8th-10th of May 2016
Introduction:
The Iguazu water falls was a mandatory stop for our trip as it is one of the world wonders and has been advised to us by my parents, Brazilian friends but also Djoko... The park is shared between Brazil and Argentina so we dedicated one day to each sides.
Well to be honest I used to think that Zhang Jia Jie in China is one of the best parks I have ever visited... Iguazu is another breathless park which is now excequo in my mind.
Here we go:
We arrived in the late afternoon at Iguazu airport and were welcomed by a storm.... When checking the forecast it wouldn't get any better in the next few days which totally demotivated me ... Well sometimes it is part of the game "to expect the unexpected ..."
9th of May - Brazilian Side
We woke up early and went to visit the Brazilian side...the small victory of that morning: It was cloudy but not rain :)
after a 30 minutes ride by local bus, we arrived at the park and then we had 20 more minutes to reach the first spot and the beginning of the walk...
Since the beginning the view has been magnificent! The mix of wild nature and powerful water was just WOW. It is crazy to see the power of the nature with this thousand of m3 of water falling down from basically everywhere. It is really complicated to describe it with words but we found a nice poem (in the Argentina side) which describes it very well:
The Iguazu water falls was a mandatory stop for our trip as it is one of the world wonders and has been advised to us by my parents, Brazilian friends but also Djoko... The park is shared between Brazil and Argentina so we dedicated one day to each sides.
Well to be honest I used to think that Zhang Jia Jie in China is one of the best parks I have ever visited... Iguazu is another breathless park which is now excequo in my mind.
Here we go:
We arrived in the late afternoon at Iguazu airport and were welcomed by a storm.... When checking the forecast it wouldn't get any better in the next few days which totally demotivated me ... Well sometimes it is part of the game "to expect the unexpected ..."
9th of May - Brazilian Side
We woke up early and went to visit the Brazilian side...the small victory of that morning: It was cloudy but not rain :)
after a 30 minutes ride by local bus, we arrived at the park and then we had 20 more minutes to reach the first spot and the beginning of the walk...
Since the beginning the view has been magnificent! The mix of wild nature and powerful water was just WOW. It is crazy to see the power of the nature with this thousand of m3 of water falling down from basically everywhere. It is really complicated to describe it with words but we found a nice poem (in the Argentina side) which describes it very well:
We needed few hours to visit all the Brazilian side which gave us the opportunity to visit the Avez park (an exotic bird park) where we met all the "Rio movie" birds :). I agree that it is never easy to see animals in cages rather in the nature however this park provided the opportunity to walk around them and also big spaces for them to live. Nevertheless the park fights against the animal traffic and taking care of some confiscated birds.
To finish the day we went to visit the Iguazu city... Which unfortunately has nothing really to see but we found a local market from where we managed to buy some souvenirs. We had a lunch/dinner with a "prato executivo" and back to the hostel to relax as the next day we were going to check the Argentinian side.
To finish the day we went to visit the Iguazu city... Which unfortunately has nothing really to see but we found a local market from where we managed to buy some souvenirs. We had a lunch/dinner with a "prato executivo" and back to the hostel to relax as the next day we were going to check the Argentinian side.
10th of May: the Argentian Side
After a nice breakfast we took another local bus which crosses the border with Argentina (12km away). It is funny because it is maybe the only local bus which stops in 3 cities in 3 different countries: Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.
As soon as we reached the city of Iguazu in Argentina, we got a taxi which dropped is in the park. Well it was also the opportunity for me to practice my Spanish and I really enjoyed it and was surprised to hear that when I said "Bulgaria" to the taxi driver the answer was "Stoichkov" (a famous Barcelona and Bulgarian football plays from the 90ties)
The funny part: in the park in Argentina is accepted only pesos and the taxi driver has offered to exchange the money for us with a good rate. It is funny how this parallel business develops itself in different countries when there is not a change office. First problem I didn't have any and Gwen not enough to pay for both of us ... Sometimes communication before leaving is important as we had money back in the hostel...:D Well anyway... We decided first to try the ATM ... Which was out of service... The second one was our last option but was inside the park... Carambaaa ! The second one worked out !:)
We managed to get our tickets and got in. Well here the trip seemed a bit longer: we first took a train which dropped us the spot just in front of the last Brazilian spot. The view in the Argentinian part was much closer to the water as we were almost above the water fall... Well in this moment you can really feel the power of the water dropping down. Funny part, I met two Bulgarian girls there (yes I need to mention it because it is not frequent to meet Bulgarians traveling so far:) ) who advised us to go and do the upper and down walking trip when leaving.
So we went for it. We first did the upper trip which made us walk above the rocks with splendid views over the water falls.
After 2h walk we went for the down trip which I really loved as we were very close to the water and was able to feel the power of the water on my body. Really amazing trip which leaves you speechless every meter you are making as there is a new amazing view which is offered to you.
At the end of this amazing day we went to back to the hostel and needed to get our luggage ready as we were leaving for Salvador in the next morning.
But before, I met some nice folks in hostel with whom we had a beer and chilled until late. The beauty of being abroad.
After a nice breakfast we took another local bus which crosses the border with Argentina (12km away). It is funny because it is maybe the only local bus which stops in 3 cities in 3 different countries: Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.
As soon as we reached the city of Iguazu in Argentina, we got a taxi which dropped is in the park. Well it was also the opportunity for me to practice my Spanish and I really enjoyed it and was surprised to hear that when I said "Bulgaria" to the taxi driver the answer was "Stoichkov" (a famous Barcelona and Bulgarian football plays from the 90ties)
The funny part: in the park in Argentina is accepted only pesos and the taxi driver has offered to exchange the money for us with a good rate. It is funny how this parallel business develops itself in different countries when there is not a change office. First problem I didn't have any and Gwen not enough to pay for both of us ... Sometimes communication before leaving is important as we had money back in the hostel...:D Well anyway... We decided first to try the ATM ... Which was out of service... The second one was our last option but was inside the park... Carambaaa ! The second one worked out !:)
We managed to get our tickets and got in. Well here the trip seemed a bit longer: we first took a train which dropped us the spot just in front of the last Brazilian spot. The view in the Argentinian part was much closer to the water as we were almost above the water fall... Well in this moment you can really feel the power of the water dropping down. Funny part, I met two Bulgarian girls there (yes I need to mention it because it is not frequent to meet Bulgarians traveling so far:) ) who advised us to go and do the upper and down walking trip when leaving.
So we went for it. We first did the upper trip which made us walk above the rocks with splendid views over the water falls.
After 2h walk we went for the down trip which I really loved as we were very close to the water and was able to feel the power of the water on my body. Really amazing trip which leaves you speechless every meter you are making as there is a new amazing view which is offered to you.
At the end of this amazing day we went to back to the hostel and needed to get our luggage ready as we were leaving for Salvador in the next morning.
But before, I met some nice folks in hostel with whom we had a beer and chilled until late. The beauty of being abroad.
