Adventures in South America: Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Once back from cycling, I returned to my apartment, drank some water, grabbed another bottle, and crossed the street to jump on the bus to the Argentinian Iguazu Falls national park.

The cycle trip had taken more time than I expected, and it was now after 15:00.  The park closes at 18:00, so I really was not doing it justice.  But, I do not have time tomorrow, so I had to make the most of what time I had today.

By the time I got to the park and had bought my ticket (which is not cheap, at 500 pesos [about $35 CAD], and it has be paid in cash!) it was almost 16:00.  The park entrance ticket includes a train that takes you to various trail heads, and really I only had time to go to one spot, and I chose what is called the Devil's Throat.

The train probably takes about 20 mins to get to the trail head, and the trail is probably about another kilometre or two, mostly on a boardwalk over the Iguazu River.

This picture is pretty much useless, but there is a coati in the tree here that I walked by.

While not perfect, this picture does a better job of showing off this butterfly.  There were countless butterflies on the first part of the trail.

Close to the fall themselves, the air was full of mist, and I assume the butterflies try to stay well away!

It was pretty incredible how close the viewing platform was to the falls themselves--at some spots I was pretty much looking over the ledge as I looked down (see video below).

Another fascinating thing was all these little birds, maybe swallows, that were flying around in the mist.  I assume they were eating insects that were losing control in the air around the falls, or else maybe being thrown as the water fell over the cliffs.  Unfortunately you cannot really see the birds in any of my pictures, although there are some in the photo above.

I had to be back for the last train at 17:30, and so I probably only spent about 10 minutes at the falls before turning around to head back.

This is another of my not-so-great wildlife photos; there is a red/yellow spot in the middle of this picture, which is the beak of a toucan.  I actually got to see the toucan right on the trail in front of me and I could not believe what I was seeing!  By the time I had my camera out the toucan had flown into the tree.

On the train out of the park I got to see another toucan in a tree close by.  They really are something with their enormous brightly-coloured beaks.