Global Health Adventures: Iguazú Falls

A day after my visit to the Brazilian side of the falls, I joined a group of four on a journey across the border to visit the Argenine side of Iguaçu Falls. After completing border formalities aand adjusting our watches for the one our time difference between the two countries, we arrived at the Argentine national park in mid-morning. The first activity would be a boat ride on the Iguaçu River below the falls passing under the second largest fall, soaking everyone on board. This proved to be a great way to get a very unique perspective of the falls. After climbing off the boat, we began the hike on the first of three trails in the park, the Passeio Inferior. This gave us a view of the lower portions of some of the earlier falls in the series. The Argentine side allowed for a much closer view of many of the falls, as you can see from the photos below. We then continued to the Passeio Superior, which gives a view from above of many of the earlier falls in the series of cataracts. Finally, after a lunch in the park, we headed out the third and final trail, Garganta do Diablo to view the most impressive final waterfall, known as "Devil's Throat." This required a train ride to reach the catwalk that carried us to the fall, as the catwalk that previously allowed one to continue from the Passeio Superior was washed over the falls in a flood over 10 years ago.

Devil's Throat was equally if not more impressive form the Argentine side. We had an incredible view of the walls of water plummeting into the gorge below creating an incredible tower of steam from the spray. After an hour of observing the falls, we headed back to begin the journey back to Brazil. Photos can't really do justice the magnitude of the falls, as they really need to be experienced in person, but still they do make for some impressive photos.

On the way back to Brazil, we stopped at the Three Frontiers, an overlook of the junction of the Iguaçu and Paraná rivers which meet at the border between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. After this brief stop, I returned to Brazil to get some sleep in advance of my early morning flight back to São Paulo to connect to an evening flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, the location for the next leg of my trip.

Viewing some of the Smaller Falls from the Boat