PUERTO IGUAZU, ARGENTINA (and a side-trip to Foz do Iguacu, Brasil)

View from Iguazu park's Lower Circuit

Another Lower Circuit shot

Both our flights from Montevideo to Buenos Aires and our flight from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu were literally in the air at the scheduled flight time. Note: Do not get to the airport late! When we landed, we took a "bus a la ciudad/hotel" shuttle for 35 pesos that dropped us off directly at our hostel (yes, back to Argentine pesos...while I'm writing this, I'm sitting in the Jorge Newberry airport in Buenos Aires with four different currencies in my wallet. I have to make sure I really think about what the price of something is in absolute terms, since I'm looking at a conversion of *very* roughly 1USD = 2BRL = 4.5ARS = 20UYU). Iguazu has no city busses, so our alternative was splitting an estimated 120 pesos for a cab. 

The northern part of the country brought a nice change of temperature. Having spent the last 5+ weeks in mostly 40-50 degree weather in Buenos Aires and throughout Uruguay, mid-70s felt incredible. Our first full day in Iguazu, we headed to the national park on the Argentine side. Our hostel was about three blocks from the bus terminal where we picked up a 50-peso ($12) round-trip bus ticket to the park entrance. Busses were running about every 15 minutes, so we didn't have to wait long. It took about a half hour to get to the park where we paid another $130 pesos for the entrance fee (the fee for Argentines is substantially lower) and spent the next 8 hours lost in wonderland. We had beautiful weather, so it shouldn't be surprising that the park was literally as full as Disney World. 

As our big splurge for the day, we purchased tickets for a boat ride (adventura nautica) at the bus station before leaving Puerto Iguazu. There is only one company that runs the trip, but the benefit of purchasing ahead of time is not having to stand in line at the park or risk them having sold out for the day. When we got to the park, we headed straight for the lower circuit, which steps down into the river valley with views of the waterfalls. At the bottom of the valley, we got in line for our boat ride that literally went into the waterfalls. The boat ride transformed the experience from seeing to doing and was definitely the highlight of Iguazu. The award for best pre-trip purchase goes to Mandie for bringing a waterproof camera bag along and taking video of our boat ride: click and watch us get totally soaked.

La Garganta del Diablo

Did I mention that we were completely completely soaked?? (I would recommend doing this early in the day so you have time to dry out in the sun) We sat on a bench near some waterfalls to eat the lunch we had packed. Next we hopped on the train that runs through the park to go to "La Garganta del Diablo," the waterfall of all waterfalls. At this part of the park, they let you walk out on a bridge across the nice, calm waters to the middle of the river where you're standing on the edge of the biggest catarata. From this point, you can see a little brazilian flag from across the river (which, I found out the next day is actually the top of the panoramic elevator lookout point...more on that in a minute). We finished off the day by taking the upper circuit to see the falls from up above. No words or pictures can do it justice.

The falls are located on the border between Brazil and Argentina, so Brazil has a national park from which the falls are visible too. Just to clear this up, Puerto Iguazu is the town on the Argentine side of the border where Foz do Iguacu is the town on the Brazilian side of the border. Most of the reviews are pretty accurate in that there is more to do/see on the Argentine side, but the Brazilian side offers a better panoramic view. I figured that as long as I was RIGHT THERE, I might as well put my Brazilian visa to work. I had a tough time finding information about how to do this online, only that some people had been fined for their passports not having been stamped on the way in, but once I got to the Puerto Iguazu bus terminal, it was quite easy and well worth the half-day trip. Unfortunately, Mandie doesn't have a Brazilian visa, so I had to trek this one solo. The bus company Crucero del Norte offers a round-trip service directly to the Brazilian falls (as opposed to going into the city of Foz do Iguacu and then taking a city bus to the Brazilian national park), which sounded like it would make my life a lot simpler, and at another $12 for a round-trip ticket, I couldn't say no!

From the Brazilian Side

The bus ride from Puerto Iguazu to the park entrance on the Brazilian side took about an hour, including going through customs on the Argentine side. Our bus did not have to stop for a passport check on the Brazilian side (I'm not sure if this is just some weird coincidence or if this particular company has some deal with the Brazilian government or what...I think that to cross the border normally, even to go directly to/from the falls, US citizens have to have a Brazilian visa and be stamped in AND out of Brazil). It was pretty overcast and drizzly that day, and the Brazilian park has far fewer views of the waterfalls. It does have some awesome panoramic shots though, where you can see hundreds of waterfalls at once. The highlights on the Brazilian side were a long bridge that takes you out to where you're standing in the middle of all of the falls. From the base of this lookout bridge, you ride up the (free) glass elevator to see the panoramic view from above the falls. 

Long story short, it's no better or worse, it's just a different experience. I was very glad I went, but it was really only worth a half-day, where the Argentine side DOES warrant a full day.