A trip to Argentina would have been incomplete without visiting the almighty Iguazu Falls! So we hopped onto a 90-minute flight from Bueno Aires to Iguazu for a 2-day trip. And I’m so glad we did this!
Iguazu Falls: I think I’ll be short of words to describe these great, almighty, massive, mammoth, colossal falls known as Iguazu Falls! So I’m just going to list the reasons of why these falls should be on everyone’s bucket list (No exaggeration 😉 )
- With water cascades as far as the eye can see — some massive and powerful, some small and dainty — the Iguazu Falls are a shock to the system. Even the late U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was reportedly so impressed when she saw them that she purportedly said “Poor Niagara”.
- It’s nearly three times as wide as Niagara Falls and significantly wider still than Victoria Falls.
- It’s made up of a system of 275 waterfalls or cataracts, with the exact number depending on the season.
- It was voted as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in 2011.
- Iguazu Falls is pure nature. The lush, sub-tropical national parks surrounding it are teeming with wildlife. This is a haven for more than 2,000 plant species, about 400 bird species, 80 types of mammals and countless insects and invertebrate species.
- The Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish): Shaped like a horseshoe, the Devil’s Throat is the largest water curtain in the whole system and includes 14 waterfalls.
- TheArgentinean side offers the opportunity to get up close to the falls with a walking route along a series of rustic-looking boardwalks and a jet boat trip under the falling walls of water. I highly recommend taking the jet boat trip – It’s quite a sight, the boats engine revving away, fighting against the almighty currents, the spray hitting you in the face and then full throttle! You get completely soaked, but the experience is brilliant 🙂
Triple Frontier: After fantastic adventure with Iguazu Falls we spent our second day relaxing and taking an easy walk to the Triple Frontier. This is where you can stand and see all three bordering countries from one spot. We were standing in Argentina and looking across the Iguazu River to Brazil and then across the mighty Parana River where Paraguay lies. It was a beautiful day, but roasting hot!
La Aripuca: The final spot on our trip was the La Aripuca, an agricultural-ecological-tourist project depicting the richness of the Misiones Forest! The word “Aripuca” is derived from the name of a trap made by the Guaraní natives and used to catch animals without hurting them. With the purpose of improving our knowledge on this, we started our guided tour with a local host. He led us on an educational circuit through the interpretation room, the huge aripuca and the guaraní handicrafts room.
The huge aripuca is a site to remember – made up of 28 different species of native trees, with their names carved into each bark and standing tall at 17-feet. The handicrafts room was filled with unique and creative crafts, all priced at a very good rate. Insider’s tip: It’s a great place to buy gift items for everyone back home, as well as some trip mementos for yourself. After the tour, we stopped by at the small cafe to have some mate tea and mate ice-cream (yumm!)
The one place, that we couldn’t check out was the Secret Garden. It’s known as the hummingbird heaven! Do visit it the next time you are there 🙂
With this, our 2-day adventure trip to Iguazu came to an end and we headed back to Bueno Aires, with some wild, crazy, beautiful and mesmerizing memories of the place called Iguazu!
Ruchyum 