Experiencing Iguazu Falls from Brazil and Argentina

Warning - This is going to be a long one.. 

Leaving the chilly winds of Patagonia behind we headed north to humidity of Iguazu Falls, Argentina.

and just like that we went from rugged mountains to a lush tropical rainforest. We checked into our hotel and after a quick refresh headed out for our New Years Eve dinner. 

The next morning after a hotel buffet breakfast we headed to Brazil. The hotel arranged for us a wonderful driver who helped us cross the border. We had applied and gotten our evisas before coming. Yes, US citizens need a visa to enter Brazil. We didn't know it then but this driver was going to become a lifesaver.

Our first hiccup was at the border. At one of the border patrol stations in Patagonia our passports had not been stamped.Thankfully the woman was understanding and said that that station has received complaints in the past and let us through. 

We bought tickets at the park and boarded a shuttle that dropped us off at the starting point.

Iguazu Falls is located on the Argentina Brazil border, it is the world's largest waterfall system, featuring 275 distinct cascades spanning 1.7 miles; roughly twice as wide and nearly twice as tall as Niagara Falls. 80% is part of Argentina and 20% on the Brazil side. 

The word Iguazu translates to Big Water.

All the yellow shirts were not planned. lol. 

Doxocopa agathina

Coatis (we had seen many of these in Costa Rica)

and then it started to rain. Like a full on downpour. Visibility lessened and everyone huddled together under a roofed eating spot. Not fun.

The Brazilian side of the falls are like seeing Niagara Falls from Canada, it is where you get the full view. There is one primary walking trail 'Trilha das Cataratas' only 0.75 miles long that takes you along the entire falls.

not sure which bird.. maybe an anhinga? Any of my bird enthusiast friends know?

The rain died down a little and we decided to continue with our journey.

The trail ends at a long metal walkway suspended directly over the river. This leads you into the heart of the Devil’s Throat (Garganta do Diabo), where you are surrounded by water on three sides.

This was cool. There was water everywhere.. we were soaked and I have made many many videos that I need to post on Instagram eventually so if you aren't following yet.. well what are you waiting for?

A glass elevator at the end of the trail took us to an upper observation deck.

Afterwards we took a short walk towards the cafeteria. 

Where we encountered a pair of Argentinian black and white tegus munching on fries and other goodies that slipped off people's plates. 

Once we were done we got back on the shuttle that took us to the park entrance and to our waiting driver.

On our return to Argentina we had trouble with border patrol again. This time we were detained for over 45 minutes. After some time the kids and my passports were returned but we had to wait much longer to get M's. Why? We have no idea. By then the rain had started again and our plan to enjoy the pool evaporated. 

Once at the hotel while I decided to take a long hot shower, M decided to take the boys to the ice cream shop across the street. The rain had slowed down a bit. There must have been some sort of cross contamination but D ended up having an allergic reaction. Thankfully, he doesn't experience swelling in his throat so the inability to breathe is not a concern. But he does break out in hives, burning mouth and a stomach ache. Epipen to the rescue. But it ruined the rest of the day for him and he didn't feel like having dinner.

The next day.. January 2 was H's birthday. He was 12 years old meaning old enough to ride the boat to the waterfalls. Proof of his age was required.. not a photo but a physical passport must be presented.. so we packed his passport had breakfast at the hotel and our trusty driver drove us to the Argentina side of the falls. 

Doxocopa laure

We got our tickets are the entrance and wanted to first book the boat tickets.. you know to get that out of the way so we could plan our park touring accordingly. And that is when we hit a massive problem. They wanted to see D's passport as well. He is 15.. I read nowhere that all minors required a passport. The man at the ticket booth was very nice but he would not budge about the physical passport.. we have pictures of all our passports on our phone. 

M and I basically turned on each other.. not great. This was also our departure day.. we needed to be out of the park by 4pm. There is only one major road the leads the the park, hotel and airport and there just happened to be an accident on it.. 

Possibly a cattle tyrant

The ticket guy said if we could be back here by noon with the passport he would hold four spots for us. We ran. Got the passports and returned just in time to find out the man we had spoken to had left for the day and they were fully sold out. After some back and forth the new man incharge remembered that there had been tickets set aside for us. Perfect. 

Plush-crested Jay

Then he informed us that the last train for the Devil's Throat won't be back in time for us to board the boat and if we wanted to see the Devil's throat we had to go now.. and in all honesty we no longer had a grip on what was happening because when we got to the train they said one ran every hour and the next one was in 45 minutes!!

Erynnis Horatius

Now what to do? Unlike the Brazil side where everything was walkable and shuttles were frequent here we were stuck to adhere to this trains schedule. So we ate an early lunch and tried to wait patiently and not bicker some more.

                       

The train finally arrived.

We arrived at the Devil's Throat station and instead of being able to enjoy it at a leisurely pace we were in hurry mode. It really sucked the fun out of the whole experience.

The trail was 0.6 miles long and it took you directly into the Devil's Throat, a massive U-shaped rift roughly 262 feet high, 492 feet wide, and 2,300 feet long.

The sheer force of the water crashing into the gorge creates a constant cloud of mist that can rise up to 490 feet in the air, often producing vivid rainbows even in bright sunlight.

On average, it processes 1,500 cubic meters of water per second, enough to fill 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools every minute.

In the above photo you can see a tower to your right, that was the elevator and observation deck we were at the day before.

Once we had taken in our fair share of this magnificent sight is was a mad dash to catch another train. 

It was crazy but we made it to the boat tour.. M and I squabbled some more.. I may have imagined divorcing him a few times.. 

They checked the boys passports again and then we boarded a truck that would take us to the boat.

DYK - Jaguars (the largest American panther species) live the dense forest surrounding Iguazu Falls, with populations increasing due to conservation efforts. While elusive, they are native to Iguazú National Park, which provides a habitat for around 170 individuals. 

I borrowed this image from Google

This was no Niagara Falls boat tour. We were in a little rubber boat.. and there were no straps or buckles just our life jackets.

We saw plenty of birds and clusters of butterflies along the way but this was one bumpy ride and we had to really hold on to our phones and the seat in front of us. So not a lot of pictures but I made many many videos.. seriously I will upload them soon. 

What a wild ride.. 

With all the timing chaos and needing to go back to the hotel to pick up our luggage before our flight me made an executive decision and a huge leap of trust. We arranged for our driver to pick up our luggage and bring it to the park when he came to pick us up. Hopefully saving us time and giving us more time in the park. He had been our driver for two days and he had a kind, trusting vibe about him. It was a big risk and it paid off.. he was a gem.

But the extra time we were hoping for in the park.. well we had the time but they shut down the trails an hour before closing. We were now in a situation where we had the time but nothing to do. So we waited.

The driver arrived with all our luggage and we headed to the airport.. and if you thought we had already had a crazy day.. well things were about to take a turn for the worse.

We get to the airport to find out that our 8:30 pm flight to Buenos Aires has been delayed 6 hours. We had booked the hotel in Buenos Aires just for the night. So by the time we would get there it would be time to check out in a few hours. We had another flight the next night bringing us back home. 

They were willing to offer us no more than a food voucher. 

Listen up now.. airlines do not have your best interest. There are laws in place to protect the flier. But they are written in such teeny tiny print that most people don't know. Most people took their vouchers and found a place to sit. We used Google. Argentinian law states that if the layover is longer than 6 hours and it involves an overnight the airline is by law required to provide accomodation. The first man become frazzled and passed us on to a higher up. She refused us an accomodation. According to Google, if denied get everything in writing to later file a complaint with the department of transportation. The woman said she would have to talk to her manager. We said go ahead.. it's not like we were going anywhere.

We found some chairs and went to cash in our voucher. Turns out your could not get whatever you wanted. They had a designated meal of two burger patties with rice. 

The woman came back afterwards with all the documentation we had requested. But her reason for the delay was vague. We requested more details.. she disappeared again. She could tell we were not going to just go away. We were firm and polite.. no name calling or raised voices. But we were firm. 

She was back again in a few minutes.. she leaned down to whisper something in M's ear. What now?

She had found us four first class seats on a plane departing now. We grabbed our things and made a run for it.. we were giddy.. I'm not saying this always happens. We were lucky but it is still important to know your rights. 

Never in my life have we done this. No shuttle we just walked right out onto the tarmac.. 

See you next week in Buenos Aires as we wrap up this grand adventure.

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