Puerto Iguazu and the Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls are some of the most expansive cascades in the world. Only Victoria Falls beats them out as the longest running line of waterfalls becuase Iguazu is broken up into segments expanding from the northern edge of Argentina into the southern most region of Brazil. Unfortunately we did not see the Brazilian side of the falls but apparently the Argentinian side is cooler anyway... apparently.

Iguazu Falls, or Las Cataratas de Iguazu, are located in the eastern corner of the northern province of Missiones. Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore the region in 1541 but the land surrounding the falls had been home to the Guarani tribe long before the Spanish conquistadores invaded.

The Guarani´s romantic myth about the creation of las Cataratas de Iguazu tells a story about young Naipi and her lover Taroba who attempt to flee their home via canoe down the Iguazu River in order to escape Naipi´s impending marriage to one of the tribal gods. The god, however, was not outsmarted by mere mortals (they should have seen that one coming perhaps?). As the myth goes, he catches them somewhere along the river and in order to stop them causes the earth to shake, breaking the river apart. As the two fall down the new falls in their canoe, the beautiful Naipi is caught in a stone and transformed into a tree that still hangs in the middle of the falls today. Her lover unfortunately falls to his doom in the lower river and is transformed into a boulder, forever fated to look up and see his beloved dangling from the waterfall but never to be reunited.

Sigh, how tragic... yet spectacular.

This is a far-away view of La Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat), the most impressive of the falls on the Argentinian side, or so they say. I like to refer to this one as Charybdis though because it reminds me of the whirlpool moster from the Odessey. Seems calm enough here, right?

What about now?

More of La Garganta del Diablo... the long view.

There were swarms of butterflies and moths flying through the park. I even had several land on my hand... and stay there the majority of our hike through the catwalks.

Sweet little coati (pronounced co-ah-tee). Apparently they might bite your hand off if you get too close feeding them. Also, you aren´t supposed to feed them to begin with (duh) but people do regardless. There are currently about 5 in rehabilitation at the local animal hospital because they were found on the park paths on the verge of death. Something about greasy, salty, sugary, over processed foods not being good for their wee-stomachs. Go figure?

This is a photo from our boat tour... notice the red rubber in the corner of the photo...

Me on said boat...

We concluded our tour of the park with this boat ride. I took this photo just a few minutes before the captain steared us directly into what appears like a gentle cloud of mist but in actuality is violent surges of upchurned water as it hits to lower river. Yes, we were soaked and it was so worth it.