If you're looking for the world's tallest waterfall... then you've come
to the wrong place - it's in Venezuela. If however, you've come for the world's
widest waterfall, no, not that either. Largest flow rate? Well, number 6 in the
world is respectable... Ok, so it might not be top of any formal leaderboards,
but it's impossible not to be blown away by the sheer majesty of Iguazu Falls.
Straddling the border between Argentina and Brazil, it's not one of those
places where you simply go, snap a few pics and then leave. You could spend a
couple of days here, staring in awe and still not get enough.
As the falls sit between two countries, you have two options for a base
of operations - the town of Puerto Iguazu on the Argentinian side, or Foz
do Iguaรงu in Brazil. Both countries overlook the falls, and each offers a different perspective,
or, if you have a few days, why choose?! It's pretty easy to hop across the
border and back again (well, with an Irish passport anyway), so we planted
ourselves in Puerto Iguazu, and on the first day, took a little trip over to
Brazil for a few hours.
I guess it's technically a new country
for us, but we're not going to count it as we were only really there for half a
day. Plus, it'll give us an incentive to come back and see the other 99.99% of
the place!
When you arrive at the gates, you hop
on a bus to the beginning of the walking trail, which takes you all along the
top of the falls, finishing up at the main viewpoint - Garganta del Diablo. And
wowzers! What a sight it was. We saw enough rainbows here to last us a
lifetime. It really put Ireland to shame!
This is the kinda thing they'd have on
loop at a health spa, or a mindfulness seminar!
And what's better than rainbows and
waterfalls? Rainbows, waterfalls and butterflies!
The scenery here was incredible, and
I'd definitely recommend it, but the big downside was the queues. If there was
nobody here, you could be in and out in an hour. As it stood, we were probably
here for three times that. It was like being back in Beijing again, partly
because half of the tourists were Chinese! Here's the view you don't see
in the other photos:
It didn't take from the experience
though, and it's all part and parcel of big tourist attractions. But, whenever
there are big crowds of people, it's always going to attract those looking to
take advantage. And we're not talking about touts or pickpockets, well, not the
human variety anyway. In South East Asia, there were always monkeys hovering,
waiting to swoop in and grab the food out of your bag, or even right out of your
hands! Here, it was a small, raccoon like animal known as a coati, but the
effect was just the same. We didn't bring food with us, so we were fine, we could sit back and enjoy the mayhem. At one point, one even dived head first
into a little girls backpack, and it's one of those car crash moments, where
you think your instinct would be to jump in and help, but when it happens you
just stand there watching.
She was fine in the end. Probably...
We also watched The Guard that night on TV. All dubbed, but still
hilarious. Even extra hilarious to hear a jumble of Spanish, and then every so
often an Irish name or place. I never would've thought a movie like this would
be shown on national television all the way on the other side of the world.
On the second day, we stayed on the
Argentinian side, and learning from our mistake, got up extra early to beat the
hoards. And it was a great success! There were still crowds of people at that
time, but we raced past them, and in the end, had most of the viewpoints all to
ourselves. So much so, that we could even make a video diary in peace!
In terms of things to see, the
Argentinian side was superior to Brazil, and so if you just have one day and
you can only see one or the other, this is the side I'd recommend. There were a
number of walking trails with different views, you can get a ferry across to
the central island (for free), and there's a train that brings you up to
Garganta del Diablo. We had already seen it the day before from the Brazilian
side, and the queues were insane at that stage of the day, so we gave it a miss
this time, but the Argentinian side certainly gives you more bang for your buck.
As a town, Puerto Iguazu itself was small but very nice. Our
accommodation couldn't have been better positioned either, located at the
crossroads (or crossrivers) of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, so you could
just laze by the pool, looking out over three countries in one go.
And that was our time in Iguazu. Our next stop was Asuncion, but the
easiest way to get there was to travel across the border into Brazil, across
the next border into Paraguay, and then fly from the infamously dodgy city of
Ciudad del Este. A lot of scope for something to go terribly wrong... but it
didn't! So, off we flew to Paraguay's capital, which is where I'll pick things
up next time.
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