Day 34 - To Iguazu

After breakfast at the hotel we taxied to the downtown airport and caught our flight to Iguazu. Argentina is in a heatwave and BA was in the 90s. Iguazu is in the jungle and even hotter - 99 by my Weather Channel app - and humid.

The Hotel Melia, where we're staying, is inside the Iguazu Falls National Park. We took their offered upgrade to a Falls View room. It's a beautiful hotel in a fabulous setting with the infinity pool below, the 270-foot tall Devil's Throat cataract throwing up mist about two miles away and Brazil on the left bank of the river below. It's a park and there are animals all over. When we checked in, they warned us to keep the balcony door locked because the Capucin monkeys have figured out how to slide it open and raid the minibar for the snacks!

I spite of the heat, I cajoled Gail to go for a walk. There are several miles of steel-grated, elevated walkways along the river and past different cataracts with viewing platforms at strategic points. The shaded paths wind through the thick jungle with palm and fig trees wrapped in vines. We took the lower circuit and strolled along with many other visitors.

The Falls has numerous cataracts (275, to be precise), some (relatively) small - 50 feet wide - and others hundreds of feet across. It is a 200-foot drop (higher than Niagra) in most places and stretches more than two and a half miles (wider than Victoria). The name comes from the local Guarani name for it - "y-guasu," meaning "big water." The peak flow (and we're pretty close to peak flow season) is more than 1.7 million gallons per second! It roars and booms and THUNDERS!

The walkway provided great views of the main set of cataracts. At one point, it stopped only about 50 feet from the cascade of water coming from 100 feet above and crashing onto a ledge right in front if you, spraying (refreshing) mist over you before tumbling another 100 feet below.

We spotted a couple toucans squawking in the trees above. A family of coatis ambled along and across the walkway, so near (and so unconcerned of the humans) we had to step out of the way. (Coatis are racoon-like mammals with ringed tails.) A black and white iguana rooted through the forest litter only a few feet from the walkway. We came back soaked in sweat but exhilarated.

After a shower we had a fine meal in the elegant dining room. A professional couple danced tangos to recorded music to entertain.Read more