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Do you like dinosaurs?

If so, you might want to visit Neuquen, Argentina. This is a beautiful city that also has a rich paleontological history. In fact, there’s even a dinosaur named after Neuquen - the Neuquensaurus.

There’s also a documentary called Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia which is about dinosaurs in what is now the Patagonia region of Argentina.

All that introduction to say, if you want to visit a place that looks like it’s straight out of Jurassic Park, the Iguazu Falls (they’re split between Brazil and Argentina) have a very “prehistoric aesthetic.” When you’re walking around the Falls, it feels like you could see dinosaurs roaming about at any minute.

Here’s a picture I took at the Falls so you can see for yourself…

Now, jumping from dinosaurs to airplanes, the Iguazu Falls are a protected national park because of Alberto Santos-Dumont - a Brazilian inventor and early pioneer of aviation.

Alberto Santos-Dumont built a lot of really cool airships, airplanes, and flying machines.

If you like aircraft, history, or are into steampunk science fiction, it’s well-worth checking out some of Alberto Santos-Dumont’s aircraft designs. They’re really cool!

Santos-Dumont also helped establish the Iguacu National Park, where the Iguazu Falls are located.

The Falls are home to a lot of wild animals. There are toucans and apparently jaguars live in the park as well. But, the most common animal you’ll see when visiting are coatis. The coatis like begging for food, hanging around trashcans, and causing all kinds of general mischief.

There are also Capybaras that live in the park, but I’ve never personally seen them there. And, just a guess, they probably stay away from the large crowds of tourists.

If you’re in the region, however, and want to see another cool site, the Itaipu Dam is close to the falls and is both one of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams and a place that Capybaras always hang around. So if you go on a tour of the dam, you’re likely to see hundreds of capys relaxing nearby.

Unfortunately, the pictures I took of the Capybaras hanging out by the dam turned out very potato-quality (you take a bus around the dam’s premises so it was like trying to photograph something from a moving car), but I do have a different picture of Capybaras near a dam I can show you.

These are the local Curitiba Capybaras hanging out around a municipal project involving the local hydroelectric dam in Baragui Park.

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