Borders, falls and more borders

Iguaçu. Iguazú. What a mighty, country dividing wonder. For those who don’t know, the Iguaçu falls is the planet’s largest waterfall system and one of the seven wonders of the world. A lesser known fact is that it is divided by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay into a three-slice pie chart; that is to say it is the centre point of three borders. This makes for a very individual set of politics and price points and an even more interesting tourist experience.

Since we were already in Brazil, we had chosen to fly into Foz Do Iguaçu (for definition, spelled with a ‘c’ rather than the Argentinian Puerto Iguazu ‘z’). Foz Do Iguaçu contrary to popular understanding means ‘mouth of Iguaçu’ - not falls, which is the first hand played by Brazil in the battle of the Iguaçu parks. Yes, Brazil claims to own the mouth of the waterfall, one of the tourist tout techniques used to entice you to visit the park from this side, rather than from Argentina. As this park is spilt, to visit the full waterfall you unbelievably have to pay twice in different currencies, in different countries to see the same thing from different sides.

Iguaçu Falls from Brazil

Having been warned by loose research that it is US$50 a pop to enter each park, we wasted some time trying to decide which side might be worth visiting more, knowing full well that we would do both! But for those facing the same dilemma, here’s a summary:

The Brazilian side boasts:

• Excellent panoramic views

• The ability to experience the ‘full’ waterfall at once

• Getting completely soaked by the waterfall spray (optional)

• A shorter, neater day out

The Argentinan side boasts:

• Immersive experience

• A larger park with more to do

• A tourist train (not quite as tacky as it sounds…but still pretty tacky)

• Up close and personal with the awe-inspiring Garganta (throat)

• Wildlife

• Hiking trails

• One tedious border crossing (if coming from Brazil…)

Brazil was the obvious first choice since we were that side of the border so we took a cheap local bus from downtown to the park entrance. I was ecstatic to discover that my loose research was completely wrong and when paying in person entry costed a devastating £12. Armed with fatter wallets than expected, we set foot to find the falls. We did not have to try too hard, they are after all a natural wonder of the world - and a mighty wonder at that! The pouring towers of water just keep coming; heavy plumes of white spilling generously for 3km, punctuated with plush scenery reminiscent of Jurassic park. Trying to get your head around this is quite difficult but the panoramic aspect offered by the Brazilian view point sets the perfect context. The path is a single 1.5km track, well maintained, well populated but long enough to enable plenty of space to take in the thunderous view. The walk culminates in an exciting climax where poncho-clad souls can catch the full spray of the ‘garganta do Iguacu’, the heaviest flow of the waterfall, which Brazil sees bottom-up. Exciting. Tom and I were far too busy trying to snap the hundreds of rainbowing butterflies attracted to the dewy atmosphere to do this (plus I forgot my poncho), but I must admit I was a tiny bit jealous in a disney-FOMO sort of way.

Butterfly at the Brazilian falls

We ate our packed lunches in the generous picnic/cafe area during which a flutter of blue butterflies wouldn’t leave us alone. The cafe was very much a place where you either eat lunch or you are lunch as we watched a huge monitor lizard (big enough to chug down a rabbit or two…or three) sidle up from the river, over the patio area, around the unbelievably oblivious instagrammers, siphon up a few helpless termites and slide off into the bushes.

Monitor lizard - eat or be eaten

Day two; it’s time to taste what Argentina has to offer. We had two options of getting there: 1) a slick 45 minute taxi ride for £45 return or 2) a less-than-slick unknown number of local busses, via an unknown route which were going to take an unknown quantity of time but, on the up side would cost about £4 return. You don’t need to guess which we chose.

After waiting for any bus (any bus at all!) labelled ‘Argentina’ for 40 minutes we were already on the verge of giving up when the green (and confusingly titled) ‘Uruguay’ bus to Argentina rumbled up. We had a rejuvenated sense of vindication as we handed over our 10 pesos (£2) and rumbled 20 minutes to the border. Here, we were coughed out by the bus which then did not wait for us to get our exit stamps from Brazil (albeit a very easy 2 minutes). Side-eyes to one another as we anticipated another 40 minute wait, or 3km hike across no-man’s land to the Argentinian Border. Luckily we only had to wait 10 minutes and, as our entire bus was filtered through the no-stamp ‘tourist queue’, we were picked up again the other side, finally in Argentina. The next surprise was a 20 minute drive - of course not to the park but somewhere else entirely - but when we finally reached Puerto Iguazú town bus station, we were allowed to board the third and final bus to the park on the same Uruguayan bus ticket. Still pretending that time isn’t money; 2 hours and counting, but only £2 spent.

Immersive Argentinian views

The park was incredibly different from the Argentinian angle. This time we were almost engulfed by the falls, with viewpoints much closer from both above a below. The wildlife promised on the Brazilian side came to fruit with Toucans flying top-heavy overhead and Coatis at our feet (over-comfortable raccoon style creatures). The human life was also more prevalent, we had to fight a little for space to begin with but this thins out as you get deeper. The several kilometres of walkway traverse the many waterfalls and it is one of these that leads you to the top of the Garganta del diabolo - ‘Devil’s throat’ - which is possibly one of the most awe-inspiring things I have witnessed. An extract from the Iguazu website :

[the devil’s throat] “…jumps more than 150 meters in length with a drop of more than 82 metres in height (like a 30-story building). The fall converges in the shape of a horseshoe and has an average flow fo 1,800 cubic meters per second (enough to fill 36 Olympic swimming pools in just 1 minute).”

Devil’s Throat

In short and overall, Argentina gets the cup (not the first time).

We trundled back to the hostel, minds fizzing with the magnitude of the falls, arriving another two pounds, two passport stamps and two hours later. We had taken the scenic route and both agreed that though we mayn’t do it that way twice, it filled our cups to have done it once.