Iguassu Falls!!! (The Argentine Side)

Get ready. . . for some of the most spectacular pictures EVER!!!

I was SOOOOOO excited when the morning dawned on the day we were going to tour Iguassu Falls!!! It took a really long time before we actually saw any waterfalls. Iguassu Falls is right on the border between Brazil and Argentina, and the two countries share the falls. Our hotel was in Brazil, and we had to cross the border with everyone on the tour bus to go see the Argentine side of the falls first. It seemed like we waited forever at that border before we finally got in! When we arrived in the national park, we waited in line with a whole lot of people to take a train to the section of the falls known as Devil's Throat. We waited and waited. . . and then we rode the train, got off it, and walked and walked and WALKED to get to Devil's Throat! And it was HOT. Not really easy for a pregnant person who doesn't like the heat, but I made it. It was an insane amount of walking, over a whole bunch of metal walkways suspended over the rivers. Finally, we started to see mist rising from part of the river and we knew we had to be getting close.

Along the way, we saw tons and tons of colorful butterflies, and some really beautiful birds like this one:

We just had to laugh at the English translations on some of the signs:

And then we found out that all the walking was definitely worth it. . . because Devil's Throat was AMAZING!!! We were right at the top of a whole ton of waterfalls crashing down into the depths below, and we literally stood right at the edge and looked down. Wow! I was floored!

I have never seen so much water in my life! Wow, what a place!

I've never been to Niagara Falls before, but Stephen has. He thought Iguassu Falls was much cooler, because you can get SO much closer to the waterfalls and really feel like you're a part of them.

I thought we got some of the most gorgeous pictures I've ever taken in my life, anywhere!

This cool butterfly decided to land on me and stayed on my hand for the longest time! I think he was actually drinking water off me, since I was dripping wet from all the spray!

After we were done at Devil's Throat, we got to walk back the whole way we had come, ride the train back down to the starting point, and then we got to walk around and see a whole bunch of other beautiful waterfalls. We were just enthralled!!! Can I live here??? Imagine waking up to that view every day!

The rainbow in the spray was just incredible!!!

And then we had our wild animal encounter!!!
Does anybody know what this guy is???

If you do I'll be way impressed! I didn't know until I read my guidebook the day before we went to the falls. This adorable critter is a Coati, and they're actually one of the most commonly seen animals in Iguassu Falls. We saw three more that day, so they really are pretty common there. But this was the first one we saw, and I was thrilled! This guy was seriously friendly!!! I never would have expected that he would get so close to us!

And here it is. . . proof that I actually petted the wild animal of Iguassu Falls!!! Aren't I brave?

The other coatis we saw that day were more skittish, but this one was sniffing around our bags and didn't seem to mind coming right up to us!

Isn't he just so CUTE??? I kinda wanted to take him home with me.

So if anybody ever goes to Brazil and wonders what to bring back for me. . . I'll take a coati, please! But only if he's a friendly one, like this guy.

We could have spent SO much more time on the Argentine side, and it still bugs me a lot that there were trails we didn't get to go on because we ran out of time. We need to go back someday and spend more time there! But we had to catch the bus to head back over and see the Brazilian side of the falls. Read my post about that next!