Everyone will tell you that it is more picturesque from the Brazil side. Hands up I did not see it from this angle but dig a little deeper and ask them some more questions. From what I’ve gather it is more expensive from the Brazil side, owners in the accommodation (hostels) are generally unfriendly and will encourage you to take a taxi to the falls (with their cousin…) [it’s not necessary] and there is less to do (generally just a viewing platform to see the falls and a small park).
Hearing the latter from other travelers I am comforted that Rene and me made the right choice.
Running short of dollars cash (very good to have in Argentina) we chose the less direct route: across Paraguay. Though my adventure begun in Paraguay….
Unexpectedly Carlos greeted me with a big grin in Asuncion bus station and gave me a lift to his flat, fantastic…. But he had no WiFi so contacting Rene was a real concern.
Eventually we got messages to each other and Rene said he had found a bus to the falls, leaving at 1am. By this time it was 11.45pm, I’d had many beers and it was tempting not to go. Thankfully Carlos’ girlfriend didn’t drink so drove me back to Carlos’ flat, I stuffed a load of things into a couple of bags. I met Rene just about on time and drunkenly stumbled onto the bus… and fell asleep.
5hrs later we were in Cuidad del Este, which is a town that sits on the boarder with Argentina. We then caught the local bus to the falls but hit the early morning rush hour. The bus crawled along an agonisingly slow rate (20m every 30mins). I tried to sleep but Rene felt the need to wake me and point things out on our journey: ‘Look a policeman with a shot gun, you would not see that in Germany’. I grunted some reply each time….
Eventually at the town before the falls you can catch a bus from here to the falls which leaves regularly every 20mins (cost of 30pesos return [$3/£2]). This drops you outside the entrance where you pay about 160pesos ($18/£12) to get in.
At the start there is an interesting museum about the natural history of the area and some market stalls. Depending on time you may consider leaving these until the end of the day.
A train takes you from here to the higher point (it’s free and too hot to walk it but remember the last one is at 4pm). On arrival you walk across some metal bridges to the falls. On route you see some structures that were once the walkways rusting and crumbling into the river. At this point I did check that Rene could swim, not that if we went over the falls we stood much chance anyway.
Although, on arrival to South America, Iguazú is what you will hear most travelers go on about, it was never in my plans. But as I’d dragged Rene most places so went along with him on this one. To be honest while I would not say you absolutely have to see them, they were more impressive than I’d imagined.
On the Argentina side there are other walkways to wonder round giving you different angles of the main falls and other, smaller, cascades.
The comedy moment came for me when we were catching the small train back. Animals, that reminded me of badgers, roam around, particularly the areas serving food. Rene wanted to encourage them closer to us so threw some biscuits out for them and as such a small tribe came bouncing over. A photo shows one of the creatures started climbing onto Rene’s lap which he found cute and started stroking it like a dog. I tried to warn him that they were wild, to which he ignored. Moments later the animal clambered onto Rene and grab the pack of biscuits before triumphantly scampering off leaving Rene’s hands and legs full of scratch marks. I won’t repeat what Rene said but the tourists around us tried to stifle their laughter.
When you get back to the main bus terminal there are buses to Salta, although you will save about 400pesos ($45/£30) by taking the bus to Resistencia and changing there (paying in cash is likely to get you a discount).
As for me, it was adiós René and back to Paraguay. Coming over I had not got an exit stamp and as such got concerned what immigration were going to say, but the lady just looked at me a little perplexed and said you already have a stamp señor (ie if you leave Paraguay for a short length of time, in my case less than 1 day, you do not need an exit stamp).
Signing off with love from South America
justindvblog 