Took a 12 hour bus from Retiro omnibus station at 8 PM, getting into Puerto Iguazu around noon the next day. The bus ride was nice. Big, wide seats which reclined all the way back with leg rests, hot meals, coffee, wine, etc. Strange selection of movies. They showed "Dreamer," the family movie about horses, and they also showed Wes Anderson's "The Squid and the Whale" and the Uma Thurman movie "Prime".
Puerto Iguazu was small, rustic, and sleepy. A bit of Brazilian tropicality with Argentine personality. We found a little hotel right away near the bus terminal. After we all checked in, we caught the bus to the park. There's a 30 peso entry fee, but its only half of that the second day you go. The park obviously spent a lot of money on the concrete and the structures, but the layout and signage were terrible. We had to ask two places to figure out how to get to the waterfalls. We decided to go ahead and take the little rail tram to the Garganta del Diablo trailhead, a little 20 minute ride through the jungle. At least there weren't any massive plastic statues along the way like in the ride up to the Cristo in Rio.
Off the tram, the lookout points are acessable by a network of raised metal boardwalks, which run above the river and hop between small islands in the wide Igazau river. Approaching the Garganta del Diablo, we saw what looked like steam rising. It was actually mist thrown up from the falls. The falls were massive and hypnotic. The massive amounts of water pouring in a horseshoe arangement into a gully so deep it was obscured by the mist.
One dissapointment was the massive Sheraton hotel complex which marred the jungle surroundings with its huge white concrete construction. Shame on them for spoiling what would have been a completely natural view.
Afterwards, we hopped aboard a little inflatable raft for a jungle birding tour (20 pesos). Good deal, very tranquil ride along the side tributaries through dense jungle, only six people on our raft with the guide paddling. We spotted a wild Toucan high in the trees, which was pretty cool.
After we disembarked, we walked around the upper trails, and came across a bunch of Coatis, fearless little racoon type animals with long snouts, about the size of a dog.
That evening, we wandered around the town looking for a bite to eat and finally settled on grilled catfish from the river.
The next day, we bought tickets for the Gran Aventura at the bus station with our tickets to the park. The bus to the park costs around 5 pesos, and you board with all the people in the town in a school bus which makes short stops along the way.
At the park, we hopped aboard a big truck like a military troop transport for a drive down a dirt track through the jungle to look at plants. Birds and Animals were out of the question, as the guide yammered at us all in Spanish for the ENTIRE ride as we blared through the jungle. At the end of the dirt track was a tiny boarding dock, where we got seafarer's waterproof rucksacks for our backpacks and personal possessions we didn;t want to get totally drenched. We loaded up into the big speedboat and flew up the river, fighting our way up rapids and dodging rocks. This was pretty cool, I have to admit. We stopped for the obligatory park -sposored photo op at the base of some of the falls before we zoomed out and over to a smaller waterfall.
The waterfalls here are best seen from the base, where they loom over your head and you're blasted with mist and wind from the water impact. We drove through that and then headed over to the main falls where there was so much water in the air you couldn't see anything but white and hear only the roar of the falls. Needless to say, we got completely drenched. The entire thing was filmed for our benefit, of course, by a staff member with a protected camera, and we were offered a copy of the film (for a price of course) as we disembarked.
We took a short ferry across from where we landed to the island between the two main fall areas, halfway between Brazil and Argentina. Not too many tourists get over here, as it entails hiiking down to the river from the top, and crossing in a tiny boat. Great views of the falls on the island, much more secluded with more nature. At a certain end platform where there is a view of a natural arch, we met two young Aussies who told us about some secluded waterfalls that few people ever see. They went under the barrier warning people not to pass and beware of snakes, and so we followed them towards the arch. We crossed a small valley filled with boulders, only saw one snake, and clambered up through the arch itself, where oddly, there was a beached boat which must have lodged there after a flood. Past the arch was a series of small waterfalls compeltlely hidden from view from the Argentine side. The falls created small pools of water which we swam and, and climbed up on the rocks to sit directly under the falls. To heighten the mood, the cliff above was swarming with vultures of some kind, and they spiraled overhead.
So we cooled off there for awhile before trekking back. The wide steps I was taking meant I absolutely split my hiking pants up the seams, creating a masssive split that I had to cover the rest of the day with my shirt hanging off the back of my shorts. We ended that day with a bit of souvenier shopping and hiking along the trail back to the start, keeping our eyes peeled for natural wildlife.
Once back in town, we hit a restaurant and got a $5 tourist menu which included a Parillada for two and dessert.
Yesterday we just explored the town more, walking around to the tip of the plateau the town sits on. This plateau is at the junction of the Iguazu river and the Parana river, and these rivers mark the boundary between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. There was a blue and white pylon there, and also a series of souvenier stalls which surprisingly spoke Japanese to the busload of Japanese tourists who arrived after we did. We grabbed a beer and watched the view for awhile before heading back to the town. Our search for Cahaxia (Cana in espanol) lead us a ramshackle local market where they sold meat, varieties of olives, wines, etc. That was pretty cool too.
I picked up a bottle of the Brazilian rum myself, although I still need to check import regulations for the US. Afterwards, we hit a cafe and waited for our bus back to Buenos Aires.
The bus ride back was ok. We were boarded by officials several times first checking identities and nationalities and then later with a dog for drugs. The movies were "Everything is Illuminated" which I thought was a good movie, "Prime" again, and finally "Four Brothers"
Strange mix. Got into BA this morning around 9 and a shower never felt so good.
Posted some pics, follow the link.
by archalec
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