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Published: February 3rd 2012
Iguazu - Day One
View from San Martin Island of Brazil on one side and Argentina on the otherDay 111 Monday 30
th January
Our last morning in the fabulous Posadas Urbana Hotel, the best hotel on this trip so far and we really didn’t want to be leaving, but we had a bus ticket in our pocket and needed to be moving on. After breakfast we packed our backpacks once more and went down to the foyer, checked out and said our farewells to the staff. We left a couple of our books with the guy at reception, that we had already read and didn’t want to keep hauling around with us. He seemed thrilled to be getting the books for gratis, especially “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.
Picked up a taxi out the front of the hotel for the long trip to the bus station and we were a bit worried on the way because his meter wasn’t working but in the end it was just a flat fee of 40 pesos, which was the same as when we had arrived. He then tried to direct us to where we needed to get our bus to Puerto Iguazu but was wrong, which proves that local knowledge isn’t always correct. We had to
Iguazu - Day One
Shelley with the Garganta Del Diablo wait about 30 minutes for our bus and once on board we bought a couple of empanadas off a woman who was doing the hard sell on board. They smelt so good we couldn’t resist, and except that they weren’t hot, were pretty good.
The trip today started with the same journey out of town that we have done twice already and in fact we now know better than some parts of Sydney. The bus was incredibly hot and stuffy, with barely any air con or fan to keep us cool, which made the journey unbearable. Once again we had chosen a bus that did all the stops, pulling in at every town we went through all passed nearby. One of the towns was called Eldorado, but to our surprise the streets were not paved with gold but were just red dirt and cobblestones. The trip was supposed to only take 4-5 hours but in the end was 6 hours; not as bad as some of journeys but we were glad to get off.
When we got off at 5 it was still stinking hot and we would both have loved to have just got a taxi but
Iguazu - Day One
Scott on San Martin Island with the waterfall the hotel was only 4 blocks away so we hitched on our backpacks and went marching off. Our room at The Bosetti Hotel is basic but clean and has a small kitchenette. We had expected to get a proper oven but only got a small portable electric cook top. Our safe, rather than being a digital keypad type was just a tiny keyed box in the side of the wall that we barely got our passports and cash into, but it is better than nothing. We dropped off our bags and then went down the street and had a couple of beers to settle the dust before going shopping. At the supermarket Shelley was able to pick up everything she needed to make up a fabulous vegetable pasta dinner.
Day 112 Tuesday 31
st January
Slept in today and got the breakfast delivered to the room, not because we are lazy but that is how the hotel does it here. Are you sick of hearing about our breakfasts here yet? Well this is the last hotel in Argentina so I will describe it. Four pieces of stale cold toast possibly toasted the night before,
Iguazu - Day One
Cascades of water two croissants almost stale, two little tubs of butter that were well and truly melted and possibly past their use by date, and of course weak coffee that tasted more like cardboard than coffee. The other day our Argentinian guide described his countries coffee as the worst in the world, and we could easily agree with him except we have tried Vietnamese coffee. We have decided to buy breakfast from the supermarket for the rest of the time here which is easy as it is just around the corner.
We got ready and walked to the bus station and caught the 10.50am bus to Iguazu falls about 30 minutes away. We arrived with all the crowds, which is ok because today is only a stroll around to get the lay of the land and see the smaller falls. At the large map near the entrance I (Shelley) got hit with a backpack by a man who just barged in front of me even though there was plenty of room beside me to see the map, just a little sample of some of the lovely tourist we had to put up with all day. We also had asked for the
Iguazu - Day One
Looking up the Devil's Throat second day pass which we were told to get at the entrance, here we were told we needed our passports or ID which we had left at the safe in the hotel. We were told we would have to see the ranger and he might give it to us, note the second day pass is not free the entrance fee is 100 pesos ($25) each and the second day is 50 pesos ($12.50) each. Stopped at the Park Information Centre and got a small map to plan our day and thought we would tackle the ranger on the way out.
Iguazu falls is a large complex series of falls on the Uruguay River, that stretch for over 2 kilometres and at its highest point drops 80 metres. On average the flow rate over the falls is 1,746 cubic metres per second and its maximum recorded flow was 12,800 cubic metres per second, which is 12,800 tonnes per second, a staggering figure that is really hard to comprehend. The centrepiece of the falls is the Garganta del Diablo (the Devils throat) which everyone states is best left to the last so we planned on leaving that till tomorrow and just
Iguazu - Day One
View from the Lower Circuit visiting the bulk of the other cascades today. To add to the choices the falls mark the borders between Argentina and Brazil and both sides have viewing platforms and we luckily will be visiting the Brazilian side in a few days.
The park has several walking trails and we took the Circuito Inferior Lower Trail first, walking through the Jungle on a paved walkway to Salto Lanusse and Salto Alvar Nunez Waterfalls along the way we saw our first Coati (similar to a possum), we soon realised they were everywhere especially at the canteen areas stealing food and when people tried to get it back they were aggressive. At these areas there were signs telling you not to feed them as they were not scared of humans and do bite, which I believe as I saw them grab at bags and trays with food.
The falls on this walk are beautiful including a group called Salto Gpque Bernabe Mendez, Salto Adam, Salto Eva and Salto Bossetti plus many more creating continuous falls everywhere you looked. We decided we should get the boat across to Isla San Martin, and while we were walking to the departure point we stopped
Iguazu - Day Two
Shelley of the Zodiac and looked at the zodiac boats doing rides that included going under the Salto San Martin fall. We are considering doing this tomorrow if I am not a chicken liver and the cost is ok, but today is just the sedate boat across to the island. At the island you climb the steps to a walk that goes around to lookouts and different views of the area and the waterfalls, the one thing we have noticed is that the birds are very quiet here during the day apparently they are only active early mornings and evenings. We walked back and got the boat back and continued to walk onto Circuito Superior Upper Trail. Today is very warm and humid (Scott would say very, very hot) and there is no breeze, at about 4.30pm we decided to leave.
It had been a great day but like all great tourist spots it is rather spoiled by tourists. The Iguazu Falls is Argentina’s and possibly South America’s premier tourist attraction and so they get hordes of tourists through every day and the trails do get “congested”. We always try to be considerate and friendly but you soon discover in such places that
Iguazu - Day Two
Scott on the Zodiac few others are. People barging through photo shoots, blocking paths, trying to jump queues and countless other “tourist crimes” can get tiring especially in 36 degree heat. The trails are well built but rather narrow for the large numbers that move through so part of the shine of being here is taken away by the crowded conditions. We could scream “bloody tourists” all day but then we are tourists too. On the way out we stopped at the gate and asked the guy there about seeing the ranger and getting our second day pass. The attendant asked if we had any ID even a credit card and we said no and he looked shocked then I said I knew my passport number and he agreed to give it to us as long as I brought my passport or a copy tomorrow. We jumped on a bus back to town leaving the best for tomorrow.
We got off the bus a few blocks from the bus station and went to another supermarket to see what different supplies we could get but everything is same-same, so we brought some food and headed back to the hotel. After a shower and fresh
Iguazu - Day Two
View of a zodiac going under San Martin waterfall clothes we headed to the corner café for a beer before going back to the hotel to cook dinner.
Day 113 Wednesday 1
st February
We got up earlier today and were on the bus about 9.00am and off for another day at the falls, at the ticket office we paid our extra 50 pesos each and the cashier did not even look at our passport copies. Through the gates we stopped to enquire about the zodiac boat trips and before we knew it we were booked on the Gran Adventure tour for 11.00am which included a 30 minute drive through the jungle well on a dirt road to the boat dock. This “jungle tour” was extremely lame and you saw nothing different then the walks around the area, and a walk down my parents drive would yield more things to see and talk about. It was sort of funny how the guide kept commenting about “how only yesterday we saw a puma” and “two days ago we saw a deer”, but all we saw was trucks, bulldozers and men upgrading the road. However with this tour we got a longer
Iguazu - Day Two
The boat disappearing under the waterfall boat trip and included more of the river Rio Iguazu Inferior which gave you a different perspective of the waterfalls and surrounding jungle areas, but there were hardly any rapids and it was pretty smooth sailing. The boat then took us to Salto San Martin waterfall for photos before we put all our belongings into waterproof bags. Here it was starting to get exciting as we headed around the corner to Salto Tres Mosqueteros which was our first dunking under this small waterfall which was fun, we then circled back around to Salto San Martin where we slowly drove up to the waterfall and then powered on to get under the waterfall. We all got drenched and lost visibility as soon as the wall of water hit with force, it was fantastic, and the boat drifted back out and positioned itself for another dunking. It was like being hit with a high powered fire hose whilst having a large bucket of water dropped on you. We had been worried about doing this as there is a small level of risk involved especially as two tourist drowned in an “incident” last year when the boat capsized and sank, but they do
Iguzau - Day Two
Tranquil waters leading to Garganta del Diablo put hundreds of people through it each day. But in the end this was not scary at all and I don’t know why I was worried it was just fun and I would recommend it but only pay for the shorter ride and cut the jungle jeep tour, which we did not know until we did it.
The boat dropped us off on the other side totally completely drenched, but at least our bags were dry and we squelched up the hill to the train station in the park which leads to Garganta del Diablo (throat of the Devil….great name). We only had to wait 15 minutes for the next train that goes the 2.3km to the start of the walkway which is only 1.1km walk to the main waterfall. The majority of the crowd in the park was at this location but in general the numbers seemed less than the day before, and they seemed “better behaved” today. The walk is on raised steel platforms over tranquil waters and it is hard to believe there is a big waterfall nearby, but just when I was thinking this would be a letdown the falls appeared just partially but enough
Iguazu - Day Two
First glimpse from the top of Garganta del Diablo to know it was going to be amazing. We found a spot after a short wait where we could see Garganta del Diablo in its full glory, it is so hypnotic looking at this powerful water falling and changing colour from the blue tranquil water at the top to bright green with white foam and spray as it falls over the edge. We stared for about 2 hours changing spots to great different views and being mesmerised by its beauty. This truly deserves all the hype and is one of the great spectacles in the world and has to be seen to be appreciated. It is not just the sight of thousands of tonnes of water cascading over but it is the near deafening roar and the constant soaking mist a total sensory overload. This was an amazing day but all things must come to an end so we walked back and got a very, very slow train back, followed by a walk to the entrance to catch the bus, which was very crowded and we were very lucky to get a seat.
Tonight we had decided to go out for dinner and checked out a parrilla (steakhouse) I
Iguazu - Day Two
The water powering over the top of Garganta del Diablo had seen earlier. The food was very good but also overpriced and once inside we discovered it catered to tourist buses, but we enjoyed our last dinner out in Argentina as I will cook the next two nights.
Day 114 Thursday 2
nd February
Our original plan had been to spend 4 days out at the Iguazu waterfall, but we felt that the 2 days was adequate. We had seen everything there and it would only been to revisit Garganta del Diablo or maybe do the boat trip again, but it is fairly expensive and sometimes after you have a great experience it is best just to leave it there and not run the risk of spoiling it. So rather than getting up at the crack of dawn we slept in and had our breakfast at 9.
We headed out for a walk around town checking out all the shops full of tacky souvenirs, most of which seem to be loaded with heavy bits of quartz, (not backpack friendly). By midday the only people on the streets in the heat were us, mad dogs and Englishmen, so we headed back to our hotel
Iguazu - Day Two
Shelley and Scott at Garganta del Diablo to check out the pool. We hadn’t realised our hotel had a pool till last night because it is sort of at the rear of the place behind a wall, so it was easy to miss it. We grabbed our books and towels and headed out for a swim and to relax by the pool. Because the pool was in full sun the temperature was like bath water, but it was clean so it was nice to float around in it for a while. Around 2 in the afternoon a guy turned up and opened a bar next to the pool, but we didn’t particularly wanted to be drinking so early in this heat and we abstained till 5, by which time the temperature was starting to drop. It was sort of weird because we were the only ones there for most of the afternoon and he spent his time practising his very best “Tom Cruise cocktail” tricks with the bottles and shakers. When we finally did decide to have a drink Shelley discovered that his cocktail list was very limited and included things like Rum and coke as a cocktail. She went to have a mojhita and but he
didn’t have any mint so we resorted to sharing a bottle of beer. Others turned up in the evening but no one got anything off him so we kind of felt sorry for him when we left at 7 to cook our dinner.
Had to do some shopping first and picked up more supplies at the supermarket and then Shelley once again cooked up a superb feed on our little portable stove.
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traudy glasencnik
non-member comment
WOW!!!
Looks amazing! Just beautiful. So powerful.xx