Advertisement
Published: February 24th 2013
Edit Blog Post
On the evening of January 2, we departed Buenos Aries on a Via Bariloche bus for what was supposed to be a 17 hour ride. We should have arrived in Puerto Iguazú by 12:10pm, which I had hoped would give us enough time to see the Brazilian side of the falls that afternoon. But we didn't arrive until a few hours later, and by the time we had checked into our hotel and had a bite to eat, we decided lack of time dictated we should just focus on the Argentinian side the next day. We probably could have taken a taxi over to the Brazilian side to save time spent on a bus, etc. I had read the Brazilian side offers a better panaramic view, and while it has a nice restaurant (Porto Canoas) isn't really worth spending any more than half a day. But I didn't really want to risk trying to get back across the border after dark, and you can only buy entrance tickets to the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu until 5pm, one hour before close. We just didn't have the time.
If we would have had the time, a taxi would have cost $50, but
there are also local buses that will take you from the Puerto Iguazú bus station to Parque Nacional do Iguaçu. You can use Argentian pesos for the entrance fee (21.50 Brazilian reais). We would have taken the double decker park buses to the third stop, at Hotel Tropical das Cataratas, where the main trail to the waterfalls begins. The trail is 1.5 km paved, and leads to an elevator you can take to the viewing platform at the top of the falls at Porto Canoas, the good restaurant where we would have chilled and had a beer or maybe ate at the huge buffet.
Alas, we didn't do any of that so missed out on the chance to put our Brazilian visas to use. We obtained them back in 2010, and they are good until 2015 so we'll just have to return...hopefully.
So instead of going to Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, we relaxed by the Hotel St. George pool and then wandered around Puerto Iguazú until we found the Hito Argento obelisk. This spot marks where the Rio Iguazú and Rio Paraná meet, across from which you can see Brazil and Paraguay. While it was dark by the
time we got back to the hotel, we swam again because it was really hot and humid.
The next morning we woke up early and got on the first bus Argentina's Parque Nacional Iguazú. We bought the Pasaporte Verde from the Jungle Explorer tour company. This included the Gran Adventura - a truck ride trhough the jungle to boats that took us to (and under!) the falls. The package also included the Tour Ecologico, a much quieter ride on a dinghy near the entrance to the Garganta del Diablo trail. We wore our bathing suits on the boat that took us near the falls, and put all our clothes and other things in a bag they provided us, because getting so close to the falls entails getting soaked. It was so awesome and definately worth the price of the tour package, even though getting a guided tour through the park certainly isn't necessary.
The first sight I caught of the falls as we rounded the bend of Río Iguazú on the boat was absolutely breathtaking. We were able to get a few pictures from the boat before being told to put our cameras away being the soaking began.
We later got plenty of other views along the various lookout points along the Circuito Inferior and Circuito Superior trails. Unfortunately the ferry to Isla San Martin was closed due to high waters, so we didn't get a chance to hike that trail or swim at the small beach there.
After eating lunch we waited in the long line to take the Tren Ecológico to Estacion Garganta del Diablo. There were so many people, lots of them with crying babies and small children. It was a little too crowded actually, and all the people getting their pictures taken at every single look out rather than just enjoying the massive beauty started to get a little annoying. I would suggest that others go at a less busy time if possible.
We got soaked again at the Garganta del Diablo look out, but dried off pretty quickly in th heat. We tried to finish off the day by walking the Sendero Macuco, which I had read isn't as crowded with people and there's a good chance of seeing monkeys and toucans. At the end of the trail is a secluded waterfall and pool. There was a sign at the beginning
of the trail that the "pool and balcony" were closed, but it wasn't until we walked past the first part of the trail that we came to the real entrance, which was closed off with a rope and sign indicating the trail closed at 3pm. It was only 3:05, and part of me wishes we would have just hiked it anyway. But it's not a loop trail, and if the pool and lookout at the end was really closed for repairs I wasn't sure hiking the 3.6 km would be worth it. Oh well, we should have started with that trail.
Although we had to leave the park without seeing any toucans, but we did see lots of monkeys earlier in the day after the Circuito Inferior. There was a woman foolishly eating a granola bar, and a monkey came and grabbed it right out of her hands. It was a little scary, they can be really aggressive! A whole bunch of monkeys and coatis were hanging out around the eating area...not sure why anyone would eat there with so much wildlife roaming about and the numerous signs to NOT feed the wildlife. I was carrying a plastic bag
and some monkeys and coatis kept coming real close to check it out to see if it contained food they could steal from me. It did not, but they still tried to bat it out of my hands a couple times.
Some other wildlife we saw were capybaras, which our tour guide on the truck that morning kept referring to in english as "racoons" which was really annoying. They are nothing like racoons - they are more of a cross between a large rodent and a rabbit.
When we got back to the Hotel Saint George, we swam some more and discovered a cute little lizard in our room. We had a really nice dinner around the corner from our hotel. We had three different types of river fish: dorado, surubí, and pacu with a bottle of Torrontés (sweet white wine.) We sat outside on the upper balcony, and it was great; the only downside being I had caught a cold that would stay with me for most of the remainder of our trip.
The next morning, before departing Puerto Iguazú, we wandered around town a bit more until we found the Fería (market) at Felix de
Azara. There were lots of olives, oil, and wine being sold by various vendors. We bought some dried fruit and juice for our long bus ride to Rosario.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.09s; Tpl: 0.047s; cc: 11; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0308s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb