Iguazú: The falls and all the climbing!

I must preface these photos with an explanation.  There had been extensive raining and flooding before we left on our trip.  There were certain areas of the falls where the water was just too high and we were not allowed to go....some of the lower trails were under water and the Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat area of the falls was too dangerous because of the huge amount of water.

 There were rivers swollen and some that are normally dry areas.

 All the areas of "fog" that you see aren't fog.  It is a mist caused by the force of the water hitting the water and rocks below.

 I've been to Niagara Falls twice and I loved it.  I've seen it from both the US and the Canadian sides...

 But Niagara is like a midget compared to the huge expanse of Iguazú, especially with all the extra water!

 Normally the water here is clear, but with all the rains and rivers swollen the red clay of the area is mixed to make the water a red brown.

 Lots of people taking pictures, so when you aren't or when you are walking back from one of the platforms, you need to be sure to be on the side away from the falls, on the left so the photo buffs can get a clear shot!

 There's Barb and Steve ZoBell right in the middle of the bunch snapping a picture!

 The falls as a total location are known as the "Cataratas" The individual falls are called "Saltos"

 The three previous shots are taken just moving the camera a bit to the left each time.  The falls just go on and on...

 Even the mist is beautiful.  You feel like your going into a Mystical Land of Wonder!

 

 Yes, I really was there!I'd put on my rain poncho by now.  It helped to keep the mist off, but I was climbing so much that I sort of got all wet from the inside out!

 You can see one of the lower trails down below and why we couldn't go down there!

Here the river was right up to the walkway, so they had to sandbag it!

Wow I love this picture where you can see the water jumping up! I even caught the droplets in the air!  

 Steve and Barb ZoBell checking out their photos so far!

That's the river rushing directly under our walkway.  A great deal of the path was this way where you could see directly into the water!

This guy was carving faces into the wood.  The wood has various colors...

In the slab on the bottom left you can see ovals that are redish.  Those are the parts he used for the faces.  As the piece ages the red in the wood darkens.  Beautifl carvings many of Christ.

Lots and lots of Coatis...but you have got to be careful!

You can't put anything down for a moment.  They will think there is food in it and run off with it!

They know no fear of humans and many get obese by eating too much junk food!

This was a bird the size of a bluejay.  Just as noisy too!

Another trail we couldn't g on.

The two guys to the right of the old man in the wheelchair pushed and carried him up and down the paths and stairs so he could see the falls. It was impressive!

This was the end of the trail.  Karen went far enough to get really wet.  I decided to look from a bit further back!

Karen picked up a friend on the way back. ( The butterfly on her shoulder)

I saw a wooly worm (catepillar) on the path.

 Look for the boat....

Can you see it?

And that little boat....yeah, there are about twenty people on it...that is what you will see us on next!.....