Falling for Iguazu

My main reason for visiting Puerto Iguazu, like most people who come here, is to see the Iguazu Falls. They are located on the border between Argentina and Brazil and consist of around 275 separate waterfalls.
 

I decided to give myself three days in Puerto Iguazu as in this part of the country weather can be unpredictable and the falls are best viewed on a clear day.

I stayed at Hostel Bambu Mini in Puerto Iguazu, it had a nice laid back atmosphere and from what I could gather quite a high turnover of guests as most people seem to only stay a couple of nights before moving on.

Before I arrived I pondered whether to take a tour to the falls as I wasn't sure if it would make life simpler, however it is really easy and cheaper to go independently. 

I took a Rio Uruguay bus from the bus station to the main entrance of the Iguazu National Park. A return ticket cost 100 pesos. 

I arrived at the park at about 10am and it was already quite busy with several school groups and other tours. Entry to the park cost 260 pesos.

Once inside I got myself a map and headed for the lower falls trail - most people head straight for the upper trail or take the train to the Devil's Throat section, but I'd been advised by a guest at the hostel to do the lower trail first as it is usually quieter and gives the best overall view.

The falls are located in what remains of the rainforest in this region and all of the trails take you through this. There are lots of signs advising you to be aware of the various animals you may encounter including jaguars! Covered in a pungent mix of suncream and insect repellent I was good to go.

The lower trail is the longest of the three main ones and I could hear the sound of the falls long before I first saw them. As I rounded the final bend the trail opened out and I caught my first glimpse of them through the clearing it was truly breathtaking, as I made my way along the path it just got better and better. I was somewhat awestruck by it all.

At the end of the lower trail you can stand in front of the Salto Bossetti fall. Even stood quite a few metres from the very end of the platform I still got a nice soaking from the spray. I wasn't complaining though as it was nice to cool down as even at 11am the temperature was in the high 20s.

I then walked the upper trail, which is shorter than the lower and takes you along the top of several of the falls the view from the top was good but not as impressive as the lower trail.

Finally, there is a train that takes you up to the Devil's Throat trail. Approximately half of the river's flow falls down the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo), which is made up of 14 falls. It is 82 metres high, 150 metres wide and 700 metres long and the border between Argentina and Brazil actually runs through it.

The trail to get there is almost 1km long across metal walkways suspended over the river, which open out to a viewing platform right on the edge. The sound was deafening and there was a huge amount of spray coming up from the water not surprising really and when the wind changed direction it actually felt like heavy rain.

It is advisable to keep a plastic bag or waterproof case handy to protect any cameras. I actually used the camera on my phone for the photos at this part as I knew it could withstand a bit of wet better than my main camera. I also didn't bother with any waterproofs and I had pretty much dried off by the time I walked back along the trail.

During my time in the park I saw and heard lots of wildlife. It's true what they say about the noises in the rainforest and at times it was so loud it sounded like someone was playing a recording of insects. Thankfully I didn't encounter any jaguars but I did see a caiman in one of the little rivers, numerous colourful butterflies, a small jumpy spider and a coati.
 

The coatis are notorious in the park for stealing food and can be quite aggressive. I chose to give them a wide berth as much as possible until I was sitting in the shade reapplying my sun cream and one decided to try and steal the bottle! Thankfully it got distracted and ran off but to be honest I probably would have let it take the bottle rather than risk getting bitten as the warning pictures around the park of previous injuries to visitors didn't look nice - I also didn't fancy putting my rabies vaccine to the test quite so early on in the trip either!

Puerto Iguazu itself is very much geared to tourists but does still retain a bit of small town charm. It actually reminds me of the many beach towns in the South West of England during the height of summer only minus the beer bellies on display (thank goodness).

Paraguay on the left and Brazil on the right

On my last full day in the town I wandered out to the point at which you can see Paraguay and Brazil across the Rio Parana and Rio Iguazu respectively. Where the Rio Parana and Rio Iguazu meet you can tell as the colour changes. The Iguazu used to be blue but due to deforestation having loosened the soil it means when it rains what's left flows into the river turning it brown. 

The wheels on the bus go round and round all the way to Puerto Iguazu

I thought the journey to Puerto Iguazu deserved a post of its own. Unlike in the UK, coach travel is the main mode of transport for long distance trips in Argentina as the country doesn't have a developed rail system and it is usually cheaper than flying.

Given that Argentina is the 8th largest country in the world and approximately the same size as India it isn't too surprising that a short coach journey here is considered to be anything under 12 hours. 

The 17 hour journey to Puerto Iguazu in the far North East of the country near the borders of Brazil and Paraguay is actually pretty good going. The main draw for people coming to this part of Argentina is the Iguazu Falls, more on them later.

Before leaving the UK I had booked a few of my tickets online via Voy en Bus. I also read quite a lot about the main Retiro bus station in Buenos Aires, not much of it was positive. In an attempt to be as prepared as possible the day before my first coach journey I went to try and make sense of it all.

The bus station is spread over three floors with luggage lockers on the lower ground floor, departures/arrivals on the first floor and ticket sales on the upper floor. With 75 stands for the various coaches I could tell it was going to get complicated.

Some of the departures appear on a screen telling you which stand to go to, however not all coaches are shown adding another layer of confusion. There is an information booth, so I decided that I would make that my first point of call when I came to use the bus station for real. 

The evening before my scheduled departure I got chatting to a fellow Brit at the hostel and it turned out he was also leaving for Puerto Iguazu at the same time the following day. We decided to share a taxi to the bus station and agreed to leave just after 2pm to give us time before our coaches left at 3pm.

On the day of departure we left the hostel at 2.15pm, in hindsight we probably should have left at 2pm, due to heavy traffic it took us just over 30mins to get to the bus station giving us less than 10 minutes to find our respective coaches (lots of companies run the same routes and confusingly depart at the same times too).

The taxi driver dropped us off but not at the main entrance. With only a few minutes to spare and no idea which way the info booth was we checked the screens, my fellow travelling companion's bus was on the screen so he headed to the stand.

I was travelling with El Rapido Argentino and it wasn't listed but I could see a coach bearing the name of the company outside the window. Taking a punt and by this time pretty stressed I ran outside and asked the driver if it was going to Puerto Iguazu - thankfully it was and I loaded my backpack. The moral of this part of the story is to always leave plenty of time. If it hadn't have been the coach I needed I probably would have missed it.

Having now experienced an Argentinian coach I can safely say that it was definitely much comfier than any I've been on in the UK and outside of it for that matter. The seats are wide and almost armchair like. I had booked a semi-cama seat, which means the chair reclines 140 degrees and attached to the back of the seat in front is a leg rest, which folds down making it bed-like.

I had a window seat and the views were pretty incredible just vast expanses of green fields, farmland and forests for as far as the eye could see and no signs of civilisation for many miles. The towns we did pass reminded me of the sort you get in old western films with just a few buildings and a lot of dirt roads. Massive contrast to Buenos Aires.

At the 7 hour mark (10pm) we were given a meal a bit like you get on a plane except you don't have a choice. On the tray was a pastry, the flattest bread roll I have ever seen, bread sticks, a slice of ham quiche and a weird gelatinous thing, which I think was supposed to be pudding.

In addition to this, we had a hot dish, which consisted of some sort of carrot/potato mash and a breaded cutlet of generic grey meat. Needless to say I mostly ate the mash.

I must admit I slept fairly well, although the air con was cranked up so high it was freezing. Anticipating this I had packed a large sheet and wrapped myself up in it.

I woke up at about 8am and braved the on board toilet for the first time. Needless to say as with toilets on most forms of public transport it wasn't particularly pleasant!

The view out of the window had changed and was much more tropical with lush green palm trees and banana trees providing much of the scenery. This was definitely the South America I had imagined.

We were delayed slightly by a protest/strike going on across one of the main roads - a common occurrence in this part of the world I'm told. I'm not sure what it was about but there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of police and army dotted around in case things kicked off.

I arrived in Puerto Iguazu an hour later than scheduled and was blown away by how hot it was - well seeing as I'm pretty much in rainforest country I shouldn't have been too surprised by this.