Cataratas do Iguaçu (Iguassu Falls)

Not far from Pato Branco (171 miles, 275km, but it’s all relative…) are the famous Cataratas do Iguaçu (Iguassu Falls, Cataratas del Iguazú in Spanish), a spectacular series of waterfalls along the border between Brazil and Argentina.  Seven years after my first visit to Pato Branco, I still hadn’t been (combinations of bad weather and short holidays/busy schedules) so my wife and I decided to spend a weekend there.  My first thoughts were to head there for the 4-day weekend of a bank holiday (when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the day between the holiday and the weekend is often granted to employees as a holiday, known as a bridge day), but we chose to visit the weekend before to avoid the crowds. 

So after work one Friday, we set off to Foz do Iguaçu, a city on the triple border with Argentina and Paraguay, 15 miles (25km) from the falls.  I wasn’t sure what to expect of the city; I’d heard that it could be a bit dangerous and generally unpleasant, frontier towns here don’t typically have very good reputations, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The city appeared quite pleasant, with trees everywhere, modern buildings and well-organised roads.  The top floor of the hotel gave a good view of Foz do Iguaçu and across the Paraná river to Paraguay.

As Cataratas

We started the day early, with a plan to arrive at the falls around 9am, when the park opens, which was just as well, as the car park didn’t take long to fill up.  The entrance is somewhat confusing.  You can follow road signs to the falls from the city, and eventually you reach the entrance to Iguaçu National Park, but this is not the entrance to the car park.  The car park is actually slightly before the National Park entrance, on the left hand side and not terribly well sign-posted, there is only one sign on the right hand side of the road with an arrow that points vaguely ahead and to the left.  There was an old woman standing in the road pointing in the direction of the car park, but with no uniform or ID, she looked a bit suspicious – as if she was offering some alternative parking or ‘protection.’  It turned out that she directing us to the right place.

Apart from the poor sign-posting, the visitor centre is quite well organised.  The car park is kept some distance away from the falls, which are then accessed by regular, open-topped shuttle buses, helping to limit the environmental impact of tourism on the area.  Before arriving at the trail to the fails, there are other stops for the Macuco Safari, a boat tour that allows you to get up close to the falls, and Trilha do Poço Preto, a 9km ‘eco adventure’ trail through the forest.  We didn’t have time for either of these but maybe next time…

The penultimate stop is for the Trilha das Cataratas (cataracts trail).  From the bus stop, it is a very short walk to a platform where you get your first view of the falls, a long curtain that, even from a distance, is enough to take your breath away.  Accompanying the crowd of sightseers, are the ever present quatis (South American coati), members of the racoon family.  There are constant warnings not to feed the quatis and to avoid eating near them, as they are cheeky and fast – they ripped open a carrier bag with sunscreen in attempt to find food.  As you follow the trail towards the waterfalls, you encounter thousands of butterflies of all colours and sizes. 

Inset, one of the viewing platforms on the Argentinian side

The majority of the 275 falls are on the Argentinian side of the river and the trail offers amazing views of all the falls, with occasional viewing platforms.  From the trail it was possible to see trails on the Argentinian side, the tiny people serving as a reminder of just how big the falls are, even the smaller ones.  Soon, the trail turns a corner giving view up the canyon where massive cloud of continually rising spray partially obscures the Garganta do Diabo (Devil’s Throat), the U-shaped fall which is the largest of all the cataracts with the greatest flow.  Even from this point, a few hundred metres from the Garganta do Diabo, there is a constant fine spray in the air and a rainbow hangs permanently over the canyon. 

Approaching the Walkway

As you get closer to the Garganta do Diabo, the roar gets louder and the spray increases until you reach a walkway into the middle of the canyon and the middle of the waterfall.  Some people wore raincoats to protect against the constant shower from the falls, although (at about 30°C) it was warm enough to dry out your clothes, so we didn’t bother.  The views from the platform are spectacular, on one side is the immense power of the falls plummeting towards you and on the other, the river disappears over the edge of more falls and plummets to the floor of the canyon.  This platform isn’t for people afraid of heights! 

The platform hanging over the edge of another waterfall

I could have spent hours on the platform, hypnotised by the endless torrents and following with my eyes the multiple paths the water takes to the bottom on the canyon.  Eventually we left the walkway and headed toward the lift that takes you to another platform at the top of the falls.  There is only one lift with a rather limited capacity, so there is quite a long queue.  There is a pathway that winds up the hill to the platform, but with the heat and humidity, it is more tempting to just wait for the lift!  From the top platform, you are greeted by a different, but no less spectacular view of the falls!  In the distance, through the hazy spray that is constantly rising, a platform on the Argentinian side can just about be seen; a flag a host of minuscular people.  It appears to be perched on the edge of a massive waterfall, looking into the Garganta do Diabo (or should I say Garganta del Diablo?), which must also be quite spectacular.  Looking to the right, beyond the spray and through the ever present rainbow, the walkway snakes out across the water, looking tiny and perilously close to the edge of the falls.  This is the grand finale of the tour, from here, the footpath takes you to a restaurant and array of snack-shops (lanchonettes) and the bus stop back to the park entrance.  It is a pleasant place to sit and watch the river slowly, calmly edging closer to the falls before reappearing as a cloud of fine spray.

Parque das Aves

The inquisitive toucan

Directly across the road from the carpark for the falls, is the Parque das Aves (literally “bird park” in English) which is a sanctuary for rescued birds, where they are kept in large enclosures that you can walk through, without having to look through windows or wire fences.  To protect the birds, the foot path is separated from the wooded area by a fence, although this did not prevent an inquisitive toucan from flying over to curiously nose around my wife’s hat, which she had laid on a bench!  I was impressed at how fearless the bird was, even as people gathered round to take close up photos.  If anything, I’d say he was playing up for the camera!

Itaipu

We spent a pleasant hour or so at the Parque das Aves before moving on the Itaipu Dam.  We booked tickets for the tour online and as we choose the longer tour (that goes over and inside the dam) there were limited time slots available.  The tour starts with a video presentation in a small cinema before boarding the buses that go up to the dam.  The first stop is the spillway, a group of locks that open when needed to the control the level of the reservoir, leading to a spectacular deluge down three chutes.  I say spectacular, because the photos look good…  The locks are only opened a few days each year and our visit wasn’t one of those days, so the spillway was bone dry.  From our vantage point, it appears relatively small, it was only when we were told that the gates on the locks are about 10 metres in diameter and the slope is 30 m long that we could put it in perspective and see how large it really is.

The desk on the left is in Brazil, the
one on the right is in Paraguay

From there, the tour bus takes you onto the dam itself.  What really strikes you is the scale of the thing; from the top, you see a panoramic view of the surrounding Brazilian and Paraguayan countryside, with Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este in the distance on either side of the Paraná River that marks the international border.  This scale is emphasised further as you descend into the depths of the dam seeing the huge tubes that carry the water and the massive generators.  From here, the tour goes inside the control centre for the dam, a large building straddling Brazil and Paraguay where everything is split equally between the two countries and a yellow line runs through the middle of the building to mark the border.  The tour group is split into two groups – Portuguese and English – for this part, where the guide tells the story of the dam’s construction as well as explaining the operation.  Everything is exactly equal between the two countries, although Brazil’s power needs are greater than those of Paraguay, so Paraguay sells some power back to Brazil – the 50Hz electricity generated by Paraguay is converted back to 60Hz for delivery to Brazil.

Foz do Iguaçu in the distance

Puerto Iguazú, Argentina

We decided to have dinner in Puerto Iguazú – just across the Argentine border – in a restaurant that was recommended to us called La Roeda.  I’m not sure whether this is normal or whether something was going on, but there seemed to be police everywhere after crossing into Argentina.  Inconveniently, one of the roads on the route was closed, throwing off the GPS and neither my wife nor I had a data signal on our phones, so we ended up on a bizarre back road tour of the city.  It was strange – it looked very much like any Brazilian small city, but the back roads were often poorly lit (if at all) with huge cambers on the road.  Coming out of one T junction, there was a massive dip before a steep slope onto the road – all of which was obscured by the poor lighting so I wasn’t driving as slow as I should have – which wasn’t particularly pleasant.  We eventually found ourselves on the right road, guessing the direction we needed to go, we stumbled on the restaurant, parked on the street and made our way in.

La Rueda, well worth a visit, excellent restaurant!

I get a bit mixed up when someone speaks to me in Spanish.  I can get the gist of what they’re saying, but I can’t bring myself to just reply in Portuguese, so no words leave my mouth!  Once I’ve got my Portuguese to a decent level, I think I’ll need to have a go at Spanish!  In reality, I shouldn’t have been too concerned as the staff can generally understand Portuguese, being on the border, and our waiter spoke good Portuguese.  The meal was very good and my bife de chorizo was perfect; Argentina is certainly good for steaks!  The staff were very friendly and the whole evening was very pleasant.  First impressions mean a lot and Argentina left a very good impression.

Ciudad de Este, Paraguay

On our last day, we decided to cross the bridge to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.  The city is popular with Brazilians looking for cheap shopping and there is one shopping Centre, Mona Lisa, which advertises with massive billboards stretching for hundreds of miles along the highway that leads to Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este.  It was a Sunday, but our good friend Google said the shopping centre was open, so we thought we’d go and have a look.

My first thought, before we’d even crossed the border, was what a mess!  The road that leads up to the border check point before the bridge is disorganised – borderline chaotic – and filthy, with litter everywhere.  The traffic becomes a bit more ordered as you drive slowly through the checkpoints, although I was surprised that neither exiting Brazil nor entering Paraguay were we stopped to check our papers.  When we entered and left Argentina, we had to stop and show our ID cards (passports if you’re not a resident of a MERCOSUL country.)

My second impression of the city wasn’t much better; even as we were exiting the border area, there was a swarm of people standing around the road, calling out in Spanish (and possibly Guarani, as some of it I couldn’t come closed to recognising it) and knocking on the car windows.  Waving them away didn’t work, they were persistent, although I had no idea what they wanted!  I assumed they were trying to sell something.  I realised that by stopping the car, however briefly, at the junction, it had encouraged them, so I headed off uttering the odd swear word…

We crossed the roundabout by the border and my wife pointed out that we had missed the shopping centre, which was on our left and rapidly receding into the distance.  Never mind, there’s bound to be a turn soon, so I can head back the way I came.

The ordered, slow traffic of the border crossing was just a memory, as cars came flying past on all sides giving the impression of a motorway, rather than a main road through a city.  Before long, we reached an equally chaotic roundabout – cars flying around, entering and exiting oblivious to other cars and lane discipline.  As I sat wondering how the hell I was going to join this madness, a car in the middle “lane” of the roundabout stopped, presumably to let me out, despite the cars speeding past of either side of it!  I spotted a gap, stepped on the gas and shot out into the fray.  I don’t know how I got round the roundabout, it’s all a bit of a blur, but I found myself back on the road heading to the shopping centre and the border.  We turned right to head to the shopping centre and found to our disappointment that it was closed. 

By this point, we had been in the country for about 10 minutes experiencing traffic chaos when moving and endless pestering when stationary so we decided to just head back to Brazil.  To get back to the main road, we had to follow a narrow street that went through a market and somehow do a u-turn to get back.  In Brazil, it’s not usually legal to do u-turns, but by this point, I was under the impression that rules don’t count for much in this city, so I spotted a gap and went.  After avoiding one suddenly stopping car and another one manically overtaking us (on a single-lane road through a market, remember), we reached the first roundabout whose first exit would lead us to Brazil.  As we waited for a gap in the continuous flow of traffic, a lunatic ran across the road – somehow avoiding the 4 lanes of speeding cars – to our car, again shouting and knocking on the windows.  That was it.  I saw a tiny gap, revved the engine and leapt onto the roundabout to the relative calm of Brazil. 

As we crossed the border, we started breathing again and tried to make sense of what had just happened.  We spent about 15 min in Paraguay and nothing about our trip made much sense!  We stopped at a petrol station and told the attendant about our experience.  He told us that they were probably trying to sell parking and that the best thing was to take a bus across the border, having a car with Brazilian number plates immediately marks you as a tourist and potential customer.  Well, now we know…

Marco das Três Fronteiras

Paraguay

Argentina

Before departing the area, we decided to find the spot where the borders of all three countries meet, where the Iguaçu River (Foz do Iguaçu literally means “mouth of the Iguaçu”) flows into the Paraná River.  There is a tourist souvenir shop here and, with an entry fee, the Marco das Três Fronteiras – the mark of the three borders.  The mark is a green and yellow pyramid obelisk and by looking across the rivers, you can see the busy counterpart area in Argentina with its blue and white pyramid obelisk and Paraguay’s quieter-looking area with a red, white and blue rectangular obelisk.  It’s worth pointing out that the Brazilian and Argentinian areas around located at the corner of their respective cities, while the area in Paraguay is a little to the south of the city, which may explain the lack of visible visitors.  We had some lunch from the café looking out over the rivers and three countries.  After the chaos and rush of our brief trip to Ciudad del Este, the serenity of the view provided a perfect farewell to this beautiful corner of the country(s).

The Brazilian obelisk, with the Argentinian and Paraguayan ones in the distance

Tips

After all this, I have some tips for anyone planning a trip to Foz do Iguaçu.

1. Go to the cataratas in the morning.  This is when the light is best from the Brazilian side, and you’ll want to avoid the crowds anyway.
2. Be prepared to get wet.  If you go onto the walkway, the spray will soak you through.  The heat will probably dry out your clothes, although I haven’t been there in winter to see what it is like then!
3. Prepare for the quatis – avoid eating near them and don’t take anything in a carrier bag, as they will rip it open!  I don’t think they pose any dangers to people, but they can be a nuisance.
4. Visit the Parque das Aves afterwards.  It’s right next to the entrance so it’s easy to get to.  It’s well worth a visit and it supports their rescue and recuperation activities.
5. Visit Itaipu Dam (on a different day.)  We did it all in one day, but that meant it was a bit of a rush.  Far better to take your time and enjoy your day.  Itaipu is a little further north of the city so the visit will take a good few hours.
6. Visit Puerto Iguazú (even if it’s just for dinner.)  I’ve heard that the falls viewed from the Argentinian side are even more spectacular than from the Brazilian side – I can’t comment, as I haven’t been!  Hopping across the border for a good steak was well worth it!  Just be aware of border controls though.  As a MERCOSUL citizen, or permanent resident, it’s easy to go through the border with your ID card, however visitors will have to ensure that they are stamped in and out of the countries.  There is some useful advice in this blog.
7. If you plan on going to Ciudad del Este, plan it first.  It’s probably best not to drive, some people walk, some get the bus, I’m not sure which is best, but I don’t think I’ll be driving across any time soon!