Big Water

A little sleep in after our late night brought us to pleasant weather after breakfast. I popped out for a last look at the immensely grand Avenida 9 de Julio while we waited for an Uber to bring us to the city airport, Jorge Newbery Aeroparque.

I guess the craziness that I experienced here last December may have been a function of it being Christmas holidays, as instead of ending up being dangerously close to cut off time for bag drop, we were at the counter in minutes after walking in.

We got Starbucks at the airport and it, along with McDonald’s, is somewhat of a barometer for me of costs in different countries as pretty much everywhere has these two places. Both chains reflected the dramatic increase in pricing for food and drink in Buenos Aires in the last year. For a vanilla latte (me) and a vanilla Frappuccino (Ellie), the total was 14100 ARS, or about 18.50 CAD which is almost 50% more than it would cost at home. These are more like the prices in Manhattan. Now you could say that the prices were high because these are global chains, but the local places we visited over the weekend weren’t much cheaper.

Aeroparque has a lot of bus gates. Totally fine as long as it’s not raining.

There was a great spotting area just metres from the taxiway. I spotted a number of people just outside the window capturing the comings and goings of this busy urban airport, with a great backdrop of the towers of Palermo.

Up, up, and away we rise over the muddy yet sealike estuary Rio de la Plata, and turn north to cross its delta.

Beautiful, billowing convective clouds were indicative of late summer afternoon thunderstorms.

One thing that hasn’t changed since my last trip is the premium economy meal service on Aerolineas Argentinas – the squished ham and cream cheese sandwich.

We passed over the border cities of Posadas (Argentina) and Encarnacion (Paraguay), separated by a broadening of the massive Parana River.

Our descent brought us over lush agricultural land in Paraguay, just before passing over the Parana and clearly seeing the boundary of Iguazú National Park on the Argentina side. I am very excited about this part, as Iguazu Falls (Big River in the Indigenous languages of the area) is the largest waterfall system in the world.

Puerto Iguazu airport is small – the aircraft after landing has to turn around at the end of the runway to taxi back to the terminal building in the middle.

The baggage hall in the new terminal was also small, we were the only people there and the bags came out within seconds. Super efficient.

Shortly after collecting our bags, our driver for the next couple of days, Dario, picked us up and brought us to the border between Argentina and Brazil. A very interesting experience in this tightly knit tourist oriented border area. Both countries have exit controls, so we had to pull up at a passport control booth on the Argentina side before leaving the country, where we had to fill out a form that seemed specific to taxi and bus transport.

Next, we drove across the bridge to Brazil where the flag colours changed at the boundary.

And then pulled into the parking lot at the Brazil border control area, and had to wait in a small line behind a tour group from Korea to have our passports stamped. If we had only been coming for a day trip this wouldn’t have been necessary, but since we were staying 2 nights and also exiting Brazil through a different port, the stamp of official record was required. No questions were asked at either side.

About half an hour later we arrived at the gate to the Iguaçu National Park (Brazil), where we were dropped off by Dario and transferred to the hotel shuttle. The hotel we will stay at is very special, as it is within the national park itself. This means that we’ll be able to walk to the Brazil side of the falls whenever we want, rather than having to rely on organized tours during opening hours. Essentially private access to the waterfall for sunrise and sunset.

About 20 minutes into the park at a slow drive (speed limit 40 to keep it relaxed and safe for roaming critters), we arrived at the Hotel das Cataratas, our home for the next two nights. We got a refreshing welcome drink and brigadeiros while filling out the check in paperwork. Yum!

The room was small but comfortable and we had an amazing view of some of the falls right outside our window.

A sunset picnic had been set up for another group on the hotel’s front lawn.

Coatis were abundant on the pathways around the hotel and falls.

As well as lizards.

The star of the show, the mighty Iguazu Falls, were irresistible and although we’d spent a good chunk of the day on the move, it was easy to keep walking down the now deserted pathways to the end, as day visitors need to leave the park at 5 PM.

Honestly, I did try hard to keep the number of photos down, but it didn’t work that well. It was just so amazingly beautiful. No narration needed, really.

Back at the hotel just before twilight, and we headed over to one of the onsite restaurants set within a beautiful garden on the edge of the pool.

The food was absolutely delicious and relatively inexpensive considering the location and quality.

After dinner, Ellie really wanted to hit the pool, and check out the giant chess set in the garden.

The hotel was really, really nice. As it should have been considering the price paid.

As we awoke early to some colorful clouds, we could see why to be thankful for good screens on the window. Yikes!

The breakfast buffet had an utterly amazing coffee station with hand ground and brewed local coffee in addition to all the usual stuff. Wow!!

We were back on the shuttle to the park gate at 7:50 to meet Dario again for a day trip back to the Argentina side to explore that side of the falls. Missing from yesterday’s pics was the massive expansion Brazil is doing on the road leading towards the airport and park from the city.

Also missing from yesterday was a shot of the brand new Brazil border control facility under construction. Things are booming here.

It was a pretty early morning for Miss Ellie, so she caught 40 winks on the hour long drive.

It was just after 9 when we arrived at the park’s visitor center. We purchased our park tickets and then walked over to the counter to check availability for the train that would take us to the far side of the park at Devil’s Throat. Unfortunately, the next few trains were full and there wasn’t one with space for another hour, so we walked down the path to the Cataratas Station where there were some other trails we could walk on to kill time instead of just hanging around.

The time zipped by as we picked up some cold drinks (it’s hot and humid here) and then hopped on the train. It goes quite slowly, but sure beats a walk 7 km each way in the muggy heat.

I’d known that we would be amongst the hordes at this hour of morning (now 11 am) at the Devil’s Throat, and we plodded along the catwalks over the water with hundreds of other people. We could have beat this rush by being at the entrance before 9, but I didn’t have the heart to get Ellie up that early. It was fine anyway, as we still had our private park waiting for us on the Brazil side.

We saw the remnants of the old catwalk system which were destroyed in a series of storms in November 2023. Would have been insane to see the water rushing over the falls at that time – from a distance!

As we neared the Devil’s Throat, the roar became louder and mist in the air more prominent.

But looking the other way, things were totally calm and serene.

Did I mention there were a few people here?

Even with all the crowds, people were moving along reasonably and it was easy to get some good pictures over the edge. It sure was loud and wet.

Walked through more crowds and similar views on the way back..this trip is an out and back the same way.

The park has cooling showers at some of the trailheads. Very welcome!

Ellie chilling in the shade while we wait for the train.

We went back to Cataratas Station to get lunch and complete the rest of the trails in that area. Ellie wasn’t impressed with the chicken nuggets as they were cold and soggy. I guess they’d been sitting in a warming tray for a long time. My burger though was freshly made and pretty good for captive audience type food.

I snapped a few pics of the area while Ellie caught up on her Wi-Fi access.

And then we headed to the Upper and Lower Falls circuits.

We could see our hotel right across the gorge – only an hour away by car but a bird could make it in a minute or two!

Again, I’ll let the waterfalls speak for themselves.

It became more humid out as a slow moving thunderstorm approached.

Although it was easy to get pictures, there were still a lot of people along the trail, like at this viewpoint.

We saw one of the speedboats taking tourists to be dunked and sprayed in the falls. Looked pretty intense. Ellie wasn’t interested, and neither was I after hearing about the process (lots of waiting in line).

Ellie collected her much needed and promised slushie at the snack bar at Cataratas Station.

We walked back to the entrance area on now deserted trails.

As we waited for Dario to come back to pick us up, a passerby pointed out this owl resting on top of the bank machine sign.

It started to rain as we left the park. Glad that we had such a nice day out on the trails. Our next stop was Las Tres Fronteras – the tri border between Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil.

The rain had kept most people away from the viewpoint.

We had a great view of the Ponte da Integração – a new bridge linking Brazil and Paraguay.

I hadn’t brought enough cash to pay Dario, and it’s actually quite difficult as a foreigner to use a lot of the bank machines. So I had to use Western Union to send myself some money. The first place we went to was open, but I’m not sure why…

The second place was on siesta until 4 PM, so we waited until they reopened along with a few other tourists.

Success!

We bid adieu to Dario as he dropped us off at the gate. Excellent driver – let me know if you visit the area and I’ll pass on his contact. Ellie was a bit silly as we waited at the gatehouse for the hotel shuttle.

No Ellies allowed?!

After a little rest in the room we went down to our private falls.

The water flow had significantly increased since the previous evening. We got totally drenched going out to the platform at the end of the catwalk below the upper falls, and the cascade beside the panorama platform was literally roaring.

Since there wasn’t going to be a vivid sunset with the lingering cloud, we didn’t stay that long, and headed back to the hotel.

I did online checkin for our flight the next day. An interesting opportunity popped up!

I’d promised Ellie room service since she stuck it out for a long hot day on the trails. She got a pepperoni pizza and ice cream and I got a steak. It really hit the spot for both of us.

Did I mention how grand the interior of the hotel is? I don’t think we really fit in here.

After another dip in the pool at night we had a great rest. I got up early and let Ellie snooze while I went out to catch sunrise at the falls. Again, be prepared for a flood (hahah!) of pics… it was simply incredible, and as you can see, there was hardly anyone else there.

Here’s the view from inside the panoramic elevator that’s normally packed with people.

The preceding series of photos were taken from the top levels of the tower on the left.

A view of the Hotel Melia inside the Argentinian side of the park, which we walked past yesterday on our way to the Lower Circuit trails.

I came back to the hotel to see a robot lawnmower hard at work.

The cute DND sign hanging on our door.

We enjoyed a sumptuous and magnificent breakfast at the buffet. I made sure to get my money’s worth.

And then to the pool for the rest of the afternoon, until our flight.

Ellie met a new friend from Chicago for the day and they had lots of fun in the pool, and at the giant chess set.

Before packing up the room, we ascended the tower at the front of the hotel for some views. It’s the highest point in the park. The two nights in his hotel cost as much as all of the other accommodations for the rest of the trip, so it was definitely a splurge. But I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. It was just an amazingly memorable experience.