People call me crazy because I like to get to the airport at least 3 hours before my flights (or to the train station…). But let me tell you this story.
My parents live 6 minutes away from the airport (it’s 3.8km). Although Recife is a big city and it’s an international airport, it’s not huge. It’s not tiny, but not huge.
So we planned to get there 2 hours before. It was a domestic flight. All good, right?
WRONG!
First, we had completed the check-in online the night before, but because we bought the ticket through Booking.com, the airline system could not see that we had 1 checked bag each, so we could not print the tags from the totem. We got into line and waited for a while just to be told that because we were not able to print the tags, we had to go through the regular check-in line, which was humongous. Long story short, we got to the gate 10 min before they closed it. But it all worked out in the end.
Hito Tres Fronteras
Anyways, we headed to Puerto Iguazú, in Argentina, where we stayed in the Gran Amérian Portal del Iguazú. The hotel is right by the Hito Tres Fronteras (Three Borders Landmark), which offers views where the Iguazú and Paraná rivers merge, separating three countries: Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.
There are also some local shops where you can get souvenirs (cash only) and other things, from winter jackets (absolutely not needed at the moment) to fake Stanley mugs.
And, of course, continue the Brazilian tradition in Argentina, picanha for dinner at the Tatu Careta.
We got there around 7-ish. Not-A-Single-Soul. For a moment I thought there weren’t even people working in there.
I told Damianne that the situation was looking like a horror movie and soon they would turn out the lights, lock the doors and kill us both (again, completely deserted).
As we sat down, a waitress materialized out of nowhere and brought us the menus. We ordered picanha, salad and fries, and we were eating when, I KID YOU NOT, all the lights went out. of course nothing happened, but it was a bizarre situation. Inever had the power going out at a restaurant before, especially after the comment I had made. 😂
The food was ok (I’ve had way better picanha than that one) and we decided to walk back to the hotel (30 min walk). I went to bed early because the next day would be intense.
The falls
This was my first time in Foz do Iguazu (Iguacu). I knew it was nothing like Niagara Falls which is pretty urban, right in the middle of the city, surrounded by stores, casinos, restaurants, amusement parks and a lot of lights.
Iguazu is a completely different story. It is embedded in the middle of a national park, in the middle of the jungle. While the structure on both sides is amazing, and they both have proper paths for you to follow, the bridges, the washrooms, the visitor centres, etc. are all very well maintained, it still feels very wild. Dense vegetation, wild animals, and signs telling you to be aware of jaguars all over. 🐯 (There is no Jaguar emoji)
We hired a group tour that picks you up from the hotel, takes you to both sides with a stop for lunch in the middle, and drops you back at the hotel.
You have three trails on the Argentinian side and one on the Brazilian side. We started on the Argentinian side, and I think this is strategic.
“Iguazu” comes from the indigenous Guaraní words y (water) and guasu (big), literally translating to “Big Water.” It was discovered by the Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who became the first European to record the falls in 1542 while searching for a route to Paraguay. He originally named them Saltos de Santa María (“St. Mary’s Falls”).
Legend holds that a serpent god named M’Boi fell in love with a mortal woman, Naipí. When she fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe, the angry god sliced the river, creating the chasm and condemning the lovers to a perpetual fall.
UNESCO Protection
The Argentine side was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, followed by the Brazilian side in 1986. In 2011, Iguazu was named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature
The experience is hard to translate into words. The sheer force of nature is mesmerizing and makes you feel so small at the same time you feel so amazed.
The park contains anywhere between 150 and 300 falls depending on the season and water level. Now it’s winter here, and there was a lot of rain, so the falls were raging. To the point that we only had access from the Argentinian side to the upper and lower trails. The Devil’s throat trail was closed because the level of the river was too high.
The first trail (upper) takes you through the top of the falls.
When you start you can see them from a distance and you work your way through each one, which gives you views like this one
I do not recommend it if you are afraid of heights. The path goes on top of the falls and it’s see-through. You can see the water running beneath your feet, and the drop is quite something (between 60 and 82 meters). TOTALLY worth it, tho.
You also can see a lot of wild life. Coatis, monkeys, different birds. There are also snakes, anteaters, tapirs and jaguars, but we did not see any of those. Coatis and monkeys were everywhere, tho. They roam really close to you and will try to snatch your things if you have food inside.
Our guide told us that a tourist lost her purse with her passport, cards, money, and everything because a coati grabbed it and ran toward the forest. The vegetation is very dense. You can’t run after it. And I totally believe it because one tried to grab Damianne’s purse.
The lower trail gives you a different perspective, seeing the falls from below
Once we were done with the Argentinian side, we headed to Brazil and stopped for lunch at a Brazilian churrascaria called Rafain.
It was good that our guide was Brazilian hahahah I am not having a good experience with the restos on the Argentinian side. I hope Buenos Aires is better. The food and service were good. The meat was amazing.
And then we headed to the Brazilian side. About 80% of the falls lie in Argentina, and 20% lie in Brazil. This is why the trails on the Argentinian side are much longer.
That said, the views from the Brazilian side are something else. And I totally understood why you do it after. It’s shorter but WAY more impactful. There is no number of pictures I post here that would give you even a glimpse of how insanely beautiful this place is. How absolutely out of this world the experience feels.
The only issue with the Brazilian side was that there was so much water flowing that the mist made it hard to see at some points through the pics.
One thing about the tour was that they told us to wear layers because it could get cold, it’s winter, etc. So I took a hoodie and a rain jacket.
It was not cold (around 29 C), so when we went through the Argentinian side, I took my rain jacket only, and it was not needed at all. So when we got to the Brazilian side, I left everything in the van. And oh boy. We got soaked!!
On the Brazilian side you get much closer to the bigger falls, closer to the Devil’s Throat, so the mist is thick, and by the end of it, it felt like I was out in the rain without a jacket. But because it was so hot, it felt actually refreshing.
This was one of the best nature tours I’ve ever been to. It’s exhausting but completely worth every moment.
Things to keep in mind:
They are two separate parks with separate tickets. Some tours do not include the ticket. Some restaurants accept cards, but the tips are cash only, so it’s always good to have some cash.