Day 11: Puerto Iguazu
Today was a travel day, so not much excitement to report! I checked out of my Airbnb at 12 and arrived in Iguazu at 9pm. Annoyingly there’s no direct flights to Iguazu from Salta so I had to fly back to Buenos Aires.
I’m staying in Puerto Iguazu as it’s the most convenient location for accessing Iguazu Falls. It’s like night and day compared to everywhere else I’ve been so far. It feels a little tacky, I’m not a fan.
I’m dying for a beer, so set out to find a bar. I arrive at what feels like “the strip” and pick the first place I see, battling through the touts trying to entice me to eat in their restaurants. Yup, definitely Costa del sol vibes! I pick the first bar I see. A beer is a beer at the end of the day! I decide to skip dinner tonight, it’s late and I could do with a lighter calorie day!
Day 12: Iguazu Falls (Argentina side)
After stopping off at Excelso for a coffee and a cheese and ham omelette, I jump on the bus headed to the Iguazu Falls, the world’s largest set of waterfalls and one of the 7 wonders of the world.
The most famous walking route, the garganta del diablo, is closed for repair due to heavy flooding, but there’s two other good trails that offer spectacular views of the waterfalls. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful sights since I’ve been in Argentina, but this is probably the most impressive. And there was the clearest rainbow just below one of the waterfalls. Pretty magical.
I was told by many people that the boat ride under the falls is an unmissable experience. They weren’t wrong. It starts with a 20 minute truck ride through the jungle as you try to spot toucans and jaguars. We didn’t see anything other than lizards and butterflies, which are literally everywhere in the park. Next up is the boat ride where they drive you right up to the falls and you get some of the best views from the river. We’re then taken right under them and get absolutely drenched. Luckily someone told me to take a change of clothes (easier said than done in my situation) so I didn’t have to walk around in wet clothes for the rest of the afternoon.
That evening I head to Aqva restaurant for dinner. It’s a 30 minutes wait for a table, but while I’m sat waiting I get chatting to a girl called Jo, who lives in London. She’s travelling Peru, Argentina and Brazil for 6 weeks. We instantly hit it off so decide to have dinner together and spend the whole night chatting about our previous travels. Her luggage also never arrived (she flew BA from Heathrow) so she feels my pain! Her case arrived 3 weeks later, which gives me some degree of hope that I may see mine again!
For dinner we both order local river fish which is a nice change from meat. We swap numbers and agree to meet for drinks and dinner again the next night.
Day 12: Iguazu Falls (Brazil side)
I set off early this morning for the bus to the Brazil side of the falls, as I was told the border can be quite time consuming to cross. There is only one trail on the Brazil side, so it only takes me an hour, but you get a very different perspective of the waterfalls compared to Argentina so it’s definitely worth the trip. Just be prepared to battle your way through a swarm of selfie sticks. On this side you can get right up close to the biggest waterfall in the park, and the noise is pretty deafening! They’re taller and twice as wide as Niagra with over 275 waterfalls. Pretty epic!
As I have time to kill before my bus back, I head to the bird sanctuary. Finally I get to see some toucans, after seeing none in the jungle yesterday.
That night I meet up with Jo and 5 other people she’d met on her tour that day, including Cedric and his nephew Matt from Houston Texas. We meet at Patanegra for dinner, which is a really cool bar/restaurant with a pool and live music. We have some great conversation over a couple bottles of Malbec and an awesome ribeye steak (there was never any other choice for my last meal here!)
While I’m sad my trip is over, I’m also absolutely exhausted and really looking forward to not hand washing my pants in the sink every night.
I now have a long day with 4 flights ahead of me until home. Iguazu > Buenos Aires > Madrid > London > Edinburgh. I fully intend on finding an Iberia desk and I shan’t be moving until they tell me where the fuck my case is! Let’s hope Santa brings it back to me for Christmas.
Until my next adventure…
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