we had excepted being absolutely drenched and the fact that it wasn´t cold just made it part of the experience. We even went for a swim off a small island that sits in the middle of the falls.

All in all it was an incredible day and we were both very happy we had forked out the money to make it there.