Cataratas do Iguaçu

Today was a big day after a few days of transfers (since leaving the Antarctic continent) we finally had sightseeing on our schedule. And a pretty important sightseeing spot: The Iguazú Falls, is named one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature! And for this occasion we decided to do something new, a helicopter flight over the waterfalls 🚁 We had booked it in advance online for yesterday but due to the delay of the flight it wasn't possible to make it on time. Therefore we took the bus from the terminal that crossed the border to Brazil and dropped us off at the entrance of the National Park. Interestingly enough we didn't even get a stamp (the bus didn't stop) from Brazil. We walked 5 minutes to the heliport, got our tickets and then waited to be called.
There was quite a queue ahead of us and we expected it to take a while but after 15 minutes we were rushed out 😁 We didn't have time to process anything while they took pictures and then placed us on the backseat of the helicopter. They put on the seat buckles, closed the doors and without any other word started flying off ☺️ The first two minutes was just rainforest until the massive waterfalls of Iguazú appeared below us 😍 It was an impressive sight and we were in awe by the view and the rainbow 🌈 stretching over the whole width! The flight itself was pretty calm and comfortable, just one turn was a little tight and lifted our stomachs a little. But nothing compared to the ship. We made three rounds over the waterfalls and then returned back. After about 10 minutes we were back and it felt surreal that we did that 😅

Then we walked back to the entrance and took the park bus to go and explore the waterfalls by foot. The walkway wasn't very long but super crowded in the first sector, so we passed through this pretty quickly. Besides a quick stop at the cute coatis 🤩 Also the views got better the closer we got to the main area at the end. This is called Devil's Throat (Garganta do Diabo) where the highest waterfalls are located and most water flows. The area is covered in a constant rain/mist soaking you within minutes, completely surrounded by the roaring of massive, high waterfalls ⛲ We walked up to the panorama point with an almost complete view over the whole area. Next up we took the bus back to the entrance and then the bus terminal in Argentinia.
For the complete picture we headed to the National Park on the Argentinian side where we quickly got our tickets and then went to the mini train station (the train is mini, not the station). We rushed a bit because some of the trails start closing relatively early and we wanted to do most of them. Luckily we got a spot on the train bringing us to the trailhead of the Devil's Throat Walkway. This is the most famous one of the Argentinian side and was just recently reopened after it had been washed away by floods. The top of the waterfall was even more impressive, feeling its might and seeing the amount of water rushing down. We managed to get on the train back and complete the upper and lower circuits just in time for the closing of the park. There we encountered several beautiful toucans with their colourful beaks 😍 And especially at the lower circuit we got some amazing views in the shining waters of the setting sun. The combination of colors was perfect! We spend as much time as possible there until the park closed and we took the bus to the city.

The last stop for today was a spot on a hill, next to the river overlooking the three countries. There is a monument on each side for these countries. Unfortunately the monument on the Argentinian side was pretty unimpressive 🙈 But it was still pretty cool to look out over them. Then we went back to the city center to do some necessary duties. Our original plan had been to go to Paraguay tonight but it got too late, so we needed to extend our stay at the B&B for a night and then check for the busses tomorrow morning. After clearing this up we went to the same restaurant as yesterday again but our choices weren't as good as yesterday. Instead our wine of choice was better 😁 We stopped by an ice cream shop on the way back to the hotel for a well deserved treat.Read more