Iguazu Falls, Argentina - Well Worth the Effort to Get There

Iguazu Falls, Argentina Slide Show

This past August, I had the pleasure of driving with our older son, Aaron out to Williams College for his sophomore year. Aaron and I decided to take the Canadian route and visit Niagara Falls on the way. The visit to Niagara Falls was the first time for both of us. It was a spectacular way to spend an afternoon in route to Massachusetts.
Flash forward a couple months during a Jennifer, Noah, Jim travel plans meeting in a Buenos Aires hotel room on how to spend the last 5 days of our stay in South America. Jennifer voted to go to Iguazu Falls. Noah voted to stay in Buenos Aires. This left the deciding vote up to me. Let's see, an 18 hour bus ride to the Falls, spend one night there and then return on another 18 hour bus ride or see the sites of a dynamic Buenos Aires.
Like any good husband should, I voted for two 18 hour bus rides. Sorry Noah - or should I say, thank you Jennifer. No offense to Niagara Falls, but they don't really compare to Iguazu Falls. I don't have all the statistics in front of me, but the one that sticks in my mind is that Iguazu Falls stretches approximately 1.3 miles across. That is why pictures just don't do it justice. You can take picture after picture of the falls, but you can't get them all in one photo. If you want to see a video clip that does a better job of showing a portion, but not all of the Falls, click on the following link ==> Iguazu Falls Video. Be sure to have the sound on your computer on as the sound is almost as impressive as the falls themselves.
Argentina has done a very nice job of keeping the falls in a natural setting as a part of Parque Nacional Iguazu, but giving visitors many up close views. They have built paths and catwalks, but when you are viewing the falls, there are no hotels or restaurants to be seen. The walks through the jungle and viewing fauna and wildlife are an added bonus.
We took a boat ride "into the falls". The sound is deafening and the shower/mist from the falls is invigorating as you get absolutely soaked. The only downer of the day was the fact that we paid a little extra for a hotel that was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook, which was written in 2005. Let's just say that the last 3 years must have been bad years for this hotel as the humidity of the jungle made for a very musty room in a hotel well past it's glory days.
Back to the 2 long bus rides. Don't feel too sorry for us. The rides to and from the falls were on Via Bariloche, a bus company that knows more than a few things about service. In fact, I am sitting on the bus right now writing this post. The bus has wi-fi via satellite, the seats recline fully into a bed (Jennifer is sleeping to my left and Noah is sleeping to my right) and we are on our 3rd movie, 2nd meal and I was just brought a scotch. Why fly?
To view the slide show of Iguazu Falls, click on the following link ==>  Iguazu Falls, Argentina Slide Show.