Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The ruins are on the RP2 between Concepción de la Sierra and San Javier, 110km
southeast of Posadas. To get there, take a bus from Posadas to Concepción de la Sierra.
There, change to a San Javier-bound service and ask the driver to let you off at the ruins,
which are some 25km down the road. You can get a San Javier-bound bus direct from
Posadas, but make sure it runs via the ruins; some go a different way.
IGUAZÚ FALLS
One of the planet's most awe-inspiring sights, the Iguazú Falls are simply astounding. A
visit is a jaw-dropping, visceral experience, and the power and noise of the cascades - a
chain of hundreds of waterfalls nearly 3km in extension - live forever in the memory. An
added benefit is the setting: the falls lie split between Brazil and Argentina in a large ex-
panse of national park, much of it rainforest teeming with unique flora and fauna.
The falls are easily reached from either side of the Argentine-Brazilian border, as well
as from nearby Paraguay. Both Argentina's Puerto Iguazú and Foz do Iguaçu, on the
Brazilian side, have a wide choice of accommodations.
History & Environment
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his 1542 expedition were the first Europeans to view
the falls. According to Guaraní tradition the falls originated when an Indian warrior
named Caroba incurred the wrath of a forest god by escaping downriver in a canoe with a
young girl, Naipur, with whom the god was infatuated. Enraged, the god caused the ri-
verbed to collapse in front of the lovers, producing a line of precipitous falls over which
Naipur fell and, at their base, turned into a rock. Caroba survived as a tree overlooking it.
Geologists have a more prosaic explanation. The Río Iguazú's course takes it over a
basaltic plateau that ends abruptly just short of the confluence with the Paraná. Where
the lava flow stopped, thousands of cubic meters of water per second now plunge down
as much as 80m into sedimentary terrain below. Before reaching the falls, the river di-
vides into many channels with hidden reefs, rocks and islands separating the many visu-
ally distinct cascades that together form the famous
cataratas
(waterfalls). In total, the
falls stretch around 2.7km.
Seeing the Falls
The Brazilian and Argentine sides offer different views and experiences. Go to both (per-
haps to the Brazilian first) and hope for sun. The difference between a clear and an over-
cast day at the falls is vast, only in part because of the rainbows and butterflies that
