Before arriving in Foz do Iguaçu, we were trying to imagine what the place would be like, since it is purely a tourist town for one specific attraction, sort of like Milford Sound. It turns out it is Milford Sound on a lot of steroids. The town itself has a population of approximately 250,000 with 1.5 million visitors a year for the falls, so it is pretty much hotels scattered around and not a huge amount else happening.
We suspected that a lot of tourists would come in, stay at their hotel, eat at their hotel and go to see the falls. We weren’t really that much different, we were only there to see the falls but we certainly didn’t want to exist only in our hotel, one, it smelt funny and two, the food was crap. With recommendations from Gary at Latin Links Adventures, the trusty Lonely Planet guide and the ever useful Tripadvisor, it wasn’t too difficult to find a variety of good places starting with amazing pizza at Vó Bertila, more great Italian at La Mafia and finally some trusty, if somewhat lacking in spice, Mexican at El Bigodón.
The town mightn’t have much of interest, but the Iguaçu Falls are phenomenal. There had been a lot of rain prior to our arrival so there was a lot of water feeding into the falls and they were more massive than I even imagined. Unfortunately, so much water meant it was a brown colour rather than clear, but they were still spectacular.
We started on the Brazilian side of the falls, which meant we were generally below the level of the falls and gave a feeling of being surrounded by the falls. There was a constant thunder of falling water and a mist of spray from the waterfalls around us. The trails were packed and then we were suddenly stopped from going any further. Our serious lack of Portuguese left us with no idea what was going on, we just couldn’t go any further. It turned out a jaguar had been seen near the track and they needed to capture it before tourists, either on foot or by bus, could go pass. It took what felt like a long time waiting on the bus until we could get through to the Devil’s throat lookout, but since we had been directed back onto the bus, we missed some of the track.
We had been warned that you can get very wet and it would be a shame to go to Iguaçu falls without a soaking, so we certainly obliged and walked out on the boardwalks in Devil’s Throat. The wind created by the falls was amazing as it pushed the spray towards you and we were completely drenched.
After we had finished on the Brazilian side, we separated from our tour group and went to the Parque das Aves, a privately owned bird park just outside the Iguaçu park entrance. It was fascinating seeing all the amazing birds and their bright plumages, but our favourite was the Toucan, they were so cute and didn’t look real, they almost looked like cartoons.
You could go into large aviaries with the Toucans or Macaws and other birds flying around and it was hilarious trying to capture a photo as they sped passed you. The butterfly area kept us occupied as we discovered just how amazingly difficult it is to get a photo of the flying butterflies, even harder when they land on your camera.
We went over to the Argentinian side of the falls the following day. It would have to be the easiest border crossing ever, with the tour guide taking in all of the passports to be stamped and we never even had to get out of the bus. The town of Puerto Iguazú, on the Argentinian side, is much smaller than Foz du Iguaçu and appeared to be a lot cuter. The bus took us down by the river to see the three countries of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay where Rio Iguazú and Rio Parana meet. Wasn’t really much to see, was just a T-junction in the rivers, but it is interesting to see three countries at once.
The Argentinian side has a lot of boardwalks around the top of the falls so you got a much better overview of the whole falls. There was a small train to take you out to Devil’s Throat, with a one hour wait to get on it, so it probably would have been faster to walk, but our guides wouldn’t let us. We were glad we started on the Brazilian side because it gave the feeling of being in the falls and then when we saw it from the Argentinian side we could see what we had been under and understand why we were so drenched.
There was a variety of wild life around the park, including lizards, birds and South American Coatis. They were pretty cute, but as cute as they looked there was no mistaking they could be vicious. Signs were posted everywhere reminding you of how vicious they could be and that they carry rabies, so generally most tourists scarpered if they came near and particularly near your food. We saw them climbing in and out of bins so getting on a table was no trouble.
The Iguaçu Falls really are amazing and I can’t really describe them adequately, but we’re so pleased Mum had said they were a highlight for her and they certainly exceeded expectations.
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