Flora and Fauna at Iguazu

Other than a few photos I used for an April Fools' Day post, I never posted any photos from our trip to Argentina last fall. Probably because I didn't have a blog then. I'm finally processing some photos to get prints made and thought you might enjoy a look at life in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our first stop after Buenos Aires was Iguazu Falls, located at the border of Argentina and Brazil.
The park is huge, and we ended up visiting it two days to soak it all in. And yes, I mean soak. We stood where those crazy folks are in the first photo, and if you look closely at the bottom right of this photo, you'll see a motorboat about to head into the falls. We took that ride as well. It was a lot of fun, and I didn't mind getting drenched with very cold water as the temps in Iguazu were in the upper 80s with high humidity.
We also took a slower boat ride in the upper Iguazu. I suppose if the guide had taken a wrong turn, we could have gone down the Garganta del Diablo (Throat of the Devil, seen in the upper left of the wide angle view of the falls), but I think keeping the tourists alive is a big part of the park's mission.
While on this boat ride, I learned that the angel's trumpets growing 15 to 20 feet high along the banks are hallucinogenic. Maybe that's why I didn't get a better picture of their size.

Other familiar plants in the area included this hibiscus:
Even if it grew more like a tree than a bush.
Some of the other plants were unfamiliar to me, like this one with purple tube flowers. Maybe you know it?
I also couldn't find a name for this fruit tree. Some of the fruit grows directly out of the bark instead of on branches.
I also can't identify the many butterflies we saw. My NWF field guide covers North American insects only. And well, we were in South America. Does that mean the butterflies there fly in the opposite direction?
Some of these definitely look similar to ones in my book, but I am not positive on the identifications.
I was surprised to find in my photos one of a bug.
I thought my bug love had just started this fall with my entomology training. I certainly couldn't identify many bugs then, and I definitely hadn't inspired a song but I guess I was budding bug lover in training.
One of my favorite parts of the park was the signage. As is common in tourist places where many languages are spoken, the park used visuals more than words to convey meaning. Near the waterfalls above, I found this sign:
Perhaps a little too visual was this sign:
Even if that does look like the friendlist snake ever.

My favorite sign though had to be this one:
I hope to post some more photos from other parts of Argentina, as I wade through the 2,000+ I took.