Iguazu falls is an enormous set of cataracts on the river trisecting Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Argentina holds the falls themselves, and from the Argentine side of the river one can walk under and above them. Brazil, then, we are told gives a spectacular panoramic view of the falls and surrounding region (unfortunately the Visa required for us to see them from Brazil would have been absurdly expensive, so we missed out), and Paraguay finishes a few kilometers short the falls and there is no direct line of vision from Paraguayan soil – yeah, poor old Paraguay really missed out on all the best bits of the continent.

The falls themselves don´t break any record for size; Niagra has a higher water flow, and Angel falls in Venezuela and the African Victoria falls are taller. While Iguazu falls slightly shy of these others, it’s famously beautiful. At one point the first lady of the US visited Iguazu and famously exclaimed ¨poor Niagra!¨ And I must say, admittedly without having seen any of its competitors, Iguazu must be one of the most amazing places on the planet. Its a truly breathtaking paradise. Think of the world James Cameron created for Avatar, make that more spectacular and you´ll get a good idea of what its like (he should have saved $300 million on CGI and filmed it here)

Unfortunately pictures wont do it justice, and I would do an even worse job trying to recreate it through words so I wont even try. I think its something which has to be experienced personally, because its not just the falls that are amazing, but the sounds and atmosphere, and the surrounding jungle which is teeming with life; in a few hours there we saw monkeys, armadillos, some weird giant rat thing with horse legs, toucans, and about a million of these Amazonian racoons called coates, as well as all manner of colourful birds.

Anyway it was a profoundly uplifting to visit, and I recommend anyone who has the time and money go and see it.