Day 49: Iguazú Falls!

Today, we headed to the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu to visit the famous Iguazu Falls! We took a local bus to get there, and it was only around 20 minutes from the bus station near our hostel (at the city center). The Iguazú Falls, also spelled as Iguassu Falls or Iguaçu Falls, are one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As mentioned the other day, Iguazu from the Guarani words "y" meaning water and "ûasú" meaning big (and it certainly lives up to its name). We paid the entrance fee of R$49 and also bought tickets to the Macuco Safari (R$170) which a friend of Caio told me we had to do. 

We knew we were going to get completely drenched at the Macuco Safari, so we decided to do that first. Also, the safari would be 2 hours long so we decided to do it first to get it done, since we wanted to be back at 5pm to catch the Argentina game and didn't want to risk rushing it later. When we left the city center it was actually raining a lot, but thankfully when we got to the park it had stopped. Though we didn't have clear blue skies that day, we were thankful it stopped raining.

The Macuco Safari is a 2 hour tour that takes you first through the forest to see some of the flora and fauna, and then on a speed boat ride to get up close to the falls. It costs R$170 but it was so much fun and really worth it.

Going on the tour of the forest via the electric cart, about 3km. We had a multilingual guide (Portuguese, Spanish and English) talking about the park, the plants and trees, some animals, and other things we saw along the way.

The vehicle goes up to a certain point and then you take start talking a walk through the forest (about 600 more meters) which eventually leads you down to the river for the boat ride.

View of the dock and the boat from above

They warn you several times that you will get completely drenched during the ride. Everyone else on our boat was wearing raincoats/ponchos, but we opted to just ride in what we were wearing since we all brought a complete set of spare clothes. There are lockers and bathrooms at the dock to store your bags and belongings. I didn't bring my camera on the ride but Daniel used his GoPro and B brought her camera in a ziplock bag, so I got the next few pictures from them.

B testing her camera through the ziplock bag

The speed boats

All ready! We were lucky enough to sit at the front of the boat

We cruised upstream the Iguazú River; the current and rapids were pretty strong, and it felt a bit like white water rafting. The boat brought us to Salto Macuco, one of the smaller falls at the base of the Iguazu Falls. The driver slowed down a bit at this one point so everybody could get some pictures with the falls.

Salto Macuco Falls

And then, it was time to get up close to the falls....

...and soaking wet! 

It was so cold, but so much fun. 

The boat

After the ride, completely drenched!

We cleaned up and changed, and then set out to explore the rest of the park. We walked along the trail (about 1,200 meters) which offers panoramic views of the falls.

A little something about the falls which I pulled from online.

Iguazu Falls, in Iguazu River, are one of the world's largest waterfalls. They extend over 2,700 m (nearly 2 miles) in a semi-circular shape. Of the 275 falls that collectively make up Igaussu Falls, "Devil's Throat" is the tallest at 80 m in height.

One of our first views of the Iguazú Falls. So amazing. It was actually a bit foggy at first but thankfully the sky cleared up a bit.

As we kept walking, we got to appreciate how big and magnificent they were.

The end of the trail leads you to Devil's Throat / Garganta del Diablo / Garganta do Diabo, the tallest of the falls.

Walkway to the lower base of the Devil's Throat

Devil's Throat

We were really hungry at this point but didn't really have time for a sit down meal (so we could catch the Argentina game) so we grabbed something from the snack bar.

Then we took the elevator up to one of the look out points that offers the best view of the falls from the Brasilian side. Ange's face because the flooring was all grills, which she's terrified of.

View from the look out point.

Walkway to Devil's Throat (lower base)

Devil's Throat

It was such a great day at the park doing the Macuco Safari and viewing the magnificent falls. (And my day was made even better with Argentina beating the Netherlands on penalties to advance to the Finals!!!)