Part 1

Words and pictures are seriously not enough to describe their amazing natural beauty.

Being in my own country, I had heard marvels about the falls since I was young and had seen them in pictures, documentaries, and even schoolbooks. But I must say that nothing, I mean nothing, can make you imagine the wonder of the experience of visiting them.

The 1.277 km that separate them from Buenos Aires, my hometown, had made the visit somewhat elusive. Also, because you feel that though they are far, they are part of your country, and this makes you think that you’ll always have the opportunity to visit. I’m so glad we decided to take the trip with my family a few years ago.

Iguazú falls are located in the Northeast corner of Argentina in the limit with Brazil in the province of Misiones. We flew out from Buenos Aires one fine September afternoon, and we were there a few hours before sunset. We had decided we would go for the totally immersive experience and stay in the hotel inside the Iguazú National Park which has a spectacular view of the falls from its lobby.

This meant we could see the falls while we were checking in!

Its most expensive rooms have this view too, but we stayed at the rooms with a jungle view figuring that being able to enjoy the “Cataratas” from the lobby or from the hotel garden was quite enough.

Minutes after leaving our stuff in the room, since the hotel is inside the National Park, we able to take a walk along the nearby walkways just steps from the hotel garden. At this hour most of the tourists are returning to their buses to get back to their hotels downtown, so it is a very calm time of the day, and we were almost alone in the park. As soon as we walked the first few steps, we were immersed in the jungle surrounded by the rumble of the waterfalls. Each step you take, you are surprised by the beauty and marvel of the falls or the number of butterflies, bugs, and birds you can spot on the handrails or on the splendorous jungle vegetation. No question they are considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Random butterfly on walkway handrail

Toucan spotted

In Guaraní, the language of the native people, Iguazú means “big water”.

And it truly is the largest waterfall system in the world with 275 different waterfalls and an average height of 82 m and 2700 m wide.

View of the falls from one of the walkways

After our first couple of hours inside the park we were completely fascinated and ready for an early start the next day to enjoy them in full. Our day ended with a light meal at the hotel bar and breathing in the balmy jungle air.

Jungle sunset

See my other articles: >> iguazu Falls: meet the coati >> monkey business at iguazu

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