“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life” was a sentence we heard from many different people we met in Brazil on our way here, to the Iguazu Falls. They are situated on the Iguazu River on the border between Argentina and Brazil. This way to see the waterfalls from all angles, you have to visit both countries. And so we did.
It is recommended to go first on the Brazilian side and then to the Argentinian. We did it the opposite way because of the protest of the Brazilian bus drivers. However, even in this order, the waterfalls met our high expectations.
Iguazu Falls – a huge waterfall complex
We are talking about 275 waterfalls all combined into one big system. It is hard to decide where to look first, what to take a photo of.
Every new view was even more beautiful than the last. It took our breath away, we couldn’t tear our eyes from it. On both sides, there are platforms constructed so you can take a walk and see the parts of the waterfalls from different angles. To the different levels of the falls tourist are transported by train on the Argentinian side and by a double-decker bus in Brazil (all this is included in the entrance fee). In Argentina, you could skip the bus and go back by designated paths, while in Brazil there are no such paths and it is not recommended to walk on the roads or through the forest.
There is a distance to walk from the bus stop to the falls. The path passes through a jungle and we can fulfill our desire to reach the falls but also we can see some new animals or just get really sweaty.
The other possibility for experiencing the waterfalls is by taking a trip with a boat, which is better done on the Argentinian side because it passes through more places and is cheaper. You are sure to come back soaked from head to toes.
Of course, there is the option of taking a helicopter ride or paraglider over the falls but we haven’t researched those.
Brazilian or Argentinian side?
There are differences between the prices in the two countries, but also what can be seen differs.
The Argentinian side is more closely situated to the waterfalls. It is possible to take a walk to their every part and take a wet boat trip.
On the Brazilian side, you could enjoy the landscape views from high up and see the whole falls system. There you can go deeper into the big and famous U-shaped part of the Iguazu Falls – Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat).
After, you have the opportunity to take an elevator high above the Throat and see it from a bird’s perspective.
On both sides, fun and fear were caused by small animals called Coati (of the raccoon family). Those coatis are very kind and sweet until they hear the rustling of a plastic bag. Then suddenly they launch themselves at the person who has the bag and try to grab it along with the food in it. There were several funny examples of this misfortune.
How to get to Iguazu Falls?
We took a flight from Rio de Janeiro to the Brazilian town Foz do Iguaçu. Some people travel from Buenos Aires, it could be done by bus too.
And now the story of how we got to Iguazu Falls because in our South America Grande journey there’s always a story. We took a flight from Rio with a layover in Sao Paolo to the town of Foz do Iguaçu with Gol Airlines.
We had a short nap on the second flight and as soon as we opened our eyes – a new view! We saw the river Rio Grande beneath us and one of the biggest dams in the world – Itaipu. A small white dot on Iguazu River can be seen a little farther – it is one of the most desired destinations for thousands of people, the Iguazu Falls. We managed to photograph the Friendship Bridge, which connects Brazil and Paraguay. A few days from now, we’ll be using it to get across.
And here we are, having arrived at the airport in Foz do Iguaçu. It is late in the afternoon all that is left to do is finding our hostel and filling our bellies with food. Finding the hostel turned out to be a hard task after the bus left us at the wrong stop (we even showed our destination on a map and it was followed by “yes, yes, we know it”). Walking for a kilometer or two while carrying the backpacks was no easy feat. There was nobody to ask whether we are nearing our final destination, and there were no sidewalks. And so, we walked on the edge of the road groaning until we reached the city. Luckily, we met one good guy who, instead of trying to give us directions, invited us in his van and drove us for free to the hostel. We were very grateful and managed to dig out a souvenir coaster from Bulgaria from one of the backpacks and gave it to him. He was very pleased with our gesture.
So far, so good. The hostel is great, the hosts are polite, the temperatures are more pleasant than Rio and things are going well. Our host was a little embarrassed to tell us that tomorrow there wouldn’t be a bus to the Brazilian side of the waterfalls due to a protest of the transportation workers. But we were flexible, we immediately changed our sleeping plans. We’ll stay one more night here on the Brazilian side and we’ll go see the waterfalls from both sides when staying in Brazil. Tomorrow morning we will hop on a bus to Argentina because the international buses work. The next day we’ll be in Brazil (we hope the protest will have ended by then) and then we are off to Paraguay. We’ll wait and see. And by the way, we found the cheapest and super delicious per kilo restaurant so far – 22 reals per kilogram.
Let’s travel to South America! Here’s our 2-month South America backpacking itinerary.
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