Day 1: A nice long overnight bus for me and the lads, which ended up taking about 16 hours and got us into the small town of Puerto Iguazu mid-afternoon. It had been a while since I´d had to do an over-nighter (not since Asia in fact) but there will be plenty more to come. South America is massive!
We got checked into our hostel and immediately went for a walk around town and to get some food. Nothing much going on in Puerto since it´s really just a stop-over place for tourists who are visiting the falls. Our plan was to head off to check out the Argentinian side of the falls the following morning. They cross over the border, meaning you can visit them on the Brazilian side as well.
After getting some dinner, we made our way back to the hostel and found a message from Elsa and Nikki, who we had left back in Buenos Aires. Evidently, they missed us greatly because they had decided to shave a couple of days off their remaing time there and get a bus down to Puerto that night and to meet us the following afternoon. Guess they just couldn´t live without us!
Following that news, we decided to delay our falls trip by a day to give them time to join us so we could go as a group. That evening, myself, Luke and Matt took full advantage of the lie-in we would now have by heading into town for a few drinks. It also gave me a chance to have my first taste of a Caipirinha - a Brazilian drink that is served in most places throughout South America apparently. Very nice it was too and quite addictive. Something told me it would be my last on this continent, especially since we would be crossing the border into Brazil in a few days time.
Day 2: An unexpected free day while we waited for the girls to arrive so we just hung around the hostel (nothing else to do in Puerto). Luckily for us, it happened to be the first day of Euro 2012 so we were all more than happy being in front of that for the afternoon. Elsa and Nikki arrived mid-afternoon and we were therefore all reunited.
That evening, after getting some dinner with the girls I decided to stay in in preparation for our early start to visit the falls the following morning. The rest of them headed out into town again though so I said I would wake them all up the following morning.
Day 3: To be continued.................All I will say for now is that we didn´t make it to Iguazu Falls.
Day 4: After arranging as a group that we would finally go to the falls today, we woke to more bad luck as it was absolutely hammering down. None of us really fancied spending the day at the falls in the rain because we didn´t want to rush it and didn´t think we would enjoy it either. Another day in front of the Euros for us. Beginning to think we would never make it to Iguazu.
That evening, Elsa and Luke kindly cooked us all a nice curry at the hostel. Following that, a chilled evening with a few drinks and games of cards. Fingers crossed we would get to go to Iguazu tomorrow.
Day 5: No rain this time and we were all up bright and early to catch the local bus over to the falls. For those that don´t know, Iguazu Falls are some of the biggest waterfalls anywhere in the world and are supposedly quite a spectacular sight to behold. Having spoken to numerous people who have travelled South America and been, this was one of the things I´d been most looking forward to visiting on the continent.
We arrived mid-morning and were quite surprised at the look of the Falls entrance. Considering we were visiting a set of natural waterfalls, we could have been forgiven for thinking we had been dropped off at a theme park instead with the way it looks! Pretty strange but there you go.
Once inside, we decided to do a couple of walking trails first, having been advised to do so by some others back at the hostel. The main part of the falls is known as ´Garganta Del Diablo (The Devils Throat)´ and we were told to leave this until last as it´s supposedly the most impressive part.
After walking for a while, we got our first sight of Iguazu Falls - WOW!!!! Absolutely incredible and the sight far exceeded my expectations. The falls stretch for several kilometres and are an amazing sight. We did an upper and lower walking trail, which allowed us to get right up close to the falls, where we could fully appreciate how loud and powerful they are. Luckily for us, it was a really nice day too, which only added to the scenery. It´s safe to say the 6 of us were pretty blown away.
After spending some time walking both trails around and over the falls (and getting plenty of good photos), we made our way to catch the train that would take us to ´The Devil´s Throat´, all wondering how much better it could get to be honest. We were all pretty amazed at what we had already seen.
The answer was: MUCH!!! This part is spectacular and we could see why it is best saved until last. It´s basically the part of the falls where several of them come together and drive into a huge canyon with enormous force. The falls here are so strong that there was loads of spray coming up over all the tourists and it´s even difficult to hear each other with the noise they generate. An unbelievable sight and well up there with the best from my trip so far. In terms of natural attractions, it´s certainly one of the best. A fantastic day and once again, nature at it´s best!
We left the park mid-afternoon amd made it back to the hostel in time to catch the second half of the England vs France match. It didn´t seem as though we had missed much.
Day 6: Finding it hard to believe we had spent 5 nights in Puerto Iguazu (it´s normally 2 nights at the most for visitors to the falls), we caught a bus to take us across the border into Brazil. Only a couple of places visited in Argentina for me unfortunately but I´m on limited time and had to get moving. I really enjoyed it though and would definately like to return one day - probably when it´s warmer and Patagonia is more accessible.
The 6 of us crossed over into Brazil mid-afternoon, where we were dropped off just over the border and had to wait for another bus. This took ages and we were worried we might miss the bus we had planned to get later that evening - not a pleasant thought considering how many days we had already spent here.
Finally, we got picked up and taken into the town on the Brazilian side of the falls - Foz do Iguazu. This is a much bigger town than Puerto, meaning it took us a while and a couple of bus journeys (and lots of struggling with Elsa´s extra case) to reach the bus station. Once there, we booked another overnight bus to a destination I hadn´t initially planned to visit but had only heard good things about - Florianopolis. It had been quite cold in Buenos Aires and at times in Puerto Iguazu so fingers crossed for some sunshine there. Need to top up the tan!
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