"Iguazu Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian State of Paraná and the Argentine Province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River originates near the city of Curitiba. It flows through Brazil for most of its course. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the boundary between Brazil and Argentina.
Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" Iguazu is also often compared with Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into about 275 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world, at over 1,600 m (5,249 ft) wide and over 100 m (328 ft) in height (in low flow Victoria is split into five by islands; in high flow it can be uninterrupted). The only wider falls are extremely large rapid-like falls such as the Boyoma Falls."
I like the exclamation - "Poor Niagara!". Indeed, those people who have been to Niagara told me that it could not be compared to Iguazu. Prior to the trip, I was researching on Iguazu Falls and I was not too excited, as I have seen many waterfalls even though it is not of the same scale. I was also wondering how could anybody spend 1-2 days looking at waterfall. I was so wrong. It turned out that Iguazu Falls exceeded my expectation and I was exclaiming "Wow..wow...wow!" during my short visit. I felt like a kid seeing the world for the first time. I spent 8am-3pm at the Argentinian side and it was not enough. I missed the devil's throat as I needed to catch a flight at 6pm. =(
After the visit, I was lamenting that such a magnificent sight would be hard to match in the future. Iguazu Falls had set a new benchmark. The photo does not do it justice - this is definitely one of the places to see before you die. Highly recommend it!!!
Map
Long Exposure
Feel the force....
Beautiful.
2 layers of curtain of waterfall
The boat that we took.
(remember to wear your swimming outfit)
Curtain of water
=)
Amazing.
The Brazilian Side (which I did not visit)
Magnificent.
Sheer Power
Nice.
Still very nice.
=)
View from the boat
I was floating in the river with the view of the waterfall.
That's a priceless moment!
The peculiar thing about South America is that the cross-border flights are expensive! There is no budget airline. For example, a one-way 4-hours direct flight from Iguazu Fall (Brazilian side) to Lima, Peru costs around US$950!!!
To save some money, we decided to fly from Iguazu Fall (Argentinian side) to Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru. 3 sector flights, longer distance & 15 hours, and it cost us US$650. A saving of US$300. It really baffles me.
The LAN flight from Iguazu to Buenos Aires was delayed and we missed our connecting flight to Santiago. Fortunately, LAN was a reputable airline and made hotel arrangement & we took a direct flight to Lima the following day (skipping the transit at Santiago). We were not angry nor too nervous, as we treated it as part of the journey, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
The family from Colorado, who were also stranded like us. It was difficult to communicate with the custom officers (to allow us to cut queue to catch our flight) as we don't speak Spanish.
Staying at a good hotel in the Buenos Aires - No Bed Bugs!!!
The free Dinner was good too (Costing around US$50/person)
View from the hotel room balcony
Street of Buenos Aires at 1am.
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