Having seen all the best of what Patagonia has to offer we headed pretty
far north to Iguazú Falls which is at the border between Argentina,
Brazil and Paraguay. The main tourist area is on the Argentina side
but Brazil has some as well. The falls are in a sub-tropical jungle
which make for a very different experience to Niagara Falls. Approximately
80% of the 200+ falls that make up Iguazu are on the Argentinian side
but the view is excellent from both.
We booked a tour of the falls in an effort to see as much as possible of
the falls in one day. We added on the optional boat ride which gives you
a really up close and personal view of the falls including pulling right into
the splash zone of a couple of the falls.
One of the other highlights was seeing the local furry critters called
Coatimundi (Coati for short). Our kids nicknamed them Guacamoles.
They were somewhat like Raccoons but VERY aggressive with the tourists.
There are tons of warnings to avoid them while eating and not to play
or taunt them. At one point Steve was trying to eat a chocolate and
one of the Coatis climbed up his leg to get it. His leg was pretty
badly scratched up.
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The Holidays in Puerto Iguazú
Since we traveled around the Christmas and New Years holidays which is
definitely the high season here the hotel availability was poor. We ended
up at Hotel Esturion, which at some point was a nice hotel but seems in need
of a lot of maintenance/upgrades now. We would have liked to stay at the
Sheraton right at the Falls but it was $640/night (!!!) plus there is nothing
else near the hotel (other than the falls) and a 30 minute cab ride to town.
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