I learned about Iguaçu/Iguazú Falls thirteen years ago during my first visit - a business trip - to Brazil. I used to buy travel books of the countries I went to so when my business trip to Brazil was confirmed, I bought a Rough Guides book to give me an idea of what sights I could see while I was there. It was in this book that I first saw a photo of Iguaçu Falls. The moment I saw that photo, I immediately knew I had to visit this place.
Iguassu/Iguazu Falls, which was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, is actually on the border of Argentina and Brazil. It is spelled Iguaçu or Iguassu in Brazil (I assume this is the Portuguese spelling) and Iguazú in Argentina (I assume this is the Spanish spelling). 80% of the falls is on the Argentina side but being on the Brazil side gives you a panoramic view of the falls. I figured that if I were to visit Iguassu, I should visit both sides. Our tour allowed us to do just that.
BRAZIL SIDE
Upon arrival at the airport, our tour guide picked us up and took us straight to Iguaçu National Park. When our tour officially began, my initial reaction was that of disappointment. There didn't seem to be a lot of water. Based on pictures I've seen in my book and online, I was expecting water to be pouring over the entire ridge. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case when we were there. I kept my disappointment to myself since I wasn't sure if my mom had any expectations of what to see here and I didn't want to douse her enthusiasm.
As we walked along the tour path, we saw several free-roaming coatis or coatimundis, which are members of the raccoon family and are native to South America. Seeing them actually lifted my spirits quite a bit. :)
As we got closer to Devil's Throat, which is the tallest part of Iguassu and where I think the largest volume of water courses through, my disappointment immediately turned into excitement. Even from afar, I could feel the power of the falls!
There are a series of walkways that allow visitors to get closer to Devil's Throat and have a much better view of it.
It started to rain but at that point, I didn't care. The views here were simply magnificent!
I took several photos under the rain before heading for cover. I wasn't the only one with that idea; there were several coatis also taking shelter.
The rain started getting stronger so even if we had just been in Iguassu for about an hour, we decided to leave and check into our hotel. Of course, before we left, I course had to have my photo taken a few more times. :)
ARGENTINA SIDE
The great thing about our private tour was that it took us through the Brazil-Argentina border via car. This made the logistics of our trip a whole a lot easier since we didn't have to worry about our luggage. We checked out of our hotel on the Brazil side, got picked up by our tour guide and the driver, put all our luggage in the car, got driven through the border, were taken to Iguazu Falls, and then driven to our hotel in Argentina afterwards. The downside was that the rain was a lot heavier on the second day.
We took a train to the entrance of Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat on the Argentina side. Once we got off the train, we walked for about 1.1 kilometers on a series of walkways over the Iguazu River. That 15-minute walk was well worth it because it allowed us to stand right over the mouth of Garganta del Diablo to catch some spectacular views!
Standing over these majestic falls was just a truly incredible experience! Despite the rain, there were many people there. And amidst the crowd, we still managed to take some decent pictures.
For the first time, I got to use the waterproof camera I bought a few years ago. I decided to bring it because I read that there is always a spray of water at Devil's Throat and I didn't want my main camera to get wet.
In retrospect, I should have just used my camera phone. The problem with my waterproof camera was that the rainwater stayed on the lens and distorted the images somewhat. Nevertheless, I am happy that we were able to capture some very memorable moments, distortion notwithstanding.
Normally, after visiting Garganta del Diablo, visitors take a walk on the upper circuit and on the lower circuit for a complete experience of a trip to Iguazu. However, because it was raining hard, our guide said we shouldn't or couldn't go down the lower circuit anymore. Our tour was then limited to the upper circuit. We walked a short distance along the upper circuit and took a few photos before we decided to cut our tour short and just head to our hotel.
The rain continued throughout the entire afternoon. My mom and I could have braved the rains and taken a taxi to the city center of Puerto Iguazu. I really wanted to visit the Triple Frontier Landmark which marks the border of three countries: Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. (Our hotel was maybe 20 minutes away from the center via taxi). However, if we did that, we would have gotten even more wet and we wouldn't have been able to dry our shoes and our clothes. It would be tough to pack wet clothes and wear wet shoes, especially considering our flight to Buenos Aires was the next morning. As such, we just stayed in our hotel, the Loi Suites Iguazú Hotel.
The other unfortunate thing was that we were unable to buy souvenirs from Iguassu/Iguazu. We didn't buy any at the Iguaçu National Park in Brazil because we thought we would have an opportunity to buy them at or near our the hotel or even the next day when we went to the Argentina side. Unfortunately, there weren't any souvenir shops in or near our hotel. We could've gotten souvenirs on the Argentina side but because we ended up being drenched, we just wanted to check into our hotel once our tour ended rather than spend time at the Iguazu souvenir shop. I also hoped that we could go to the city center and buy souvenirs there but alas, the rain kept pouring, making it very difficult to leave the hotel. The last remaining chance we had to buy souvenirs was at the airport but most of the items we saw there didn't appeal to us. The only souvenirs we were interested in were postcards but the shopkeeper told us that she didn't accept credit cards for postcard purchases. Unfortunately, we didn't have any local currency yet because we crossed the Brazil-Argentina border on the road and not through an airport so we didn't pass by any money exchange kiosks between Brazil and Argentina. And since the airport we were at was a local Argentina one, there were no currency exchange kiosks there either. (Our hotel also unfortunately didn't exchange money.)
Of course, the main purpose of this trip was to see Iguassu/Iguazu Falls and we did. This was a truly amazing and memorable experience.
Next: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Devils' Throat in Iguassu Falls, Brazil side
Iguassu/Iguazu Falls, which was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, is actually on the border of Argentina and Brazil. It is spelled Iguaçu or Iguassu in Brazil (I assume this is the Portuguese spelling) and Iguazú in Argentina (I assume this is the Spanish spelling). 80% of the falls is on the Argentina side but being on the Brazil side gives you a panoramic view of the falls. I figured that if I were to visit Iguassu, I should visit both sides. Our tour allowed us to do just that.
More of Devils' Throat
BRAZIL SIDE
Upon arrival at the airport, our tour guide picked us up and took us straight to Iguaçu National Park. When our tour officially began, my initial reaction was that of disappointment. There didn't seem to be a lot of water. Based on pictures I've seen in my book and online, I was expecting water to be pouring over the entire ridge. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case when we were there. I kept my disappointment to myself since I wasn't sure if my mom had any expectations of what to see here and I didn't want to douse her enthusiasm.
As we walked along the tour path, we saw several free-roaming coatis or coatimundis, which are members of the raccoon family and are native to South America. Seeing them actually lifted my spirits quite a bit. :)
coatis or coatimundis
As we got closer to Devil's Throat, which is the tallest part of Iguassu and where I think the largest volume of water courses through, my disappointment immediately turned into excitement. Even from afar, I could feel the power of the falls!
There are a series of walkways that allow visitors to get closer to Devil's Throat and have a much better view of it.
It started to rain but at that point, I didn't care. The views here were simply magnificent!
I took several photos under the rain before heading for cover. I wasn't the only one with that idea; there were several coatis also taking shelter.
The rain started getting stronger so even if we had just been in Iguassu for about an hour, we decided to leave and check into our hotel. Of course, before we left, I course had to have my photo taken a few more times. :)
ARGENTINA SIDE
The great thing about our private tour was that it took us through the Brazil-Argentina border via car. This made the logistics of our trip a whole a lot easier since we didn't have to worry about our luggage. We checked out of our hotel on the Brazil side, got picked up by our tour guide and the driver, put all our luggage in the car, got driven through the border, were taken to Iguazu Falls, and then driven to our hotel in Argentina afterwards. The downside was that the rain was a lot heavier on the second day.
We took a train to the entrance of Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat on the Argentina side. Once we got off the train, we walked for about 1.1 kilometers on a series of walkways over the Iguazu River. That 15-minute walk was well worth it because it allowed us to stand right over the mouth of Garganta del Diablo to catch some spectacular views!
Garganta del Diablo, or Devil's Throat, on the Argentina side
Standing over these majestic falls was just a truly incredible experience! Despite the rain, there were many people there. And amidst the crowd, we still managed to take some decent pictures.
For the first time, I got to use the waterproof camera I bought a few years ago. I decided to bring it because I read that there is always a spray of water at Devil's Throat and I didn't want my main camera to get wet.
In retrospect, I should have just used my camera phone. The problem with my waterproof camera was that the rainwater stayed on the lens and distorted the images somewhat. Nevertheless, I am happy that we were able to capture some very memorable moments, distortion notwithstanding.
Normally, after visiting Garganta del Diablo, visitors take a walk on the upper circuit and on the lower circuit for a complete experience of a trip to Iguazu. However, because it was raining hard, our guide said we shouldn't or couldn't go down the lower circuit anymore. Our tour was then limited to the upper circuit. We walked a short distance along the upper circuit and took a few photos before we decided to cut our tour short and just head to our hotel.
View from the upper circuit of Iguazu Falls on the Argentina side
The rain continued throughout the entire afternoon. My mom and I could have braved the rains and taken a taxi to the city center of Puerto Iguazu. I really wanted to visit the Triple Frontier Landmark which marks the border of three countries: Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. (Our hotel was maybe 20 minutes away from the center via taxi). However, if we did that, we would have gotten even more wet and we wouldn't have been able to dry our shoes and our clothes. It would be tough to pack wet clothes and wear wet shoes, especially considering our flight to Buenos Aires was the next morning. As such, we just stayed in our hotel, the Loi Suites Iguazú Hotel.
Lobby of Loi Suites Iguazú Hotel
The other unfortunate thing was that we were unable to buy souvenirs from Iguassu/Iguazu. We didn't buy any at the Iguaçu National Park in Brazil because we thought we would have an opportunity to buy them at or near our the hotel or even the next day when we went to the Argentina side. Unfortunately, there weren't any souvenir shops in or near our hotel. We could've gotten souvenirs on the Argentina side but because we ended up being drenched, we just wanted to check into our hotel once our tour ended rather than spend time at the Iguazu souvenir shop. I also hoped that we could go to the city center and buy souvenirs there but alas, the rain kept pouring, making it very difficult to leave the hotel. The last remaining chance we had to buy souvenirs was at the airport but most of the items we saw there didn't appeal to us. The only souvenirs we were interested in were postcards but the shopkeeper told us that she didn't accept credit cards for postcard purchases. Unfortunately, we didn't have any local currency yet because we crossed the Brazil-Argentina border on the road and not through an airport so we didn't pass by any money exchange kiosks between Brazil and Argentina. And since the airport we were at was a local Argentina one, there were no currency exchange kiosks there either. (Our hotel also unfortunately didn't exchange money.)
Of course, the main purpose of this trip was to see Iguassu/Iguazu Falls and we did. This was a truly amazing and memorable experience.
Next: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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