Description of the attraction
Iguazu Falls is located on the river of the same name, on the border of Brazil and Argentina. The name "Iguazu" is translated as "big water". It is not for nothing that Iguazu is called one of the seven wonders of the world: its width reaches more than 2500 meters. The height of the cascades varies according to different sources from 70 to 80 meters. The waterfall is the most powerful and widest on the planet.
Iguazu is a system of almost 300 stepped cascades, each of which reaches a height of about 85 meters. One of them runs the border between Argentina and Brazil.
Myths and facts
Local residents have their own legend about the origin of the waterfall. According to legend, the beautiful aboriginal Naipu fled with another man when the god of her tribe decided to marry her. In anger, the god divided the river, and waterfalls turned out, which doomed the fugitive to eternal fall.
The first European to see the waterfall was the conquistador Don Alvaro Nunez Caseso de Baca. His name was immortalized on a slab near the Arayagaray cascade. The conquistador was religious and named the waterfall Salto de Santa Maria ("Saint Mary's Leap"). But the name did not catch on. The waterfall was forgotten, and the first map of the area was drawn only at the end of the nineteenth century.
All cascades of the waterfall have received very sonorous names. On the territory of Argentina there are cascades of Two Sisters, Ramirez, Miter, Adam and Eve, Two and Three Musketeers and others. On the territory of Brazil - Union, Salto - Floriano, Benjamin - Constant and many others.
Everything for the convenience of tourists
Today Iguazu is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Argentina. Most of the cascades are located on the territory of this country. For tourists, special bridges with a length of 2 km were built here. These bridges connect small islands protruding from the seething water.
The Argentine government has issued a decree establishing the Iguazu National Park to protect and preserve the falls in the future. Not far from Iguazu there is a village, hotel complexes, which include restaurants, hotels, an airfield, and souvenir shops.
