We’d seen so much our first day. Little did we know we were about to have our minds blown—again.
We bee-lined it back to the train and found a group of young coatis in a cuddlefest.
They have signs and videos playing on screens all over the park warning people not to get too close or feed the coatis or monkeys. As with most wild animals that are fed by humans, coatis and monkeys can form a habit of getting fed by humans, can get aggressive with bites/scratches, and can develop serious illnesses, like diabetes. Sadly, most people are overcome by their racoon-like cuteness to feel afraid or worried.
On day 2 we thought we’d take the train from the entrance all the way to the Garganta del Diablo, especially because it looked like such a long walk!
The train takes you from the entrance to the waterfalls station, close to the the lower circuit and upper circuit startingpoints. We had to get off here to switch trains for the rest of the journey to the Garganta del Diablo. It’s such a short distance, though, and since we had to disembark/re-embark anyway it would have been nicer to walk through the jungle paths to the waterfalls station like we did yesterday.
Now from the waterfalls station to the end is a longer, uncovered walk and the path is right next to the train tracks. It’s a very slow-moving train, barely faster than walking, but at least it’s shaded with the slight breeze of the train’s movement.
With no rain or clouds in sight butterflies were even more abundant! They like sweat, and people have tons of it. I don’t even think the guy looking at his camera phone noticed he had one on his head.
They were especially concentrated around the path entrance to the Garganta del Diablo.
Video: butterflies in the air
The path to the falls is a series of long bridges spanning the width of the waters and river.
It was so bright and so misty, every time a gust of wind would blow mist up, the rainbows would get stronger and longer. Until now I’ve never seen a rainbow with 270 degrees before! It’s truly a wonder of the world. Download a video panorama.
Once we were thoroughly misted, we returned to Cataratas station to enjoy the upper circuit walk to see the tops of the falls (and more rainbows!).
More wildlife, of course, and one more jaunt with some monkeys before the park closed!
A few fun facts we learned from the display at hito tres fronteras:
- Iguazú falls is the result of 2 rivers meeting
- The area has 2 MILLION BILLION liters of water underground
- There are at least 275 falls at any given time
- 12 million liters of water fall every second
Splendor is the only way to describe the falls.
Yes, un-missable on a trip to Argentina!
I’ll second Eve’s falls comment! Love the amazing wildlfe photos too! How large was that luminescent blue-greeen beetle?
Thanks! The beetle was smaller than a quarter in diameter, maybe closer to that of a nickel.