Iguazu Falls (Argentina & Brasil)

When Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the ex-president, visited the falls, she said "Poor Niagara". We haven't been to the Niagara falls (yet), but we can perfectly imagine what she was thinking. Words cannot describe this beauty of nature that is now in the running to become one of the new seven world wonders.

Iguazu Falls is a complex of around 300 falls, spread over 2.6 km. They form the natural border between Argentina and Brasil and both countries built a large park around them. Both sides offer a complete different view, so we reserved enough time to visit them both.

Argentina

On our first day we went to the Argentinan side, that contain most of the falls. We spent a whole day on the surrounding walking trails that pass by the falls. There are upper trails and lower trails, so you get the chance to see the falls from different perspectives.
We also did a truck trip through the jungle, followed by a spectacular boat trip at the bottom of the falls. The people of our hotel were kind enough to tell us upfront that you get wet on these boat trips. So as one of the only people on the boat, we took off our clothes (Joke in bikini and me in my boxers since I forgot my swimsuit). Man... were we glad that we did! We were not wet, we were completely soaked. The boat doesn't go directly under the falls, since that would kill us immediately, but still you get a full shower. Great experience though...

Apart from the falls, the surrounding nature is fantastic, so are the animals. There were Coatis running around, a relative of the racoon. Although they look adorable, there were signs all over the park that warn tourist not to feed them since they can attack when they smell food. Sadly enough (or luckily?) we didn't see pumas or jaguars that also populate the park.

Brasil

On our second day, we hired a taxi to drive us around to Brasil. Again, it didn't take us more than five minutes to get all formalities done and to cross the border while other tourists were standing in line in the burning sun.
We first visited the Itaipu dam, the biggest dam in the world. Very impressive construction, but of course our mail attractions for the day were the falls.

Where the Argentinan side provides close and detailed views, the Brazilian side gives nice panoramic views on the falls. The park is smaller than its Argentinan rival, but still worth a visit.
Crossing the border again took a little more time, because I told the Brazilian guard that I preferred the Argentinan side. Not very smart of me...

We had a great small hotel with a nice jungle garden and a swimming pool that felt like heaven after a long day at the falls. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to stay another day just to relax by the pool and to enjoy the steaming heath before we fly 4000km to the worlds southernmost city: Ushuaia.