“Poor Niagra” -Eleanor Roosevelt on seeing Iguazu Falls
We flew from Salvador up to Iguazu Falls: a place I’ve stopped trying to pronounce to anyone Spanish or Portuguese speaking. They’re found where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet. The falls themselves are split between national parks in Brazil and Argentina, with the bulk of the falls themselves being in the Argentine end. We visited both ends because we don’t like to play favourites.
We landed in Foz do Iguaçu (Brazilian side) in the mid-afternoon and checked in to our hotel in town. We figured out the buses and caught the one headed to the park. There are shuttles there that move you around the place to the various trails and whatnot, but we only had time to see the big splashy bits.
They’re rather pretty
There are a series of walkways that allow you to walk as close to the base of the “Devil’s Throat” as is prudent. It’s close enough to take a soggy selfie with mother nature.
Weird wildlife for the day came in the form of coatis, the local cute racoon-ish thing. They squeak rather disarmingly, but you would be wise not to eat in their presence. Apparently they’re not shy when they’re hungry.
We watched them strip a man to the bone after he spilled ketchup on his shirt
The following morning we got a taxi across to the Argentine side, which was a bit of an adventure in its own right. The border crossing itself took moments, but our hotel on that side was actually in the park, so our driver had to turn away from the security post to take me back to the main kiosks so I could buy tickets into the park. Fine. I went up to the counter and ask for two tickets. The bod said they were 250 pesos each. Still fine. I take out my credit card and he tells me it’s cash only. We don’t have any pesos as we’ve just crossed the border and we’re in a rainforest. I ascertain from him that there’s an ATM around the corner. OK. I walk up to it. Out of order. Fucksocks. I walk up to another counter and confirm whether they really don’t take card or not. They really really don’t. I ask if they take US dollars and she -with a glint in her eye- said very quietly that they didn’t but that she’ll do me a favour this time. She rolled the notes up in her hand out of view of the CCTV and made them disappear. I’ve only been in the country a couple of minutes and I’ve accidently facilitated a crime. Anyway, we drove back up to the checkpoint and he made us turn back and get tickets with the hotel written on them, which are different despite costing the same. I’m missing Brazil already.
We check into the hotel eventually and, as soon as we find our room and go outside to admire the falls view we paid for, the heavens open and it pisses down.
“This is a rainforest, dickhead” –Gaia
When the rain abated, we donned our waterproofs and went for a walk. It transpires that the Argies might have the better half of this deal.
And here’s some assorted beasties, including a toucan (which we managed to miss every damn time in the Pantanal) and an ant the size of a small dog.
So farewell then, Brazil, you treated us well. Next stop: Buenos Aires.
Kurzfassung auf Deutsch: Wir gingen in Iguazu Wasserfälle, die zwischen Brasilien und Argentinien ist. Wir blieben auf beiden Seiten, aber der argentinischen Seite war noch beeindruckender. Ich machte viele Fotos von Schmetterlingen.
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