Highly Recommended Weekend Trip for Students: The Iguazu Waterfalls!
I have been learning Spanish in Buenos Aires now for several months, since I’m doing an internship here in Argentina. I love Buenos Aires and I have already seen a lot of amazing things in this country.
Last weekend, however I returned from a trip to truly unique lanmark. The sounds, the colors, the huge expanse it is a combination of everything, which make this waterfall unique.I didn’t know it was possible to enjoy this quantity of liters and liters of water falling. It is obviously why the Iguazu Falls are one of the Seven World Wonders, together with Machu Picchu in Peru, among others.
Our trip left the buzzing city of Buenos Aires and after approximatly 18 hours we arrived at 12:00 pm at our hostel in Iguazu. This is when we really felt we were on a short vacation; after several months of (big) city life, our nice hostel with a large pool in the middle of the impressive flora and fauna and in full silence, were the ideal background.
The next day we started to explore the Parque Nacional Iguazu with a visit to the Argentine side of the falls. Once we arrived we were immediately greeted by some little bears with a long nose, called Coati. We thought they were so cute! We took some pictures of them but later we found out that these bears are not as cute as they look. They are not cute at all, actually, because they are very cheeky and are little food thieves.
The way to the falls was a maze of bridges and roads; we passed beautiful waterfalls one by one. Than we arrived at a boat, a speedboat that will go near the waterfalls. We decided to do the boat trip. We were standing in line waiting before we could board the boat. While we were waiting we saw other people coming out of the boat totally wet.
The boat started by pulling up with one side close to the waterfalls, but not that close, so we could take some pictures. Than we went to the other side of the waterfalls, where we almost passed under the waterfalls.The boat rocked back and forth and we got soaking wet. It was such an experience, it took only ten minutes, but it was amazing to come that close to the waterfalls.
The next day we went to the Brazilian side, where we had a panoramic view. Because most of the waterfalls are on the Argentinean side you had a perfect view from the Brazilian side.
Still, I prefer the Argentinean side because in Brazil everything is so organized that it doesn’t feel like you are walking in nature, I felt more like I was visiting an amusement park.
In Brazil you will go by bus to the park instead of walking through the jungle like the Argentinean side. Once you walked out of the bus you follow this perfect landscaped path with many tourists to the waterfalls, where you get the amazing view. After three hours we had seen enough in the Brazilian park.
I would recommend the Brazilian side because the view is fantastic, but the jungle feeling in Argentina was in my experience way better!