This weekend the group travelled north to La Provincia Misiones to see Iguazú falls, the widest waterfalls in the world. Iguazú was one of the natural wonders of the world that I always knew about, but never thought I would actually ever get the chance to go see. So, this trip was pretty special for me! Our group flew out early Friday morning and got into the town of Iguazú around noon, giving us a nice chunk of an afternoon to spend learning about the wildlife of the area. We visited Güiráoga, a wildlife reservation that specializes in the rehabilitation of birds but also rehabilitates and breeds monkeys, tapirs, and other mammals native to the Misiones province.
Toucans!
People have been feeding the coatis for so long that they have started acting like dogs/domesticated monkeys, actually jumping on people and opening up their bags for food
Iguazú area birds of prey in their flight rehabilitation area
After this tour, we left and headed towards the center of town to La Frontera Triple, the location where the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. It was pretty incredible to be able to look over the river dividing the three countries and imagine yourself in a completely new country! Each country has its own milestone painted with the national colors overlooking their respective border, so that you can see all three milestones no matter which country you are in. I was tempted to swim over to Brazil but I realized I would have to go through all of the trouble of getting a visa, etc, and it wasn't quite worth it.
Paraguay (left) and Brazil (right)
Representation of the meeting of the three countries
Argentina's milestone
Day 2 was what I was looking forward to- the day we went to see the waterfalls! The day was filled with walking to different viewpoints, seeing incredible falls, and getting as wet as possible. We had the chance to go on a boat ride and get up close and personal with the falls for about $30, so we all took it. The ride wasn't very long but it was a lot of fun to get completely soaked. The sight (and sound) of such a large volume of water falling right next to me was simply awe-inspiring.
Devil's Throat Falls from above
A trip to some of the world's largest waterfalls is not complete without a proposal
SO many waterfalls!
Post-boat ride
Some of the falls from below
You may be asking, "Amelia, why is the water so brown??" Well, because humans are such great creatures and cut down trees from massive plots of land, this deforestation has resulted in soil runoff into the river, which gets exasperated at certain times of the year. Thus, in the fall, the water is transformed from a clear blue to a murky brown.
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