The central theme of this post is water. The journey to Puerto Iguazu commenced by crossing the international bridge over the Rio Parana from Paraguay to Argentina. Border formalities were completed quickly on exiting Paraguay. Things were slower on the Argentinian side, I joined the line of motorcycles waiting at the dedicated immigration booth for two-wheelers.
There is a lot of commuter traffic into Argentina on a daily basis and chatting to the guy next to me in the motorcycle line it seems this is the daily routine, a 20-30 minute wait. With the immigration stamp in the passport it was on to customs. Obtaining the temporary vehicle import permit went smoothly and I was on my way.
The first planned stop was at the San Ignacio Mini Jesuit mission ruins, a UNESCO site on the Argentinian side. The 50 miles was punctuated by a variety of water views.
San Ignacio Mini mission ruins provided a richer experience than in Paraguay, with a museum and grounds that had a number of explanatory signs. It was interesting to see something of the local tribal culture, the Guarani, after which the Paraguayan currency is named.
The stonework was more crude than at the Paraguay missions, which leads me to believe that San Ignacio was an earlier development. The stone carvings on the principle building (church, college, workshops) were no less ornate.
North of San Ignacio, and for the remaining 150 miles to Puerto Iguazu, the landscape was dominated by forest, hundreds if not thousands of square miles of it. The smell of fresh cut lumber hung in the air, the timber industry must be doing well.
Puerto Iguazu is a tourist town. The economy is driven by visitors coming to look at the falls within the Iguazu National Park and that is what brought me here.
My hostel is in a quiet residential area so I was surprised to find a very nice restaurant just 200 yards away. Del Fonte served excellent and innovative food in a well appointed restaurant, the service was impeccable; this was NYC quality for less than $25 for three courses and wine. I wish I had my camera to record my main course, lasagna shaped like a flower - it looked great and tasted better.
So to Iguazu Falls, another UNESCO site. The images in the video do the talking. The park is full of wildlife and the variety of butterflies was astonishing, I managed to capture a couple of shots of them.
After visiting the falls I walked the short distance from my hostel to the Hito Tres Fronteras, to view the point in the river where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet. The point is just a little above where the ferry is in the picture below.
T2.
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