May 5,

I was awake at 0408 as Jeff left for the front room. He said he’d been awake since two something! I managed to go back to sleep until 0500. Then we were both up for the day. Jeff had been researching of course. We had our Javas early and we finished yesterday’s blog… we’ll probably add to it. Yesterday was a great day.

At 0715, we left our place, catching a bus. We went to the Argentine side of the falls! A local bus crosses the border. That was cool! At 0733, the Easy Bus arrived, and cost 45 BRL, or $9.06 each. At 0743 we were at the Brazilian side of border control, and waiting as a big group came in just before us! By 0815, we were through. Then we went out to the bus stop for the next Easy Bus. It arrived at 0833.  Anyway 0839, we were underway…to repeat for the Argentine side. By 0857, we were off on the same bus. At 0903, we were in a taxi, sharing with 2 Italian girls – instead of waiting for the next bus. We entered the park; and by 0930, we were at the entrance and paying the taxi 22,000 ARS, or $15.85. Finally! It felt like we were in the Iguazu (spelled differently in Argentina- Spanish vs. Portuguese) National Park”. The layout reminded me of Disneyland 🤣, which is funny because I was thinking of the “Mickey Mouse-ness” way of us getting here. At 0955, we boarded the tram-train from Central Station to get to the main area of the falls, Garganta del Diablo (Throat of the Devil, or Devil’s Throat) station. There was a stop at Cascades Station, but we bypassed it. On the ride we saw lots of butterflies and walkers as well as 2 other trains that we passed. 

When we arrived, we exited to the Devil’s Throat walkway, as was the whole train load of people. So we moved out. It was 2200 m (7,211 ft) Right off we saw more Coati “beggars” and more Plush-crested Jays. Then the walkway became elevated above the spread out Iguazu river to get to the Devil’s Throat. As we got closer, there was mist in the air. The view was astonishing! The water was rushing into a U-shaped “vault”, just before it cascaded down the falls…so much churning and forced flowing!! Devil’s throat is an appropriate name!!! The sheer power here – just incredible.

We walked back and reboarded the train to the Cascades Station. We exited, and took a break, eating two carne empanadas each for 11,199.60 ARS or $8.60. At this eating area, we saw Tufted Capuchin Monkeys, our first ones in the park. Finished eating, we set out and did the two trails: the Superior and the Inferior Circuits. 

We did the Superior Circuit first, (1,750m/5,741ft). The elevated walkway started with distant views and then we went over some of those falls, which was frustrating – a little – as we could hear them and see the water surging over the rock edges, like an infinity pool (maybe that was how the idea of their design came about)🤔, but not see the cascade. Argentina has placards along the way, relating various bits of information, which helps since we could only see the top of the falls; and they name individual falls. A couple of the falls were dry or not flowing. One placard showed the water being red-brown, it seems it happens when soil washes into the water after heavy rain. Finally we arrived at the end of this circuit with the awesome views that we have been spoiled with. The people were congested here as to be expected. We waited our turn for a railing spot for pictures. Once a butterfly landed on a man’s shoulder as we were doing a shuffle. I stopped and captured it in a great picture. The butterflies have been flying all about us. We returned and saw an Austromendocino Tree Iguana. Then we did the Inferior Circuit, which was 2,500m/8,202ft. This trail had more visible falls on the way and came to the big open view that our boat had been able to go to, and our fantastic rainbow dappled our views. This trail ended circling by the Twin Sisters Waterfalls. Nice! We walked back to the train to leave.

As we exited the park, an overhead sign read:  ‘Para el que mira sin ver, la tierra es tierra nomas!’ Which translates: ‘For those who look without seeing, the earth is just the earth!’ So true. For our return: we caught the 1415 Rio Uruguay Bus back to leave at a cost of 10,000 ARS, which was $7.13 each; at 1505, on Easy Bus to do the border crossings. We were through the Argentina Immigration easy peasy, and back on the bus within two minutes. By 1535, we were heading back to Brazil, and we did not have to go through the Brazilian side. Huh?

We got off at 1600, and went to the grocery store. We then went home, showered, and fixed our supper. We had our leftover “Greek” rice that we stir fried in with more onion, pepper, and the last steak, cubed up. We also had the last of our salad fixin’s and some bread. We were hungry having only had two empanadas today. Then we tried to stay awake by watching some YouTube videos. We were exhausted, but…  Yesterday and today were both big, glorious days.