Wednesday, 13 February 2008

The Argentinian Iguazu Falls

Well, wow is the word that comes to mind about today. The arduous bus ride yesterday became all suddenly worth it.

We were up at the crack of dawn, a cool but clear morning in the tropics, and had a really nice local breakfast of fresh smoothie, coffee, yoghurt and breads. We legged it for the bus having run a little late enjoying the food (you know us!), and jumped on to the bus marked Cataratas (Spanish for 'Waterfalls') and a half hour later we arrived at the largest and most famous waterfalls in South America, the Iguazu Falls. A little train took us through the jungle and to Garganta del Diablo, the largest fall here, otherwise known as the Devil's Throat. The size and scale of the falls was just amazing, and a catwalk took us right up close, which became our first soaking of the day! We stayed there a while and just took in the whole grandeur of the falls and left for the next section further downstream.

We walked the lower and upper trails through the jungle which gave various up close and distant perspectives from the falls. We must be getting a bit snap happy because we took 300 photos between us! At the bottom of the lower trail we boarded a jetboat and took an extremely close up view of the falls. In fact so close, we actually went UNDER the falls, which was hilarious fun, and nice and cooling in the 37oC heat!! Getting back, we ate lunch overlooking the falls sharing some of our banana with an inquisitive lizard.

After finishing with the falls we decided to take a more remote jungle walk. We were greeted with a sign saying 'Keep children close, you may encounter dangerous animals', i.e. jaguar, venomous snakes and spiders etc. Well that was it. Bianca promptly packed it, and in her lovely unimitable way decided to brave it, then 3km in had an almighty hissy fit because she thought she heard a growl! More likely some leaves rustling love. Anyway, we high-tailed it out in a bid not to risk becoming a tasty snack.

Blood pressures lowered when we got back to the main path, and we wandered back to the main site down a dusty track, took the bus home and celebrated a fantastic day with a budget busting ice cream!

2 comments:

Shireen said...

Hello my favorite neice and nephew in law to be!!!! Oh my GOD how exciting! THANKS for letting us know the blog site before you left! I found this by accident when I asked daddy and maiji about how you were going....

Oh my GOD I am seething with jelousy!!! What the hell! The photo's are amazing and you look so wonderful and happy together! What an experience........

The blogg is a brilliant idea, I love it - we feel like we are coming on the ride with you....(except we're not! - way to go to make us feel shitty about being behind a bloody computer!) you are doing what I dream of..... I can't be happier for you....

can't wait to see you here and give you both a big maru jaaaan!

love, hugs and really big tight squeezes........ Shireen and robbie and the kiddies.

p.s. have you got an email we can get you on? let me know - we really want to keep up with it - so if you have time - add us onto the email list...shireen@fovphoto.com.au.

xxx ooooo xxxxx mmaaarrroooo jaaaaaannnnn!

Shireen said...

Oh yeah! And just in case I forget - Happy Birthday Darling for the 19th ....... Let us know how you celebrate it in STYLE!!!