Saturday 1 January 2011

The Waterfalls of Foz de Iguaçú

Oh hai. These are the waterfalls of Foz de Iguaçú, in the south of Brazil. The waterfalls are right on the border with Argentina. In fact, the waterfalls you see right here are on the Argentinean side, but I´m on the Brazilian side taking the picture. Basically, Argentina has the falls, but Brazil has the best view, haha.

By the way, this very first picture is also the view we have from...

... our hotel.

The falls are actually a collection of dozens of individual bigger and smaller falls. The falls you see in the background are the most impressive ones, in a U-form. They´re called ´The Devil´s Throat´.


Iguaçú national park is swarming with butterflies.


But... we are here to relax as well!


Sunset over the falls is beautiful...



The Iguaçú river, where the falls are, joins the Paraná river further downstream. On that mighty river, an impressive dam was built. It´s called Itaipu, Guarani indian for ´the rock that sings´, and generates 20% of all of Brazil´s electricity, and basically all of Paraguay´s electricity. Go figure.


By the way, the place is swarming with predatory birds. I´ve never seen so many falcons in one place.

On the Itaipu dam: the far side is in Paraguay, the side I´m taking the picture on is in Brazil. The hydro powerplant is co-owned by the two nations.


On our second night, we went to a dinner-show with typical Latin American dances. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a tourist trap, but it did have its entertaining moments.


Even though Brazil has the best frontal view of the falls, it´s worth paying a visit to the Argentinean side of the falls. It takes you about two hours to get from one side to the other due to strict border controls, but the scenery is so worth it.


There are platforms that take you really close to the falls - all my pictures taken beyond this point are foggy or splattered with droplets!


I thought I´d give you a break from all that nature drama with a rustic picture from the old lookout tower on the Argentinean side.


Ready for more?

A butterfly decided it really liked the taste of the boyfriend´s toes. And apparently it was born in ´88. Impressive.


The falls, especially at sunset, are often used for wedding pictures. I can see why. Sigh...


On our last evening, there was a wedding ceremony on the lawn in front of our hotel at sunset. Idyllic, much?


On our last day, we walked up the trail to the viewpoint close the the Devil´s Throat on the Brazilian side. This is the point where the Iguaçú river calmly trottles along, and then hurtles itself dozens of meters down in the most impressive collection of waterfalls of the whole park.


All the water floating around in the air makes for constant rainbow merriness.
See how fare the viewpoint goes? It´s a feat they even managed to build that thing, because the force of the water seems immense.




Down at the furthest point of the trail, there´s so much vapor in the air that you simply get drenched. And it´s impossible to take a picture without getting the camera all wet!


All right, so that was our stay in Foz de Iguaçú national park, in a nutshell... highly recommended!



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