Iguaçu Falls

                                                                            Iguaçu Falls



The south and western flight from Sao Paulo to Foz Iguaçu via Curitiba went well and we were soon in a taxi anxiously waiting the first view of the falls. The pink hotel which we stayed with extensive grounds is located right in the Falls National Park. We walked to the hotel parking lot and even before the first sight we could hear the roar of the swift waters.

Nothing can prepare you for the panoramic view of the falls. I had a similar feeling when we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and walked over to the edge of the multi colored scenario in front of me. The roar of the falls soon becomes a hum that has the calming effect much like that of beach surf.  I closed my eyes and smelled the humid air, a blend of greens and sweet blossoms.

Iguaçu unlike Niagara is surrounded by dense tropical forest. It is hard to describe the immensity of the falls. You walk and walk on either side and when you think it is the end you turn a bend and there they are again and again at every turn. The water falls in single and multiple veils to a long drop. Water gushes from the crevices on rocks and leaps from one landing to another. In several places there are wide Horseshoe Falls like the Devil’s throat and in another it is just one massive volume of water cascading down to the bottom where boats come close enough for you to get sprayed by the wild waters.

The Falls are beautiful either in the Brazilian side where we stayed at Hotel das Cataratas or in the Argentine side. The Brazilian side sees the falls which are mostly in the Argentine side where one can walk for miles on boardwalks and bridges a few feet above the massive thundering waters of the Argentine side.

Toucans, macaws, parrots and birds of prey fly over our heads splashing color in the air, while large well fed Coatis, which we nicknamed “jungle rats” are always foraging, begging tourists for food on pathways. Here and there lizards and large iguana sunbath atop rocks while multi colored butterflies swarm playfully.


For a moment I didn’t feel I was living in this century, but in a past age where the air was clean and the forest reigned majestically, protecting and sustaining plant and animal life and where stress, anxiety and wars didn’t exist, just the primeval Garden of Eden.