Iguazu Waterfalls - Brazilian Side

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First a quick note on our 22 hr bus journey from Rio to Foz de Iguazu. It wasn’t the best journey I’ve ever been on. Our seats were allocated and we had seats 1 & 2 which were right up the front. That was great as it meant we were away from the toilet but bad because it was behind the driver and I had no leg room compared to the other seats. It went by pretty fast but it was hell to sleep when you wanted to. All the bus journey I was trying to stop myself sleeping until it was actually time and when the time came I was as wide awake as I’ll ever be. Murphy’s law I guess. We stopped a few times but we actually only got off the bus once. When the driver stopped he would shout down the bus in Portuguese and no one had a clue what he was saying. Everyone looked around in confusion and no one would get off for fear he would drive off or in case he was telling us not to move while he was gone. It was a long journey and the seats barely reclined enough.

We pulled in to Foz do Iguazu at about 12pm and headed straight to the taxi rank. To some people getting on a local bus with a 20kg bag on your back and a 10kg bag on your front in 30 degree heat is fun, to us its not. We got our taxi straight to Charm Iguazu Suites, just a little outside the centre of town. We have quite a nice room with TV and a fridge, which is handy in this weather for storing water. Its $40 a night here for a double room which is dear for our budget and we would have to come home soon if we were paying this much every night for accommodation.

We didn’t take to long to leave our room in search of the waterfalls and headed off in what we thought was the direction of the bus stop. We would sit at a bus stop and ask the bus when it came if it was going to ‘Parque National’. For five different bus stops we were sent to the next bus either by locals at the stop or the next bus that came to stop. We were starting to feel defeated and we decided that if the next bus wasn’t it, we were going to load up on food in the supermarket and lay by the pool for the day. Fate though was to make sure we went to the falls. The bus arrived within seconds of our decision to head for the pool and instead we were on our way to the national park. It is a good 10km or so outside town. When we arrived we got a small bite to eat and then bought our tickets. At €7 each it wasn’t bad value and there is a bus to bring you to the waterfalls.

We got out at stop 11, which is a trail about 1.5km to the waterfalls. Along the way we saw many small waterfalls and lots of amazingly colourful butterflies. The walk was nice and not to strenuous, with only the heat slowing us down. We saw a cool raccoon type animal along the walk that apparently stalks people for food. The signs say not to feed them but lots of people do. Soon we could hear the roar of the falls and it got louder as we approached. There was plenty of gangways built for people to have a better look and the photo’s do it no justice. The spray from the falls as you got near was a welcome relief and helped us cool down. When we were finished taking photo’s we headed to the top to have an over view of the falls. You could see the Argentinean side and the people over there. We were now feeling tired and the last days journey was catching up with us. We stopped of in the supermarket and got some ham, cheese, bread and fruit for dinner. We didn’t have the energy to shower, change and head to town so this was the easiest. We were in contact with home last night on the webcam and it really does make it easier when you can see everyone at home. We slept well that night after watching Arsenal knock out Roma in the champions league(well done Benny!).

We were meant to get up and hit the road back to the waterfalls for some adventure sports at nine that morning but we only made it out of bed at that time! We had a lovely breakfast of guess what….bread, cheese and fruit. I’d kill for a bowl of cornflakes right now. Also for breakfast we you could have all sorts of sugary cakes so I indulged in that too. Cinnamon pastry, sugared pastry, chocolate covered sponge, fudge cake and many more. Here in Brazil as I have said before, they love their sugar and there are buns, doughnuts and all sorts of cake absolutely covered in sugar. Also they have this drink called Gurana that tastes slightly appley and that is extremely popular which I think I am now addicted to. Anyway, we soon hit the road again this time knowing where to catch the bus. We were a little bit more confident and walked up the street as if we were locals. A bus came which we knew was not the one and some tourists made a burst for it. We knew which one it was but only because we were the ones making a burst for every bus the previous day.

We had decided to back to the falls, not to see them again but to get a speed boat up as close as possible to the waterfalls. The cost of the tour was very expensive at €60 each and we had to think twice about doing it. It was a trek for half and hour through the jungle and then a walk for about 20 mins to the pier for the speed boat. The jeep tour was kind of boring as all we did was drive through trees on a nice and safe path. The walk was more interesting but again it was on a wooden walk way and wasn’t tough at all. We stopped at a small waterfall and took some photo’s and then moved on to the boat ride. We got our life jackets and boarded pretty quick and hoped on board our speed boat. The boat took us up the Parana river towards the waterfalls. The scenery around us was amazing and the boat ride was thrilling. We obviously couldn’t go near the big falls as we would have been just swallowed up by the sheer force of the falling water so we got close to other big falls. There are 270 in total so we had a bit of choice. We stopped for a few minutes and were then told to put our cameras in a waterproof bag as the fun was about to begin. The boat approached a relatively small waterfall by local standards and drove us underneath it. We got soaked to the bone and it was great fun. We repeated this a few times before setting off back down the river to our pier. On our way back we got caught up in the middle of the filming of a Brazilian soap opera. It was two speedboats chasing each other obviously in cops and robbers mode. They were all standing up in the boat holding on for dear life as a support boat followed filming them. I couldn’t tell you if the soap stars were famous or not but it mad our trip a little more interesting. The boat took its time to get back to the pier and the views were amazing. I had one of those moments I described in my first blog where knew this was one of the reasons I came travelling. It was well worth the €60 in the end if only for the stunning scenery. We got the bus to the end of the trek and had lunch looking out over the top of the falls. On the other side was the Argentinean side and we could see lots of people over there too. That’s where we head tomorrow and we will stay there for two days. It’s meant to be even better so we cant wait.

We cant believe our first week is over so quick and everything has been brilliant so far. We met an elderly Canadian couple who were on our tour. They said they were going on a cruise for 32 days from Rio to San Francisco. Michelle said wouldn’t it be cool to go on a cruise. I had to re-inform her that we were on a different type of cruise for 9 months and I think some times both of us forget this.

Next up is Argentina for 32 days and we are already looking forward to huge steaks and great wine. For now we say goodbye to Brazil with a lump in our throats. One thing we do know is that we will return to this great country and give it a little bit more time it deserves. We don’t know when yet, but we will!

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Comments

[BUDDY]

Waterfalls look class happy snapper

[barrygahan]

I don't miss those long bus journeys!
Good luck in Argentina and hope you get to see the rugby too!