Advertisement
Our first view of the Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian side.
We were totally blown away by this view - little did we know that there was so much better to come....It is impossible to write about the wonders of the Iguazu Falls. It was definitely one of the highlights of tour trip in South America. From our first glimpse of the thundering magnificence of the falls we were on a total high! After settling into our hotel in Foz de Iguacu, the closest city to the falls in Brazil, we walked to the bus station and almost immediately caught a bus out to the national park which is 20 klms from the city. Once we arrived at the Visitor’s Centre we wasted no time on catching the transit bus to the ‘Path of the Falls’ bus stop. Our first view of the falls took our breath away. We had seen many photographs but they really don’t give you the full scale of the falls.. And the noise they made! Imagine 275 waterfalls crashing 80 meters into the Rio Iguacu River which forms the border between Brazil and Argentina. The falls stretch for over 2 kilometres and end at the staggering U shaped chasm called the Devil’s Throat. Half the water which flows over the entire falls drops into this area. From this point the Parana River drops down to meet the
lower waters of the Iguacu River. The sheer power of the water here is frightening.
We walked backwards and forwards along the 1200 meter path which led to the Devil’s Throat - the river and falls were ringed with rainbows. Donning waterproofs we walked out a long boardwalk which ran above the Devil’s Throat. An unbelievable experience. In total we spent 5 hours just looking at the water before we dragged ourselves away. It was hard to leave but we had the view from the other side of the falls to look forward to the next day. Along the paths we saw many quatis, a funny little furry animal which looks like a cross between an anteater and a racoon.
Early next morning a bus took us to the border and left us there to catch the next bus after we had completed immigration. Unfortunately we had to wait a long time before another bus from the same company came through. Lots of other people were waiting with us but all were going with different bus companies. Most tourists see the falls only from Argentina, mainly because the visas for Brazil are very expensive. Puerto Iguazu, the city in Argentina
closest to the falls, was very much a tourist town. It was also very busy and we had a lot of trouble finding a hotel room. We were told that due to the eruption of the volcano in southern Chile many more people had visited the top half of South America than usual. Eventually we settled on a room which cost our entire daily budget. It was too late to visit the falls by then so we had no choice but to enjoy the luxury of our surroundings.
Next morning overfull from the wonderful buffet breakfast which came with the room we caught a bus out to the national park once again. Another amazing day followed. We walked along the upper and lower trails for another five hours. We were much closer to the falls from this side of the border and at times could not hear each other due to the incredible thunder of the water. I felt though that you had a much better overview of the falls from the Brazilian side. We could see many people out in boats going towards the falls - they were getting drenched and could probably see very little - though I
guess they all would have experienced an adrenalin rush being so close to the spray and noise. A couple of days later we read that a couple of tourists had died when their boat driver had a heart attack has he was taking the boat under the falls.
To finish the day off we caught the small train to the final station in the park where we walked along a metal walkway towards the Devil’s Throat. The walkway was a pretty amazing engineering feat in itself as it crossed the Parana River (the walkway seemed never ending at over a kilometre long). At the end of it you reached the Devil’s Throat and you felt like it was going to devour you. We were right on top of the drop - it was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. We spread some of David’s ashes at this spot - he loved waterfalls and this was certainly the king of them all!
We walked back to the Visitors Centre to catch the bus back to our hotel. A ranger kindly stopped us and pointed out a pair of toucans in the trees above us. Our first sightings of these birds
in their natural habitat - what a wonderful way to finish our visit to the park. Later that afternoon we visited a small private garden where the owner encouraged humming birds by leaving out sugared fluid for them. We spent a happy hour watching dozens of these gorgeous birds dancing - we would never tire of admiring their stunning flashes of colour as they dance around us.
It had been a truly wonderful few days and we were still on a high when we went to bed that evening. Next morning after another large breakfast we checked out and headed to the bus station to buy tickets to the Jesuit ruins in San Ignacio, and then onward to Buenos Aires.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.106s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0723s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
GRACIELA
non-member comment
Argentina
The Iguazú Falls belog to Argentina. You can see them from Brazil as well, but the Iguazú National Park belongs to Argentina. Hugs from Argentina. Graciela.