Foz do Iguaçu Day 1 🇧🇷

We had a TERRIBLE time crossing the border. After our bus leaving Ciudad del Este hit crazy traffic not far into the journey, the bus driver randomly told us to get off and "rapido" to a bus further up in the parked traffic. We looked at how far we were from the border control, about 15 minutes walking, and decided to just walk to Paraguay border control because it would be quicker than sitting on the bus to get dumped there anyway. Paraguay border control was quick, and traffic for that main street was going absolutely nowhere. So, we began our walk across Friendship Bridge.

After we crossed the bridge, we waited in a longer line at Brazil's immigration. We were hot, sweaty, and ready for this crossing to be done. After we got our passports stamped, then came the trickier part of getting from the border to our hotel. Previously, Allan has had data roaming, but he doesn't have it for Brazil so we couldn't get an Uber and there were no taxis in sight. It was also pretty chaotic with people walking to and from Paraguay with shopping, motorcycles, buses, and cars driving everywhere. We couldn't see our bus, so we waited a bit, and then decided to take our chances on a taxi. Allan also intermittently had Paraguay service that we tried to use to get an Uber. While trying for an Uber, our second bus drove past us! We flagged it, but it drove right past us 🙃. Luckily, after many attempts, we managed to get an Uber to the hotel. We checked in, but didn't linger long because we had to get to the Falls for a sunset tour.

With not a lot of time to play with, we Ubered to Iguazu Falls. Once at the park, we could take a breath. We made it! Our tour started at 5 and we got there around 4, so we had some time to kill at the ticketing area. We wandered around until it was time to board our bus to the waterfalls.

The park bus dropped us off across the street from the fancy, and very pink, Belmont Hotel. We were immediately greeted by a cliffside with various waterfalls all pouring off the side. We walked through the jungle for about a kilometer, periodically stopping at different points to get the view of different waterfalls off the cliffs across the river in Argentina. We also had some visits from the wildlife! Some coites came climbing out of the trees and onto the path in search of food. We also saw a few very big lizards, as well as some smaller ones.

When we got to the end of the trail, we saw the biggest waterfall so far that connects to Devil's Throat. It was a powerful flow of water with no breaks along the cliff it was falling from. We walked along a misty path over the water to get a better view of this waterfall and of Devil's Throat around the corner. The water was so powerful it was splashing a fair amount of mist and spray onto everyone that walked the path. We had to be quick with our pictures and videos so that they did not get blurry. The sun was shining brightly, so there were plenty of rainbows from a variety of different angles.

After marvelling at the waterfall and getting our pictures and videos, we walked back to the path on solid ground. We went to a viewing platform to the side of the waterfall where you got a great view of the volume of water spilling off the side.

Finally, we took an elevator to the top of the viewing platform. We were greeted by men serving drinks who offered us Brazilian sparkling wine, Brazilian white wine, fresh orange juice, coconut water (from the coconut), and sparkling water. It was all very nice. There was also someone playing music on the platform for ambiance. We got our drinks, and made our way to the edge of the viewing platform for higher look at the large waterfall as well as a great panorama of the smaller falls on the Argentinian cliffs. The camera has a harder time picking those up with the lowering sun and mist, but the view was memorable.

For the rest of the evening we enjoyed the multitude of drinks and top ups, gazed at the waterfall, and watched the sun go down in this spectacular place. The hassle from the border earlier in the afternoon was a distant memory while we enjoyed our evening.

Once the sun had set, everyone got back on the park bus back to the park entrance. The free WiFi at the park allowed us to get an Uber back to our hotel. We found a grocery store nearby and got some of the hot food on offer which meant we didn't have to cook. Back at the hotel, we sat and watched a cheesy movie on Netflix while we ate dinner, it was a nice ending to the night.Read more