After staying out so late yesterday, we had to wake up earlier than we would have liked today. We were in for a real treat, though. We loaded up in a tour bus and headed off to the Iguazú falls. This is where we spent the entire day. We had a great tour guide, Margarita, who was very knowledgeable about the falls, the history of the natural park, and the local wildlife.
Iguazú is in a rain forest, which is a big change from the desert city of Mendoza where we spent all of last week. While walking between various locations from which to view the falls, we took a few trails through the forest. Sightings of monkeys, jaguars, pumas, and toucans are not uncommon in this area; however, we didn’t get to see any of these more exotic animals. We did see some coatis, which kind of look like raccoons, and are known for going after tourists’ snacks.
The four season cycle that graces much of the world doesn’t exist here; there is only a wet season and a dry season. It is the dry season now, and for a couple of weeks leading up to our visit, there was little rain, and the falls were reduced to a trickle. However, it has been raining pretty hard since Sunday, and this helped to get the water moving through the falls again. We were also very lucky that the rain clouds broke just as we arrived at the park this morning.
Here are a few pictures of the beautiful Iguazú falls.
We ended our visit to the falls with a ride on a boat that actually took us under a waterfall, several times! We were all soaking wet. Fortunately, we went straight from there to the hotel and had a chance to change clothes.
Oh, and it was Jacob’s birthday today! I am sure that this is a birthday that he’ll never forget.
Tomorrow, we head back to Buenos Aires, where we will stay until we leave for the U.S. on Sunday. Here’s hoping for no more flight delays!
Aaron Kelley