Activity Summary
Saturday 6th January - Day 459 (continued)
Travel to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil
Sunday 7th January - Day 460
Luke: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Nicola: Gym sesh
Monday 8th January 2024 - Day 461
Iguazu Falls, Brazil side
Tuesday 9th January - Day 462
Flight to Rio de Janeiro, via São Paulo
Summary
Foz do Iguaçu
Much bigger city than the Argentinian side and therefore not as nice to walk around but it did have everything we needed (SIM card, bank, supermarket etc.). Not a place we would spend quality time relaxing in however.
Banks wise, Bradesco worked perfectly for the fee free ATM withdrawal.
Iguazu Falls, Brazil
Enjoyed the views from the Brazilian side more. The big end waterfall was amazeballs.
Transport
Foz do Iguaçu
Walk to bus terminal
Rio Uruguay bus to Foz do Iguaçu (£2pp)
Passport control, Argentinian side, and back on the same bus
Passport control, Brazilian side, wait for the next bus
Bus to town
Walk to accomodation
Accommodation
Foz do Iguaçu - Vila Maracana (R. Castelo Branco)
Number of nights - 3
Price per night per person - £16
Positives:
Private room and bathroom
Double and a single bed
Smart TV
Close to the bus and supermarket
Negatives:
Did have aircon, but it was pretty terrible
Cooking facilities had one job, although it was induction and super quick to cook things
Recommend?
The aircon situation was a big downer but it managed to hold out alright. Not great though so a big ‘on the fence’.
Diary
Saturday 6th January - Day 459 (continued)
For some reason, probably due to low stamp numbers, the same patience that was afforded us at the Argentine border didn’t continue to Brazil. At the Brazilian border control, us and about 4 others out of a bus load of people got off to get stamped into the country. The bus departed and we began our wait for the next Rio Uruguay bus to arrive.
The expected 20-30 minutes turned into comfortably over an hour, us hiding in the shade and Nicola growing increasingly despondent.
Eventually she hit the ‘fuck this’ moment, arranged a taxi to take us to town and share with a mother daughter Argentinian pair only for the bus to turn up at that exact moment.
Begrudgingly we got on the bus which was rammed and a bit unpleasant. One stop had a 6 person group moving about 20 crates of beer to the side of the road, seemingly utilising the bus to cross borders and buy cheaper supplies. A pretty well oiled machine of an operation.
Annoyingly it was a very short ride to town for such a long wait. We jumped off close to the Marias & Maria Bakery to kill some time. The cappuccino with an unexpected dollop of chantilly cream gave South East Asia death by sugar vibes all over again.
To add to Nicola’s unhappiness we got a WhatsApp that our room was ready, leaving the relative comfort of the airconned cafe to trudge along to our accomodation in 35 degree heat and then informed our room wouldn’t be ready for an hour. There was very little we could do, especially since the cleaner didn’t speak anything other than Portuguese and we just had to wait it out in the hallway for a bit.
It took about 15 minutes for them to suddenly whip up our room and had clearly fucked up their system.
Our accomodation proved to be another round of ‘aircon can’t take the heat’. The room was uncomfortably warm and would stay that way until well after dark.
On the upside, the nearby Super Muffato supermarket was stellar, Luke going by himself to allow Nicola to try to cool down.
Sunday 7th January - Day 460
With a balmy 37 degree high, Nicola said no to a trip across the border to Ciudad del Este and Paraguay.
Instead she had a lovely morning at a local gym, cost about £4 for entry and the exercise did wonders for her ailing back.
Conversely Luke went out to Ciudad del Este, wanting to tick off another country albeit effectively cheating. Could hardly call it ‘seeing a country’ but the stamps proved he was there. He was back early afternoon and pretty sweaty and smelly.
Our afternoon activity was to visit the supermarket which was in a fairly decent mall. Nicola got an adequate bubble tea and Luke continued his sugary coffee vibe with a frappe before heading back to the Airbnb and spread eagling waiting for the temperature to drop.
Monday 8th January 2024 - Day 461
Back to Iguazu Falls we were going, this time from the Brazilian side.
We set off for the 8am bus to again try to shield ourselves from the hotter part of the day and also because the park didn’t open until 9am anyway. From the bus terminal we got the 120 bus to Iguazu National park which cost R$5pp (83p).
It took just under an hour to get not overly far due to traffic and roadworks but it was reasonably comfortable.
At the falls entrance we paid £17 each for tickets and jumped on the shuttle bus to the start of the trail. It turns out Americans aren’t the loudest people. On our bus was a large Brazilian family of all ages and they would not shut the fuck up. Jovial songs are all fine, it was funny the first couple of times, but the ‘dad’ was acting like a drunk British ultra at a football match and would not stop shouting random crap. Often he was just singing or shouting by himself.
It was a long 10 minutes.
We jumped off the bus and ran away from them as quickly as we could, bypassing the first viewpoint to preserve some sanity. The 37 degree heat was pretty savage but for the most part the trail was covered by trees.
All along the route were various viewpoints, starting with those over the Argentinian side we had traversed a few days prior.
The water levels definitely looked lower.
For the most part it was pretty easy walking and viewing. It seemed like there were less people so early (didn’t hit any tour groups) and on a Monday. The only horror part was a formal queue for a photo op that wasn’t even that good.
There were nice views up the river towards the waterfall terminal, which sat in an almost bowl that was taking a beating.
The end of the trail was outstanding.
A platform led from the land out over the waterfall at ground level and into this terminus bowl. That in itself was pretty stunning.
It was busy but well worth it.
A mass of water was cascading and roaring into the river from 270°.
It was well worth waiting patiently to edge to the corner of the platform to get a better view and even take a picture which Luke so vehemently despises.
To the right of the platform a perfectly formed rainbow started and finished in the river.
The water, the power, the colours were all popping. Super nice.
The highest and nearest waterfall in itself was impressive, spluttering water over everyone walking along the platform. Hilariously, the smallest waterfall in the nearby complex would have been enough to have us in awe, let alone the rest.
To end the trail we queued for a short time to take the elevator up to a panoramic viewpoint. Nicola really didn’t like the metal flooring with gaping holes and a death drop below.
Having bypassed it, we walked back to the first viewpoint mainly by the road but cut up the trail for the last part. Most moved out the way perfectly fine apart from a youngish woman who had determined her and her man required the whole path. She didn’t expect Nicola to just keep going and was almost floored when Nicola’s shoulder cut right through her like butter. Pretty funny from Luke’s perspective.
We also got to appreciate some of the local big lizs on our way back.
The first viewpoint really wasn’t that great but it was nice to redo the trail for a second time and get our money's worth.
Nicola could hardly contain her excitement having yet another cheese and tomato sandwich on slightly stale bread for the millionth time, enjoying this from a table at the end of the walk. She would come to curse this decision as in waiting for a later shuttle, we missed the earlier 120 bus and our next one broke down in front of our eyes.
The 60 minute wait for the next one in the heat brought unhappy Nicola right back, now sporting a mighty headache but utilising a soaking her Dora the Explorer short to help.
In town we got a Claro SIM card for Luke, sadly now no longer able to use his O2 one, and went back to the room. Luke stepped back out to the supermarket again for some final provisions, the sour cream Pringles really hitting home for Nicola.
To make things worse in our edge discomfort room, the AC seemed to break which no longer sent out particularly cold air and started doing its best Iguazu falls impression every 30 minutes or so by releasing a heap of water / coolant onto the floor. It made sleeping deeply pretty challenging for Luke.
Tuesday 9th January - Day 462
Onwards through to the rest of Brazil. We got an Uber to the airport because we couldn’t be bothered to walk to the bus terminal and deal with the 120 again.
A very helpful LATAM employee checked our bags in through the annoying self help machines and told us we needed to wait an hour until the bag drop would open. Still, never regret our 3 hour early rule.
The nicer things were through security for once, the nearby Subway smells punching Luke as if calling his home prepared cheese sandwiches rubbish.
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