Adventures in South America: Iguacu Falls, Brazil

Tonight I leave for a 4-flight, 24+ hour plus marathon trip back home from Foz do Iguacu's airport, but first I visited the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls, which is conveniently just a ten minute public bus ride from the airport.

After checking out of my apartment, I had to figure out how to get to the Brazilian side of the falls from Puerto Iguazu's bus station.  It was pouring rain this morning, and even just crossing the street I got soaked.  I bought a bus ticket for a bus that would take me directly to the falls, but I had to wait a long time for it.  I took the opportunity to walk to a cambio to change my remaining USD to Brazilian reals, getting further soaked in the process.

Back at the bus station, the bus was late, and I got frustrated and jumped on a different bus instead that would take me to Foz's downtown bus station.  

Really what I was stressed about more than rain and bus waiting times, was border procedures.  Yesterday I had gotten my entry stamp for Brazil because I had heard that the buses going from Puerto Iguazu to Foz do Iguacu do not stop at Brazilian customs.  I knew I would need to have an entry stamp in my passport to be allowed to fly out of Brazil, so that is why I made sure I got it yesterday.  That is also why I wanted to avoid the exit stamp.  But now I was in a bit of a situation, because I had not gotten my passport stamped coming back into Argentina, and it seemed the bus I had originally bought a ticket would stop at the Argentina border.  All of it was confusing to me, and with extremely limited Spanish and absolutely no knowledge of Portuguese, I was not quite sure how this was going to all work out.

So I hoped on this Foz bus, paid 5 real and hoped it would just go into Foz without stopping at the border.  Unfortunately, it didn't.  We stopped at the Argentina border, and despite my efforts to stay on the bus, I was shooed off for processing.  

At first the Argentina immigration guy stamped my passport without paying much attention, but before he gave it back to me he noticed something that bothered him and proceeded to talk to someone else who talked to someone else and finally they asked me questions I did not understand.  Eventually they brought over an English speaking person who simply asked what date I had entered Argentina.  I said "November 15," which was the first day I had arrived.  They seem satisfied with that and let me go.  Literally the bus was pulling away form the curb as I came out, but he stopped when I waved and I was able to get back on.  So that was a relief.  

We drove right past Brazilian customs as I expected, so now I felt all set.

At the Foz bus station I bought a public bus ticket to the falls, and that was another half hour or so ride.  But, finally, I was there.

My flight is at 18:00, and it was now almost 14:00, so I was running out of time.  The entrance area is extremely well equipped with very large lockers, so I was able to lock up my bags before entering the park.

Rather than a train, the Brazilian park has double-decker buses that transport tourists from the entrance to the trails.  The rain was stopping now, which was good timing for me.  

I rode the bus to the trail head for the trail that accesses the Devil's Throat on this side of the falls.  The trail is probably about the same length as the one in Argentina, but this one runs along the Iguazu River instead of over it. It actually provides a much better view of the falls.  The first set of falls you see on this trail are the Three Musketeers, and they are incredibly beautiful.  

This view is impossible from Argentina, so even though far more of the Iguazu Falls are in Argentina, the view of the falls is much better from Brazil.

While in Argentina by the Devil's Throat there were lots of little birds, here in front of the Three Musketeers there were much larger birds, perhaps vultures.  In many ways they were behaving similarly to the birds I saw yesterday; somehow the chaotic water is obviously providing lots of feeding opportunities.

I was really hustling along this trail, even jogging in places, but the view was breathtaking, and mostly I had the trail to myself.

I passed a couple of large lizards--at least three feet long each--lying on top of each other.

The Three Musketeers and Devil's Throat are the largest of the sets of the Iguazu Falls you can see from this trail, but there were little falls all over the place as well.

At some point you can go down and be really close to the Devil's Throat, but I didn't feel like getting more wet, and anyway I was running out of time.  You can see how the trail extends way out into the water in the picture below.  In any case I think the view is probably better from higher up.

Once again I found the view much better from this side than the Argentinian side. 

While looking at the Devil's Throat, this butterfly landed right in front of me!

And this coati came by.  They are interesting animals, but I began to see why they are not entirely desirable.  I get the impression they are a little like raccoons.

The dining area nearby had tables plastered with these warnings:

I continued walking up to the end of the trail, whence you can see the upper river, which actually looks surprisingly calm relative to what is about to happen to all that water!  

I had a chance to buy and mail a postcard here (no hour long wait!), so I did that and then caught the bus back to the entrance.

There I unlocked my bag and waited for the bus.  I did not have to wait long, and then it was a quick ride from there to here at the Foz do Iguacu airport, in plenty of time to catch my Avianca flight to Sao Paulo.

My shoes and socks are still damp and I could certainly use a shower, so I am hoping to use an airport VIP lounge once I get to Sao Paulo.  From there I will fly to O'Hare overnight, then Denver, until finally getting home to Edmonton tomorrow afternoon.  Here is the map of my entire trip:

Adventures in South America: Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Once back from cycling, I returned to my apartment, drank some water, grabbed another bottle, and crossed the street to jump on the bus to the Argentinian Iguazu Falls national park.

The cycle trip had taken more time than I expected, and it was now after 15:00.  The park closes at 18:00, so I really was not doing it justice.  But, I do not have time tomorrow, so I had to make the most of what time I had today.

By the time I got to the park and had bought my ticket (which is not cheap, at 500 pesos [about $35 CAD], and it has be paid in cash!) it was almost 16:00.  The park entrance ticket includes a train that takes you to various trail heads, and really I only had time to go to one spot, and I chose what is called the Devil's Throat.

The train probably takes about 20 mins to get to the trail head, and the trail is probably about another kilometre or two, mostly on a boardwalk over the Iguazu River.

This picture is pretty much useless, but there is a coati in the tree here that I walked by.

While not perfect, this picture does a better job of showing off this butterfly.  There were countless butterflies on the first part of the trail.

Close to the fall themselves, the air was full of mist, and I assume the butterflies try to stay well away!

It was pretty incredible how close the viewing platform was to the falls themselves--at some spots I was pretty much looking over the ledge as I looked down (see video below).

Another fascinating thing was all these little birds, maybe swallows, that were flying around in the mist.  I assume they were eating insects that were losing control in the air around the falls, or else maybe being thrown as the water fell over the cliffs.  Unfortunately you cannot really see the birds in any of my pictures, although there are some in the photo above.

I had to be back for the last train at 17:30, and so I probably only spent about 10 minutes at the falls before turning around to head back.

This is another of my not-so-great wildlife photos; there is a red/yellow spot in the middle of this picture, which is the beak of a toucan.  I actually got to see the toucan right on the trail in front of me and I could not believe what I was seeing!  By the time I had my camera out the toucan had flown into the tree.

On the train out of the park I got to see another toucan in a tree close by.  They really are something with their enormous brightly-coloured beaks.

Adventures in South America: Three Country Bicycle Adventure

I came to Puerto Iguazu to see the famous Iguazu Falls, of course, but I also could not pass up the opportunity to visit three countries in one day, and that was my plan this morning when I picked up my rental bicycle just after 8:00.

It was far from a wonderful bicycle, but it was adequate.  I began by rolling down to the Iguazu River port where the ferry I had checked out yesterday leaves from.  I opted to choose "peaton," and not bother mentioning my bicycle.

I had to wait a little bit before the ferry arrived and loaded up, but the whole experience was pretty cool.

I sure would like to know the story behind this ship!

We headed out into the Iguazu River and towards the Parana.

Brazil was to our right, the "marco" I had seen from Argentina yesterday.

And Paraguay straight ahead, with the red, white, and blue "hito."

Everyone leaving Argentina got their passports/documents stamped by an immigration official, but in Paraguay a lot of people did not--I am not sure why.  I had decided to get a Paraguay visa before coming ($150 USD!), but I think I could have gotten away without one.  Playing it safe, I stopped to get my passport stamped.

Then I cycled out of the river valley and into a city called Presidente Franco.  

I mostly cycled, but also walked, north through the city.  I found this barber shop hilarious, using Justin Bieber to advertise!

I also saw lots of evidence of something this area is famous for, electronics!  I think for the most part Brazilians come here to buy knock-off or otherwise-sketchily-sourced electronics, but this shop seems to have been more in the repair business.

I made my way into Ciudad del Este, past the very rugged looking Estadio Antonio Aranda, one of Paraguay's largest soccer stadiums.

I ended up in a cool park that used to be the airport.

After taking some time to enjoy the park, I cycled around what seemed to be the downtown area a little bit.  I was vaguely in search of a postcard, but really was not optimistic.  I gave up quickly, and cycled back south to the post office to mail a postcard I had brought from Argentina.

The post office was an interesting place, but all I photographed was this dream catcher, whose presence surprised me.  

I managed to speak to the man entirely in Spanish, but left without having my postcard mailed, because I could not pay for the stamps with a credit card or US dollars.  As I left the post office, I was quite surprised to see this large mosque right across the street.

I headed back into the downtown I had left, and found a cambio to change $5 USD into Paraguayan guaranies.  

I spent about half of it back at the post office on my stamp.  Then, postcard mailed, I began making my way to the Brazilian border.  I passed this unique church--note its relative accessibility compared to the mosque above.  

Here I could see across to Brazil, and had a decent view of the bridge connecting the two countries.

Close to the border are these large shopping malls.

And also lots of lower-scale street vendors selling clothes, electronics, and all sorts of things.

I was obviously not here to shop, but I did spend the last of my Paraguayan money on a bag of plums from a street vendor.  Then I went to the border.

Again, I clearly could have cycled right across without a passport stamp, but I searched a little bit and found someone, apparently Hugo Nunez, who would stamp me out of the country.

The bridge has a separated sidewalk for pedestrians, so I walked my bike along there.  There were lots of other people with shopping bags doing this walk.

The bridge crosses the Parana River, with Brazil on the east side . . .

. . . and Paraguay on the west.

There is a point on the bridge where you actually cross the border; the Paraguayan side is red and Brazilian green, with a "P" and a "B" in case you do not understand the colour coding.

In Foz do Iguacu, most people continued walking past immigration, but I was keen to get my passport stamped, for a reason I will explain tomorrow.  This proved very easy and quick, as I was literally the only person in the office.  I was now using my Brazilian visa.  Along with the visa for Paraguay, I had spent over $400 CAD on the visas I was using today!  In the case of Brazil, though, I did not have a choice, because I will be flying out of Brazil tomorrow, so could not have gotten away without it.

Today my only goal in Foz was to a) mail a postcard and b) get back to Argentina.  This whole cycle trip was taking longer than I had planned, and I was having to apply sunscreen for the third time.  Also, I was now out of water.

I cycled south, past many billboards advertising Paraguay shopping such as this one.

I made my way downtown to the post office.

Foz's post office was a far cry from Ciudad del Este's!  For one thing, I had been the only one at Ciudad del Este, but here there were dozens of people.  So many, in fact, I had to take a number and wait an hour!  But generally the post offices seemed to reflect the economic disparity between Brazil and Paraguay in terms of age of the buildings, professionalism of the employees, technology being used--even the lighting.  And, thankfully, I had no issues using a credit card to buy my stamp here in Brazil.

From the post office I continued my way south, winding through a fairly poor neighbourhood where a sheep was grazing!

I took a bit of a shortcut that allowed me to bypass Brazilian immigration--I did not want to be stamped out in this case (again, I will explain tomorrow).  I had to hop this barrier, but then I was on the highway to Argentina.

This time the bridge crossed the Iguazu River, which was the river I had started on on the ferry this morning.

As between Paraguay and Brazil, the bridge used colours to indicate which side you were on, only this time a lot more paint was used!

Once in Argentina, I just cycled right through the border security.  No one paid much attention to me, but I was actually a little anxious about not stopping.  Now that I was back in Puerto Iguazu it was not too much further to the bike rental shop, where I dropped the bicycle.  

This bicycle trip was what I was most nervous about in planning this trip to South America, because it was logistically somewhat challenging what with having to find a rental bicycle, travel across two rivers by ferry, all the border crossing, different currencies, etc.  So, I was pretty proud of myself when it was all done.  I do not think I have ever crossed even one border before by bicycle, let alone visited three countries in one day!

Here is more or less the route I had cycled.  Certainly I did well over 30 kilometres, because the route I have mapped does not include the backtracking I did in Paraguay.  Also, the 6+ hours Google says it would take to walk this route is pretty close to what it actually took me on my bicycle, including the ferry and all the stops, backtracking, etc.