TNT Travels

We got the Pousada Rio Das Aguas (b&b) to recommend a driver that does the airport shuttle run and takes you to the falls. Giovanni was a star, he was like a combination of a tour guide and a taxi driver.

The pousada we stayed in was a friendly place which had a resident character, Frederico, the Pousada’s pet bird. Apparently, he was rescued as wouldn’t have survived in the wild due to a problem with his eye. He was hilarious. He shouts ‘hola’ and wolf whistles and showboats when you take his photo.

The whole reason for coming to Iguazu was to see the falls, one of the 7th wonders of the world. They did not disappoint. Whereas Rio was a man made stunning spectacle, the Iguazu Falls are a natural stunning spectacle. Again the photos don’t do the reality justice.

All the online advice recommends you visit the falls from the Brazilian side and the neighbouring Argentinian side. You can easily do this over 2 days. The Brazilian side takes 6-7 hours if you include a boat trip and the Argy side is about 3-4hrs.

The day we arrived, we went to the Brazilian side. It’s a 20min bus ride to the boat stop from the park entrance. Then a 15min ride on an e-train to get to the boat. You can opt to get off early and walk the last 600m through the rain forest to the boat. My advice is don’t! You get to see trees and not a lot else and get hot and bothered in the process.

We were told you get a little bit wet on the boat ride, not that you get bl00dy drenched. I was thinking excellent a bit of mist spray to cool you down, not the ice bucket challenge on steroids! My cagoule was a waste of space.

The boat basically goes under part of the waterfall so a deluge of water goes over your head and down your neck and runs all the way down to your feet. Fortunately they advise you to remove footwear, hats and put your phone/camera in a waterproof pouch. What we didn’t realise was that you needed to really take a change of clothes. Instead you have to walk around in the humidity in your wet clothes. The sensation reminded me of when you are doing your swimming badge as a kid and have to dive to the bottom of the pool in your PJs to collect the brick.

One girl was dressed in an outfit that resembled the famous Liz Hurley safety pin dress with 2 exceptions; it was white and had a lot less material. She was literally barely hanging in there. There was a bit of a queue waiting to see her come of the boat trip.

After the boat you get back on the bus for another 10mins to reach walk ways down to get some fantastic views of the falls, especially Devil’s throat and you can meet some friendly raccoons on the way.

Temp – highs of 35, cools to 29. Humidity was off the scale!

There are a handful of cafe/restaurants near the falls. The only one that has air con is an all you can eat buffet. It was about £20 per head and we probably ate about £6 worth of food each but the value of the air con….. priceless!

Once you’ve done the falls, they recommend visiting the bird park next door. We did this with a bit of a conflicting internal dilemma about keeping birds in avaries. However, the majority had been saved from exotic bird traffickers. If released into the wild, over 90% wouldn’t survive and some of them are endangered due to their indigenous homes no longer existing. There were flamingos, macaws, toucans, eagles, owls but no budgies! I just can’t seem to write a post without mentioning budgie smugglers!

It was pretty impressive but it’s also a mozzy fest as you are walking through the rain forest, something I hadn’t factored into the ‘what to put in the rucksack’ discussion that morning.

Day 2, we went to the Argentinian side of the falls. The border between Brazil and Argentina is literally half way across the bridge that crosses the Iguazu river. The bridge was built in 1984, before that you could only cross by ferry. They change the paint on the bridge walls from green and yellow to blue and white at the half way point. Giovanni sorted out all the immigration stuff for us at the checkpoint, which took less than 5 mins because we were out of season. Everything was done from inside the car.

Our preference for the panoramic views of the falls was the Argentinian side.

You can’t get up close and personal with the devils throat waterfall from this side because the walkway got washed away back in November. Therefore you get a better view of that from the Brazilian side but the 2 remaining circuits on the argy side was worth the experience. We also got to see about 10 raccoons and 3 monkeys. Be prepared, despite the short trails measuring 1.5 to 2.5kms, the combination of heat and humidity makes it more of a slog than planned.

My quota of insect bites has stayed constant at around 10 on my legs. I get rid of one and another appears. I’m starting to wonder if the brand I bought is an aphrodisiac rather than a repellent.

Foz do Iguazu is really a town that feels like it’s been built for American tourists. Downtown has a few ‘all you can eat buffets’, spaced out around the blocks. There were lots of smaller, locals bars just outside of town. Expect it to get more developed downtown as they have a big convention centre and some big hotel chains turning up.

Both evenings we went to a restaurant called Bendita recommended by Giovanni as loads of places inflate prices for the tourists. Again a lot of the menu was sharers for 2-3 people. Following our last experience, we opted for individual dishes on the 1st night which didn’t disappoint and shared the ribs on the second night. El Tel’s choice (again) 😀

Getting in and out of Argentina from Brazil

If you are returning in the same day, you just need to show your passport from the luxury of your air conditioned taxi. If you are leaving Brazil for good like we were on our last day, you have to go to the immigration desk at the checkpoint. It took us under 5mins. Apparently at peak season it can take up to an hour and a half. Most of which time would be spent queuing outside in the heat.

Next stop: Buenos Aires, Argentina