In memory of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. He was the first European to see the Iguazú Falls. He discovered them in 1541 or 1542 on his way to Asunción, Paraguay, where he assumed his post as adelantado of the region. After the shipwreck of an earlier expedition to North America, he traveled throughout much of what is now the United States and Mexico and was later entrusted with the administration of the Río de la Plata region.