Day 10 - 12: Iguassu Falls - Mouth of the Devil

August 23 - 25, 2015

Countries often draw their borders using natural barriers like rivers and mountains; no exception with the South American countries. The Rio Parana and Rio Iguazu splits 3 countries: Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, but the latter sadly doesn’t share the falls, and its associated benefits. We considered skipping it due to the expected high costs and some indifferent reviews. But, it is one of the biggest waterfalls in the world after all, and skipping it even though it was en route just didn’t make too much sense. After factoring in time for transport, we put in 2 nights, but it’s a tight call to explore both sides.

Iguazu Falls

The Iguazu Falls has the largest congregation of waterfalls with an amazing amount of water pouring down to create a ceaseless roar of mother nature. Iguazu Falls is wider than Victoria Falls, however because it is split into numerous distinct individual falls over 1.67 miles (2.7 km), Victoria Falls has the claim to the largest single curtain of falling water. Devil’s Throat, Garganta del Diablo, which is the U-shaped start of the falls is often considered the most impressive part. Devil’s Throat is the highest point of the falls measuring 269 feet (82 m) high, 492.1 feet (150 m) wide and 2,296 feet (700 m) long.

So, with 275 waterfalls and the largest one with a name like the devil’s throat, we definitely expected to be impressed and we were certainly not disappointed.

GETTING THERE

We took an 18 hour bus ride from Campo Grande bus station to Foz do Iguacu, the city on the Brazilian side of the falls. Only one bus company runs this overnight bus route that leaves at 8pm (135R = 54 SGD). The ticket includes a bus switch at Cascavel at 0730hrs and we finally arrived at Foz at 0900hrs. We then took the bus 110 that brought us to T.T.U (Centro) and walked 3 blocks to Che Lagarto hostel on Av. Juscelino Kubitschek. Don’t ask me who that is though.

DAY 1

While waiting to check in, we were given directions to grab some lunch at a buffet place for R15 ($6 SGD). The restaurant on Av. Brasil between Xavier Da silva and Reboucas (3mins walk from Che Lagarto) was the most decent Brazilian buffet we have had and one of the cheapest too (drinks not included). We were rather anxious to check in, and get going to do the Brazilian side, which was expected to only take up half a day.

Lucky for us, we got a room by 1pm (check-in was at 2pm), took a quick shower, and headed out, taking the bus from TTU to the park. TTU is rather well organized as the local bus terminal, and you could easily find the berth that you should wait for your bus. Otherwise, there’s always a person working there to help you with directions; at least we had. The bus ride was 40 mins and costs R3.40.

The entry ticket costs a pricey R52.30, and you hop onto the shuttle bus straightaway which brings you 10 mins later to the head of the 1km walking trail. The bus stops at a couple of activity areas where you could get onto some of the other activities like the boat ride, jungle walk, etc. Long story short, we completed the entire walk in less than 2 hours, stopping often to take photos at different areas. We made sure we walked faster than the main group to avoid the crowd, and managed to experience the power of Garganta do Diablo as the boardwalk extended out near the end of the trail.

Near the Devil's Throat

We returned and met up with Jin (fellow couchsurfer from Rio) over free Caipirinhas at the hostel to talk about our separate experiences in Pantanal and Amazon. We were then introduced to David from Suzhou China, who recently graduated from Harvard’s Master in Public Policy, and was travelling for 3 months, WITH HIS PARENTS! Respect.

DAY 2

The following day, we negotiated with the tour desk (Pratik Travel) just before we left and they gave us a great discount (since David and his parents also joined us) for the transport to the Argentinian side of the falls. It still wasn’t cheap at R45 per person but the convenience definitely helped us spend more time at the falls, which was expected to be a full day. The small bus took us to an exchange first (14.2 pesos per US dollar) before heading to the immigration. The bus driver was disappointingly not able to converse in English at all. Lucky for us, there was a Brazilian passenger who helped to convey his messages. It took about 45 minutes in total, including the immigration portion.

The entry ticket here costs P260 (SGD 26), which was slightly pricier than the Brazilian side. A quick look at the map showed a huge park with at least 4 different routes to different views that took about an hour each. A train served the length of the park across 3 stations, but even then, the Garganta del Diablo would require a 15min train ride and a 15min walk. A few metres from the entrance after walking in stood a tour counter selling the different activities in the park. It was then that we realised that there was also limited space on the various rides.

Before we went for a quick and cold "shower". We're super nervous

We took the Gran Aventura (P520), which included the 12 minute speedboat ride into the falls and a jungle tour on a topless truck. The boat ride was definitely exhilarating: it took us on a warm up to a smaller waterfall, before riding up into one of the bigger ones, while giving us time to also take photos closer to the waterfalls before we went under them. After that experience, we understood why the speedboat was necessary, and why there was no way anything could survive the Garganta. Both of us intelligently forgot to bring extra clothes, so we ended up drying our clothes by walking around. The jungle tour..was simply.. boring. We saw NOTHING. The rest of the day after lunch was spent walking the different routes, and even then, we did not finish the entire park.

We loved the boat ride!

View from the Argentinian side

We left the following afternoon on an 18 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

Between the two sides, we definitely preferred the Argentinian side, which provided better views and more waterfalls and routes. We were impressed by the Brazilian side and the experience with Garganta up close, but if we could choose just one, it would be the Argentinian side.

The small boat tour (P270) as they call it is truly an experience worth trying. Forget about that jungle tour. There’s also an eco-tour (P120) which allows you to canoe on the calm rivers above before the falls, but we similarly think it would be a waste of time.

Despite 2 strong recommendations by travellers we met along the way, we did not do the helicopter tour (R330), which is only available on the Brazilian side. If you have the budget, do consider.

Cute as they are, be careful of the shameless racoons in the parks that will steal your bag to rummage for food. They are pretty daring and could be rather dangerous.

The Itaipu dam is something that we missed out due to the lack of time, but we heard great reviews about the huge hydroelectric dam.

Che Lagarto has an excellent front desk reception that spoke fluent English, has an attached tour desk from a different company, convenient location, spacious and clean rooms, pretty good breakfast, and free caipirinhas from 7-8pm. All at a rather affordable price!