The Insider’s Guide to a Exploring Iguazu
I have been living in Buenos Aires for several months now, learning Spanish in Argentina and doing my internship in Buenos Aires. And finally I had the chance, a couple of weeks ago, end of December, to do the weekend trip that was high on my bucket list: a visit to the waterfalls of Iguazu.
On day 1, I woke up early, packed my stuff and took a cab to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, from where my plane would leave. Boarding started at 13.00 and within two hours we were in Iguazu. Upon arrival at the hostal I felt there was a good vibe going on. There was music playing and people were sitting next to the pool; I immediately decided to put on my swimsuit and go for a swim.
Later on that evening I decided to go to the three-border point with Brazil and Paraguay. There are a few shops there and you have an amazing view over the river. But the best thing about the three-border point was the water and light show, starting at 20.00. The show and the music reflect the different cultures of the three countries: Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
On day 2 of my trip, went to the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls. I took a taxi from the hostel to the Brazilian park. That was easy; but upon arrival in the park, there was a massive line for buying tickets and we had to wait 1,5 in line; and shortly after, another 1,5 to get into the park! So after 3 hours, we finally got into a bus that would bring us further into the park. When you are planning on going, go early to avoid the lines. We booked a boat trip, which was amazing. The boat takes you all the way to under the waterfalls. We got to sit in the front of the boat, which was really cool, but also meant we came out really, really wet.
After the boat trip, we took the bus to the next stop: the start of a hike along the Brazilian side, which has quite a good view on the waterfalls.
On Day 3 I (finally) went to the Argentinian side of the Iguazu Park. No lines here. We took the green path through the jungle, where we encountered a group of curious coatis. I was carrying a plastic bag with food and water, when all of a sudden there was a coati hanging on the bag. They can be quite aggressive, but luckily these ones were not. The green path was amazing. You see monkeys, coatis, butterflies, and more. Afterwards we took the train to the famous Devil’s Throat. I definitely recommend taking the train here; otherwise you lose a lot of time walking. The walk from the train station to the Devil’s Throat is quite long as well, but totally worth it. It is such a spectacle, that you can’t keep your eyes from it.
The Argentine and the Brazilian parks are very different. If you ask me which side I liked best, for me it was clearly the Argentine side. On the Brazilian side we had to wait a long time to get in, got driven around by tour busses and the view was not that amazing. Mostly, it felt really touristic.
On the Argentine side though, we got into the park immediately, could walk around freely and had amazing views. In my opinion, the best point of view was from the lower circuit on the Argentinian side.