After reaching the bus station in Foz Do Iguacu, the city close to the falls on the Brazilian side of the river, we cleverly realised we hadn't thought about getting any Brazilian currency (Reals) for the bus. D'oh. We therefore asked a burly looking security guard who pointed us up the road (possibly) towards a cash machine. After trekking for about 20 minutes into a dodgier and dodgier looking area that seemed to consist mainly of squats and rather dubious looking garages we figured we should probably head back to the station and get us a taxi to the nearest ATM. Once we had got some cash the cab driver persuaded us to let him drive us to the park entrance. Oh go on then.
We arrived at just gone 8:15 and found that like the day before, the park wasn't even open yet. The useless types didn't open till 9...outrageous. We sat down and had a coffee while we waited and yet again watched all the darn tour buses arrive and get in the ticket queue. Fortunately when we finally got through the turnstiles and onto the double decker bus that drove us down to the park, there seemed to be only a few of us ready to get on with it.
In the queue we got talking to a Zoe from Switzerland who had arrived that morning after travelling overnight from Rio de Janeiro. She had travelled all the way down through Brazil and it was great to hear a bit about one of the countries we weren't going to be spending any time in (on this trip, anyway).
There were various activities you could get off the bus and do on the way into the park, but they all sounded a little contrived and expensive so we headed for the trail that takes you along the cliff looking toward the Argentine side of the falls before going down to a viewing platform that heads out toward the Devils Throat.
It was a bit of a cloudy day, but the views were still great.
A nice one of us two (cheers Zoe).
And one of Zoe.
It was pretty high up so you got a good sense of just how far round the falls go.
Down in the bottom right you can see the dock where we got our boat-of-drenchedness the previous day. The falls (and blasting clouds of river water) on the left were where the boat went into.
More vultures gliding around effortlessly.
There were some nice views of these smaller falls running down the back of San Martin Island.
It was all beautifully green.
You can really see how the three different layers of (volcanic) basalt rock on top of each other have created the layered effect of the falls.
Looking up toward the devils throat.
As the trail ran down towards the water you could see the walkway that heads right out over the water.
Me and the lady did our waterproofs up (lessons learnt from the previous day) and Zoe purchased a plastic disposible mac from the handily placed lady selling them by the walkway and we ventured out.
There were great views of the tempestuous river down below. Also in the bottom centre of this pic are more of those crazy swifts tucked onto the rocks right beside the raging torrent.
The swifts were darting around and actually flew under this waterfall. You can just see the silouette of one right next to the rock in the middle of the picture.
Still making our way out towards the end platform on the walkway. The spray was absolutely drenching us by this point.
Looking out towards the devils throat from the final platform. The noise was intense.
Looking back towards the Brazilian side and the lift that takes you up over the last bit of the falls.
Clairy took this spectacularly funny pic of Zoe and me. It makes us both laugh every time we look at it!
The noise and spray coming off the vast falls right next to the platform were intense.
Here's Clairy enjoying getting drenched.
It seemed quite incredible that the grasses could hold on in such strong currents.
We headed back to the trail and reached the lift that took you up to the next level of the falls. Here there was a stunning view of the side of a waterfall.
You could almost see behind it.
Next we headed up the elevator. It was a big glass box and I was well proud of Clairy for not trying to throw herself out of it. She even took this vertigo inducing shot from the top platform with its see-through floor!
Oh hi! I love this shot of us. Cheers Zoe for taking it.
Look...a pretty rainbow.
A few shots of the thundering falls from the top platform.
You can just make out the Argentinian flag on the other side of the falls where we had been the day before. It looked seriously rammed full of people and we were glad it hadn't been quite as busy when were there.
I particularly liked this one showing the the walkway below stuffed full of tourists.
Clairy took this pic showing the top platform, lift and walkway way down below.
We then walked up to the restaurant at the end of the trail. You could still see the spray being blasted up from the devils throat in the distance.
Chatting away.
We had a coffee and an empanada at the cafe, and then hopped on the bus back to the park entrance and visitor centre. There was a fair amount of information and lots of piccies of the animals we hadn't seen on our walk. We took this rather strange pic of a video kaleidoscope thingamajiggy.
We then got on the bus back to Foz do Iguacu. Once there we said goodbye to Zoe. We really enjoyed chatting our way round the falls with you! The Argentine side definitely had a lot more to see and do, but we were glad to have the opportunity to see both sides.
On the way back to Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, again the bus just hammered it on through the Brazilian border controls without stopping, so luckily we didn't end up in jail for illegally entering the country. Bonus!
2 comments:
Hi Zoe,
It really made the day for us, meeting you, chatting and laughing our way around the falls.
Cheers lovely!
xxx
We thought it looked even more amazing than the Argentinian side. We can just imagine how noisy it must have been. And before yesterday, we didn't even know the falls existed !!!
C&B
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