Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. Naipi as a rock and Taroba as a tree in the falls over looking his lover for eternaty.
Personally I think he was pissed off with the comercial value of the apparent slow flowing waterfalls of the times and decided 275 Waterfalls, some individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, 1746 Mean anual flow rate (m³/s) (thats more rainfall then any one Australian will see in their life time.* 250 types of butterflies (too many to photograph), 71 types of mammals, dozens of species of reptiles and amphibians, not to mention the sub tropical forest might just beef it up a little.
And he was right, there are a shit load of tourists at the falls.
Iguazú, the small town on the Argentinian side where most people stay, is a sleepy little place in comparrison. Who knew it packed in so many (dumbarse) tourists…. Sorry but I HATE crowds!! Its the pack mentality, drives me insane!
So with the promise of no tourists, monkeys and Jaguars, armed with aeroguard, sun block, the sexiest sun hat youve seen since Clint Eastwood this side of 60 and some good advice (if you see a jaguar, dont run, yell scream and make yourself look twice your height using clothes or what ever else is handy (flashes back to The Gods Must Be Crazy II), I set off on my own, to a hidden water fall and a swim.
Turns out… not so much alone. 10 metres on my tail was a little german ginga (aka red head) and there he stayed for the rest of the trek….and the rest of my stay in Iguazú...like every where I turned there he was ready to talk - usually when I was jjust about to leave, so then I would feel rude leaving.
On the trail it wasnt so bad, I walked quicker so was always in frount and was a very small man so it was lucky for him I was up front, scaring all the wild life away.
No monkeys unfortunately, just Coatis (see animal digging in a bin video? Thats a Coati) and a Tucuan. (YEAH!)
Ok better make this a short read. Today I went to the Brazil side. Was also good. Took some more photos of falls/butterflies. Got bit by Mozzies. Tomorrow going to Rio DJ, Brazil
See more photos of the falls etc here:
(Igauzo set http://www.flickr.com/photos/mybestfriendjen/sets/72157622869860593/)
Or see all sets here ...
www.flickr.com/mybestfriendjen
*Exclusive of Tasmainia and all other places in Australia where it rains anually.
PS. spell check not working and neither is the apostophy key. sorry!
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