Iguazu National Park 🇦🇷

Today was a long, but very rewarding day.

We got up early to be out the door and on our way to the border before 7. Uber didn't take as long to find as expected so we got to the Brazilian border in good time. There was no line to get our exit stamp, so we were through quickly. Unfortunately the border control is a fair distance from the actual border, on both sides, so we had about 3km to walk to get to Argentina border control. Feeling determined to get there to have a dull day, we power walked across the path and across the bridge. Luckily there was no wait at the Argentina side either and we got through quickly. Now the tricky part was getting from the border to the national park. There weren't many Ubers available that early, and boy was it showing as expensive. I was already getting used to the cheaper prices in Paraguay and Brazil! We ended up talking a taxi driver down from $25 to $20 and we were on our way!

We got to Iguazu National Park not long after it opened. Our first order of business was getting our tickets checked and making our way to our boat trip. We got scanned in and found the desk to go to the boat. They told us we had about 20 minutes to wait before the truck would drive us further into the park to the river, so we sought respite from the growing heat and sat in a small museum area and had some coffee from our thermos.

Once it was time, we boarded an open top truck and bounced along for about 20 minutes while a guide told us what to expect on the boat. Unfortunately the animals were all hiding in the forest so we didn't see any while on the truck. After the truck stopped, we had a short downhill/down stairs walk to the river to get on the boat. We were given dry bags for our belongings as well as large life jackets. Allan and I put our rain jackets on too to prevent any spray from the waterfalls making us too wet (boy did they turn out to be pretty useless). While we were waiting to board, we saw a little family of capybaras crossing a small section of the river. They were so cute!

Our boat trip started by zooming up the river towards a long line of waterfalls streaming off the cliffs. We continued past these bouncing along the bigger waves towards Devil's Throat. Even though we weren't super close, it was interesting to see it from this angle after being closer to and above it yesterday. After having a look at Devil's Throat we turned around back towards the wall of waterfalls. The guides and captain were getting some serious waterproof gear on, considering we were expecting just a "shower" from the falls. We got our videos ready to record as the captain revved the engine and headed straight towards the most powerful waterfall. We were slapped in the face by the water bouncing off of the river and absolutely soaking us. It went everywhere! Including down the slight openings in our jackets. The captain pulled away from the waterfall and then went right back in again soaking us again. It was a pretty crazy, and wet, experience. We were all laughing by the end of our "shower". Then it was time to head back. The waves were still pretty choppy, so while on the way back, we got another good blast of water from over the sides of the boat. I don't think a single part of me was dry. I shimmied off the rain coat as best I could with my lifejacket on so that the wind could help start to dry me.

Once back on land, we took some time to shake off some of the water before getting back on a truck and bouncing along through the forest to the main office for the company, rather than the start like we thought. Feeling a bit plopped in the middle of nowhere, Allan and I oriented ourselves and decided to head to the little train station to get the inter-park train up to the Argentinian side of Devil's Throat. Something must have happened with the train shortly after we got our tickets, because it stopped running for almost an hour. After it finally arrived, we made the trip up. Unlike the Brazil side, we had to walk across the top of the water that flows into Devil's Throat for just over a kilometer. The boardwalk was packed with people so it was slow going. Occasionally we would stop and look over to see a giant catfish, but other than that it was a slow shuffle in the throng of people to the end. Once we got there, we were greeted by the rushing of water. On the Argentina side, you could see all the way into the 'throat' and down the river. Despite trying to muscle our way through all the people, it was truly a magnificent site. The water was just thundering in a constant deluge. It was beautiful, but also terrifying when you imagined getting caught in something like that. We made our way around the viewing platform to see the waterfall from up close. It wasn't as misty as the Brazil side because we were more on top of the water, but we still got a few gusts of wind that misted us and allowed for some rainbows.

After we finished getting all of our pictures and videos, we were ready to fight our way back through the crowd to walk back to the main path. Thankfully, the steady stream of people was still heading towards the falls and not away from them, so this was a slightly more pleasant walk back. When we got back to the train station, we had just missed the train. Remembering how long the last one took, we decided to walk a few kilometers back to the train station where we first boarded. It was a hot, sweaty walk, but we didn't want to waste anymore precious time. We ran into a pack of coites looking for snacks. There were quite a few babies too!

We finished the walk back to the station and continued walking towards the superior trail that brings you over the top of the waterfalls we'd seen from the river earlier in the day. Every single time we came to a viewpoint and thought it couldn't get any better, it did. The volume of waterfalls was crazy. It was also still super sunny so we got some great panorama pictures with waterfalls and rainbows. Allan kept commenting that it seemed like CGI. It was also really special to see the same waterfalls from above as we had from the river level in the morning. It puts the size of them into perspective.

Once we completed this trail, we stopped just outside the last trail, the lower trail, for some quick lunch and to cool down a bit. We started the last trail just before the park rangers closed the trails about an hour or so before the park closed. The lower trail was shorter than the upper trail and brought us face to face with some of the smaller waterfalls around the park. We finished up this final trail, and then made our way back to the park entrance. We again chose to walk rather than take the train to try and beat the people waiting to the parking lot to get an Uber or taxi back to the border.

It was much harder to get a taxi leaving the park back to the border than it was this morning. Because there were more people willing to pay the $25 to get back into town, the taxi drivers weren't willing to negotiate and we couldn't get an Uber. We sat on a bench and waited for the crowds to disperse and people to get into their tourist buses and private transport. I was getting pretty nervous we wouldn't manage to get a taxi to get back, but Allan was cool as a cucumber. Finally, with fewer tourists needing taxis, we negotiated a taxi back to the border for $22.

Back at the border, we got through immigration quickly and painlessly just like this morning. Then it was our 3 km walk back over the border and across the bridge. This one was a bit slower after being out in the sun all day. We were keeping an eye on Allan's Argentina service too so we could get an Uber back to the hotel from the Brazilian border control. We got to the Brazilian immigration right before a big tourist bus, so we got through quickly, but unfortunately Allan lost his service and therefore our ability to get an Uber. Trying to alleviate my stress about getting back to our hotel, he ran back towards Argentina, managed to get service, secured an Uber, texted me the details because they were due to arrive very soon, and ran back to the parking lot to get in the Uber I managed to flag down because I got his text. Because of that we got an Uber to the grocery store to pick up some dinner in decent time, and we're back at the hotel eating by 20:00.

We watched some TV, ate our dinner, and headed to bed after our two-country day. Tomorrow we leave the three borders behind and delve deeper into Brazil where we will spend the next month.Read more