Breathless at Iguazu

No words can describe the first sight of Iguazu Falls in person. Your heart stops beating for a moment and then it flutters back to life as you gasp to catch your breath. I was not prepared. It's one of those things everyone tells you, "Iguazu Falls is the most incredible thing you've ever seen." All the standard cliches apply. I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype. I was dead wrong.

The park entrance feels a little like going to Disneyland, with multiple ticket counters, souvenier stands and turnstiles. There is even a train to help visitors cross the expanse of jungle that separates the main entrance from the falls. I decided to do the Argentine side of the falls first. Most people who have been to both sides will tell you that this is the way to do it. They boast that the Argentine side is the best and that the Brazilian side can be skipped. It is true that Argentina is home to 80% of the falls but if you have the time, do both sides.

I arrived early enough to catch the first train of the day, which was already packed to the gills with tourists. I departed at the first stop: Central Station but noticed that I was only one of four people disembarking here and was wondering if I was in the wrong place. I checked the map and this was indeed the right place to access the high and low circuits to view the falls. The next station was to access the Devil's Throat.

I had an hour before the first boat launch so I decided to do the high circuit. After a false start with down the wrong trail, following a Canadian woman, I circled back onto the right path. Honestly, this was the right way to do it. It was early enough that there were few other people on the high circuit, which fills up quickly later in the day. You hear the roar of the water well before you see it. And even before you hear the roar there is the smoke, rising above the verdant jungle in a steady, dense stream. Later, you realize that the smoke is actually mist propelled upwards from the velocity of the falls. As the roar gets louder, you begin to catch a glimpse of Iguazu through slight breaks in the jungle. Then suddenly, there it is - well, one small part of it you later realize, because it actually seems to go on forever.

In hindsight, doing the high circuit first thing, at the beginning of the day was the best thing to do. Not only is it a great way to orient yourself to the falls, but it seemed as though all the other tourists flocked to the Devil's Throat first, leaving the high and low circuits abandoned. I was in relative solitude as I explored the falls. Looking at the river that feeds the falls it seems like an impossibility that they flow with such volume and over such a great expanse of land. The river at the mouth of the falls seems so tranquil and deceptively shallow. How is it possible to feed such infinite magnificence? You can’t quite grasp it all on first sight.

Because of the power behind the falls, creating the mist, you’re never far from a rainbow, eternally, it seems, hanging in the atmosphere here. The mist means that you’re also usually damp, too. The high circuit takes you on a journey across the top of the Argentine side of the falls, allowing visitors to look down over the falls, and catch a glimpse of the Brazilian side as well. The low circuit puts you mid-level and below, down to the base of the falls, offering an entirely different perspective, each spectacular and unique in their own right.