Today was our first day to visit to the Argentinian side of Iguazu falls. The taxi driver we had from the airport was really helpful and friendly the previous day, so we had taken his phone number down, and asked him to pick us up in the afternoon, around 1pm. We spent a relaxing morning in our lodge, surrounded by morning birds and dew…a true forest experience!
The taxi took us around 30 minutes to get to the entrance of the Argentinian Iguazu falls. Once at the falls, we had to buy entrance tickets, all in Argentinian pesos (cash). Thankfully, we had enough on us. Buying tickets gives you a 50% discount for your tickets the next day, so we made sure to save our stubs. We headed into the park, and oriented ourselves with this map.
There is one train that takes you to two stops within the park, and a couple of walking trails. Among other activities, there is a jet boat ride in the park that takes you close to the falls, and we were keen on doing that. We found the Jungle Tours counter, and bought jet boat tickets. We then took the train to the first stop, and continued on the lower falls trail, which would lead us to the starting point of the boats.
The scenery was lush and green, as a tropical rainforest would be. After 15 minutes of walking, we were greeted with our first set of falls. Photos don’t do the size and volume justice. Even though this would have been a tiny percentage of the total falls, we were already mesmerized with the sheer force of this water.
After continuing on the lower trail, we reached the dock of the jet boats. The trail split into two – one part continued onto the lower falls lookout, and another climbed steeply down to the starting point for the jets. Because Baby V could not go on the jet (minimum 14 years), we split up and went on the jet separately.
The jet boat ride was exhilarating! It lasts about 20 minutes, and takes you near a couple of the waterfalls. It goes into the mist of this horseshoe shaped falls, and you get completely drenched! Thank God the outside temperate was 100 deg F!
After taking turns on the jet boat, we went back to the lower falls lookout. Baby V had no fear in her eyes, as we stood close to the thundering falls, mist spraying on her.
It was around 6pm this time, and we were ready to head back to our lodge. Since there were other kids in our group who could not go on the jet boat ride, we had purchased a river safari boat for our group the next day (there was no minimum age). We had a full day planned for tomorrow, so we headed back to a home cooked Indian meal once again!
