The Adventure of Ruan: Iguassu Cataratas (waterfalls)

The Iguassu cataratas split Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, and is a huge number of cascading waterfalls. A complex that is bigger than Niagara falls. Of course this is quite a tourist attraction. The heart of the falls is the “Devil’s throat” which is shared by Brazil and Argentina.

I arrived by air from Sao Paulo (after taking a bus from Paraty), thanks to our friends at Azul airlines who were kind enough to give me a special rate :) Saying that, I was so tired when I arrived as we had a huge party in Paraty the night before we left and I didn’t sleep much on the bus or flight.

Foz is quite big for a city in the middle of nowhere and the surrounding landscape reminds me of the Transvaal. Quite dry with long grass and the odd tree. Ok, a bit more trees. After a shared taxi ride to the centre of town, I walked to a hostel with was quite nice. Their dorms were full, but they had lots of space for campers! Tent…check :) It seems to be more handy than originally thought, and cheaper. I didn’t have the strength to go out as it was after 5pm, so a quick meal and back to the hostel.

I’d met Lukas (a guys cycling around the world on his own, see the “Links” page for his blog) earlier, who was having a drink with Sjauke (she’s from Belgium). We had some beer before going to bed. Always nice to have good company. Tomorrow I was going to tackle the Brazilian side of the falls.

I woke up late and struggled to get going. Honestly, I didn’t feel like going to the falls. Fortunately Sjauke was looking for something to do and I heard about an aviary close to the entrance to the falls. I wanted to go see this as well. So we went together.

The aviary was nice, a bit smaller than expected. I’m used to “The World of Birds” in Houtbay where there are many walk-through cages. Here are less of them, but (only the next day) I realised why. The Macaw’s and Toucan’s have really strong beaks that can cause serious injury. I’m so glad nobody told me this before, as we walked through a cage with a very curious Toucan. He flew up to some other tourists and was very interested in the zips on a backpack. I realised that it thought these were some sort of nut. So I showed it my bag, when it was close and it started to “nibble”. I was fascinated by the colour and look of it beak and really wanted to touch it. I had some beads & my locker key on my wrist, which I presented to the Toucan. It was interested and hopped over. At some point I was able to get a quick feel in. It felt like a mixture of plastic and glass fibre. The colours were bright (as you would expect).

Another highlight was the hummingbird cage. They are quite small, but you can see them up close as there are “nectar jars” placed close to the path. I was able to get a great shot. They are REALLY agile!

Later we walked through a cage where the “keeper” seemed to communicate with the Macaw’s and was feeding the nuts (which I’m assuming is like a treat to them). One of the Macaw’s got hold of the bead around my wrist. This time not so easy to get it back.

On the way out they have a sensory section. The idea is that if people can interact with the animals less people will be inclined to want a wild bird as a pet (trafficking of these bird are a big problem in South America). It also gives blind people the chance to interact with the birds…to a small degree. Please DO NOT buy such an exotic bird! They are taken as chicks and most times the breeding grounds are destroyed to get to them.

On our way out I went to check the operating hours of the falls. They were were open until 6:30pm (only let you in until 5pm) and it was only 3:30pm. I took the chance, while Sjauke went home (having seen the falls before). The Brazilian side gives you a good panoramic view of the falls with only one walkway to a waterfall (sort of close to the “Devil’s Throat”). To be honest I wasn’t that impressed. You can’t really get close to any of the falls, but I guess it is necessary to get the idea of the scope of these falls. I did see birds that nest behind the falls, fly to their nests. It looks weird but they must have balls of steel. They fly THROUGH the falls!

While talking to Athena (a girl I met at the falls), I saw Chris (a friend from the Geko hostel, Paraty) running to the bus. It turned out that he wasn’t just staying in the same hostel as Athena, but in the same dorm room! Small world. Daniel, Chris’ Irish friend, was also there, so we all went for supper together. They were heading for the Argentinean side tomorrow and then to Buenos Aires. It was a bit quick for me, but what else was there to see? Not much.

Back at the hostel I heard that a tourist boat (that takes you up to the falls & rides kind of under it), had capsized and two people had died. Who else but Americans. One person was really old, so kind of understandable. The other a guy in his 20’s. Wonder what happened? Eish!

After contemplating what to do during the night, I woke up with a clear plan. Pack up my stuff, go to the Argentinean side and grab the bus with them. If no bus, get a hostel for the night. We had arranged to meet at the border, but the bus station ended up being the meeting point. Anyway, we found each other. Instead of booking our bus to Bs.As. we first went to the falls.

My first impression was more like a lodge back in South Africa. Brown sand, A-frame building and few people (at that moment). I felt a bit more at home. It is more expensive to enter this side, but there was no backing out now. A small, open and very nice train takes you to the “Upper-” and “Lower- circuits” which go to many of the smaller falls and the “Devil’s Throat”. We first went to the latter.

All the bridges getting you there are impressive when you look at where they have been build. In the middle of a huge amount of water rushing past. How do you cast the foundations? On the way I realised that this side was SO much better as you are close to the water. It doesn’t feel like you are watching it on TV. The Devil’s Throat was truly impressive! Difficult to put into words, but it is kind of mesmerising like a “bushman’s TV” (For those of you who know what that is). And the sound is great. Unfortunately everything gets wet, so I had to be snappy with the camera.

We then did the two “circuits” but time was catching up with us so we had to make haste. By this time Athena had gone ahead to catch up with a friend and Daniel was on his way back to Brazil (he wasn’t going to Bs.As.). Chris and I took a bit longer, but eventually headed back. He had to get some gifts at the shop at the entrance. Being bored I started trying on some glasses and commented that I looked like a drug addict, to which the one shop assistant laughed (we didn’t think she spoke English). So for the next 3min I focused on making her laugh twice more…I succeeded :)

We couldn’t get the bus we initially intended on, but got a better one! This was luxury. Far reclining seats, a hot supper, breakfast and movies :) Probably the main reason why I haven’t written earlier as I usually do during my bus rides. What was REALLY weird, we got stopped about 7 times by police to check the bus and our passports. Even the bus drivers didn’t know why. At least we arrived in Bs.As. safely.

Brazilian Side:

At the aviary: Great colours – Weird hairdo – I “made it” to the Pantanal :)