Puerto Canoas

Puerto Iguazu (cataratas del Iguazu)

by crist

"IGUAZU IS LIFE"

Puerto Iguazu is a city located in the N E of the province of Misiones (Argentina). Is really near of Iguazu falls (18 km).
Is tourist center and border port because is united to Brasilian city (Foz do Iguazu) through of Tancredo Neves bridge.
To the natural beauty, is united the attraction of union of three international border. That's mean an atractive trade.
The falls was discovered in 1541 by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. This watwrfalls is located in a subtropic clim zone.

"The great show"

Iguazu " Big Water" in the Guarani language. The warwefalls of this place are a colossal wonder that must be experimented live and enjoyed with our five senses. They consist of 275 falls with a height of up to 70 m. One can go on exciting boat rides under the cascades and walk along the paths appreciating some of the animals typical of the subtropical forest. The "Devil 's Gorge" is a different spectacle which, leaving Puerto Canoas, can be enjoyed in all its majetic splendour from a distance of only fifty metres.
The rich variety of animals makes it possible for the tourist who dares go deeper into the picturesque and winding red soil road, to occasinally observe typical local species in their natural habitat: "coaties", "tapirs", "cuises" (wild rodents), "carpichos" (wild amphibiam pigs), jaguars, large colorful parrots, hummingbirds, toucans and multicoloured buterflies among others.
An extension of the Parana forest that can be appreciated in all its splendour. It houses more then 2000 well-known species of plants. Its main characteristic is the multi-layered vegetation.
Typical tropical tree-like ferns, a very varied group of orchids, kind of jungle pink and the Rosewood, considered National Monument, wonder the carefulobserver permanently.

"Iguazu Fall's"

from town to cataratas on a bus

by cochinjew

there is a that leaves the bus station and goes to the falls on the argentine side once every forty minute or so. the taxis charge about four times as much but if you are alone bus is an option but more than three people taxi would be alright.
remember you have to pay 30 pesos argentine to enter the park and please pay it and try not to avoid paying it by posing yourself as argentine or something like that. it is forthe upkeep of the park and it truly is worthwhile

BIG WATERS: Circuito Inferior

by vtveen

The lower circuit brought us closer to the falls and we had a completely different view on the falls. This loop trail (about 1 ½ km’s long) has also a couple of viewing platforms. It has on some parts stairs, but it is over most of the length accessible for wheelchairs.

Specially on the platform in front of the ‘Salto Bossetti’ we got wet from the mist and drops of water. But on such a hot day just nice to cool down a little bit.

Further on we reached the water of the Rio Iguazù and had a splendid view to Salto San Martin and later on and further away to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). On the other side of the river is Brazil.

Along this trail also leave the boats to the falls (which bring people very close - and wet - to the San Martin Fall) and to Isla San Martin.

Iguazù National Park: not only water falls

by vtveen

Off course we went to the National park to see, feel and experience the BIG WATER falls. But there is a lot more to see. One of the big pro’s of the Iguazù Falls is the fact that they are situated in the middle of the Argentinean jungle.

We loved to walk through the dense green jungle with amazing flora and fauna, which allowed us to see lots of typical trees, plants and flowers of the rainforest.
And perhaps even more amazing are the different animals we saw during our walks to the falls and along the Macuco Trail. We saw coatis, huge iguana’s, hundreds of birds and thousands of butterflies in all sizes and colours. Just wonderful !!

Just a pity most of the animals are so fast moving or do have such a good camouflage colour, which makes taking pictures almost impossible.

Puerto Iguazù - real authentic

by vtveen

Puerto Iguazù was our second destination in Argentina after visiting Buenos Aires.
And it was a completely different world: located in the middle of the jungle with lots of fluttering butterflies, (sub)tropical flowers and fantastic flowering trees. It is located in the north east of the country on the border of the Rio Iguazù, where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet each other.

The town has about 32.000 inhabitants and we felt being in real authentic South America: little bit untidy, colourful shops, loud advertisements, people living in their own pace, sometimes begging children (but never annoying). A town with a quiet and relaxing atmosphere.

Puerto Iguazù has a small centre, more or less a triangle of streets (Moreno, Brazil and Eppens) with the main streets called Aguirre and Cordoba. Here you will find everything you need as shops, (side walk) café’s, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist information, bank with ATM, office of Aerolineas Argentinas, bus station and so on.

I would highly recommend to stay in or as close as possible to the town (our hotel was 4 km’s away along Road Number 12 to the falls). It is much more convenient when you are looking for (public) transportation, finding a restaurant or just strolling around in town.
On the other hand we were very happy we decided to stay in Puerto Iguazù and not in Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil (although often recommended being cheaper), because that is just another big city without any charm. Besides we felt much more safe in Argentina than in Brazil.

Be aware it can be (very) hot during summer in Puerto Iguazù and Iguazù National Park; during our stay late November we had already temperatures of 40C !!