Having flown up from Buenos Aires we met up with David at the hostel in Puerto Iguazu on the Argentine side. Unfortunately David's luggage hadn't made it into the same plane as him - but unlike Cat's he was only without for 8 hours - more on that later...
The following morning we headed off on the public bus from the station across the road from the Marco Polo hostel (prime position!) to the Argentina side of the falls or cataratas. The bus ride was a little eventful as it got really hot and then broke down - we eventually made it to the main gate where we paid our dues and made our way into the park.
There are 3 main trails to follow - a lower, upper and the one to the Devils Throat. We did them in that order with a stop to get absolutely soaked in between the upper & Devils Throat. The boat ride under the falls is a must! Yes you get absolutely drenched, but on a hot sticky day this is a welcome thing.
They take you into the mist of one fall and then to the other side for your 'blessing'. This is where they take the boat right under a small fall - the water makes it difficult to see and there was lots of shreaking from the whole boat. They give you a dry bag for your stuff - so at least we could get changed into dry gear when we got off - a lot of people just walk around the park in bikinis and shorts though!
To get to the Devils Throat you get the little train up the 5 km trail and walk about a km along raised walkways across the lake at the top of the falls. The Devils throat is horseshoe shaped outlet from the lake that is truly spectacular. The shear volume of water going over the side creates a perment mist that periodically hits the crowd on the viewing platform. You can't stay too dry anywhere here! It also generates rainbows - ahhh!
A montage of the views and experience is below - lots of falls and pre and post soaking photos!
Clockwise from top left - view over one of the falls from the upper trail
View from the lower trail of the same fall
Me with the large falls in the background
Cat & David pre boating soaking
Large falls from upper trail
Large falls from the boat
Top of a fall from the upper trail
Devils throat!
Me post boat soaking!
Another view of the falls from the upper trail
Not much description there - but there are 270 different named falls and I can only remember 3 - but I wouldn't be able to recognise which is which in the photos!
That evening we met up with Natalie at our hostel and had a very long dinner - 2 hours to cook a steak?! No wonder they were overlooked!
The next day we were up and over to the Brazilian side - David heading off early to fit it in before his flight home and us at a more leisurely pace taking the irratic local buses for about £1.5
Border control was very funny - some buses don't even bother to stop as locals don't need to stamp in to their country and we waited about 1.5 hours for the bus from the same company before giving up and paying again for the same journey. (The guide books tell you buses are every 15 minutes but that's with different companies - ours only went once an hour and didn't wait at immigration!)
After all the hassle we got to our hostel - the Bambu guesthouse with time for a swim in their pool and then my first Brazilian caprinha and dinner.
The next day Cat, Natalie and I headed to the Brazilian side of the falls. Whilst this had been poo-pooed by several people as not as good as the Argentine side, we found bit still gobsmacking!
On the Brazilian side you get very close to the major falls - to the extent that the mists drenched us again! The noise of the falls is deafening up close. You also get the overviews of the falls - if Argentina has 80% of the falls then Brazil has views of 80%!
A snapshot of the Brazilian side:
Overview of the Agentine side
Me in front of the main falls post soaking!
Overviews of Brazilan falls
Unfortunately I can't work out how to embed videos - will let you know if I work this one out!
Ps the more on Cat's luggage is that she has it back!!!!
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