iguazu falls, argentina

24 November 2006

So we visited the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls today... Funny enough, Eleanor Roosevelt who reportedly exclaimed, "Poor Niagara!" upon seeing Iguazu; they are the 2nd largest falls in the world, behind Southern Africa's Victoria Falls.

Argentina has created a natural park around the Falls - with many great trails and lots of wildlife. Iguazu is located in the tropics and it has been incredibly humid and hot. Of note, the movie The Mission featured a scene where DeNiro climbs the falls...

We were amazed at the wildlife we encountered: caiman, agouti (similar to guinea pig), 25+ species of buttterflies, 4+ species of lizards, coati (related to racoons), 25+ species of birds (including vultures, egrets, and herons), etc.

We had expected to spend one day on the Argentine side and another day on the Brasilian side of the Falls. But we have since discovered that due to Bush's international policies, the Brasilian government has reciprocated by making US citizens obtain a visa before leaving the States. Apparently, this visa costs $100 per person. Since we did not obtain said visa, we will forego illegally sneaking into Brasil, and we will go for a hike tomorrow and visit the Missions near Posadas, Argentina.

agate mines - wanda, argentina

23 November 2006

En route to Iguazu Falls, we stopped in a small Argentinian town called Wanda.

Here, one can visit amethyst mines. According to myth, in the 1940s, a woman was washing her clothing in the river. She dropped her soap, reached in to get it, and was lacerated by something very sharp under the water. Upon further inspection, she found the cause of her injury was from a geode full of amethysts!

This area is volcanic and the geodes were formed by bubbles in lava floes. During the cooling process crystals or deposits are formed. We were suprised to see that the miners can carve out tube-shaped geodes (see picture above).

The mining store sold many gorgeous jewels that we resisted the urge to buy. . . but we did take pictures!