Iguazu Falls, Argentina (with day trip to Brazil), February 25-29, 2024

As previously mentioned, I was not a popular family member as we hopped into two Ubers to take us to the Buenos Aires airport, two hours before the El Classico match between Boca and River Plate. As we landed in Iguazu though, we saw the match score (1-1) and I felt some vindication that it was maybe not a super fun game that we missed watching 😊. We landed in Iguazu Falls and hopped on a shuttle to town with hungry kiddos; arg! The supposedly direct-to-town shuttle made 30 minute detour to drop off folks staying near the Falls. Somehow, when it’s getting dark and the family is tired, that small-in-the-scheme-of-things delay feels like torture. Luckily, some British folks were sitting behind us so Katie got to listen to their chatter and quietly practice her accent during the ride.

The Falls are in both Argentina and Brazil; I had a hard time figuring out how to best approach the visit, where to stay, how to get around, and whether or not to book tours. We decided to stay on the Argentina side for travel reasons (why go through immigration at the airport) but to visit the Falls from both countries (which we totally recommend, if you go all the way to Iguazu, you’ve gotta see the amazing views from every side allowed!).

With four nights in Iguazu, we got right to the main event, we hopped on the bus from town and headed to the Argentina-side of the Falls. The popular Argentina national park is developed with many amenities and a train you can ride through part of the park. We signed up for a tour that takes you on a speed boat, within the spray of the falls; I was very bummed though, only kids 12 and older can participate, so Scott agreed to sit it out and hike with Alex and Luke while Katie and I did the tour. We had an excellent time! A quick truck ride through the forest, then down a long staircase to the river the Falls feed; we each received a “dry bag”, we secured our life jackets and we were off! We got soaked; I managed to take a few pictures (I was willing to buy the pictures that a dude with a waterproof Go Pro camera and a full-on, deep sea fishing outfit on took, but they only took cash payments for the images, like anyone has that much money in Argentine pesos!).

We met up with the three boys for lunch – Us, all wet and invigorated from our 2+hour tour of wind and water. Them, two of three of the group were tired but in mild spirits and happy to stop for drinks and one member of the group (eh hem, I’ll just name him, it was Alex) completely beside himself, having a full on heat+humidity+walking-tantrum. Ok, not like, lie-on-the-flood-and-flail-tantrum, more like, a 10-year old, sophisticated-complain-complain-complain-tantrum. In fairness, they had done two of the three main hikes in that area of the park (sadly, the most famous viewpoint of the Argentine side of the Falls, called Devil’s Throat, was closed from a flood; it’s a narrow walking bridge that sticks out over the very top of the Falls, we were excited to see it and were bummed at learning about its closure just when we entered the Park). Nonetheless, Katie and I wanted to do the walks too; Luke and Scott were game but Alex was not. We dragged him on one walk and then we split forces – I got to do the other walk on my own and Katie opted to head home with them. I am embarrassed at how much fun I had on the walk on my own… The heat and humidity is much easier to bear when one is not with another person who is constantly pointing out the heat and humidity!

Katie and I on the truck to get to our exciting, under the Falls boat ride.

Katie preparing to get on the Falls boat.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina side.

After the Falls ride, we are very wet.

Walking around the falls, there is a little animal in the tree, called a coati. member of the raccoon family.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina side.

Enjoying my walk alone along the Falls.

So! Day 1 was semi-successful! Day 2, I booked an all-day tour to see the Brazil side of the Falls. Very exciting, we were picked up early by our guide, who was Brazilian, and we only picked up two other people, an older couple from Australia who were lovely to spend the day with, before we headed over the border. The tour started with a visit to the largest hydroelectric dam in South America (3rd largest in the world, after two dams in China), called Itaipu Dam. It was a very cool stop, we learned about how the giant Paranu River, which forms the Brazil-Paraguay border, was a fantastic opportunity for hydroelectric power; that Paraguay was relatively poor in the 1970s when construction started and how the power would be split 50/50 but, because Brazil financed construction of the whole dam, that they were allocated 75% of the power for ~50ish years; Then, in 2020s Paraguay gained control of its full 50% share and, because Paraguay only needs half of it’s allocated power, it sells Brazil the rest. This was the first dam-tour I had taken and I was impressed and thought it was notable and maybe a bit odd that the dam-company had such elaborate tours; giant tour busses took 50+ people at a time through the nicely landscaped and maintained dam-grounds (where we saw a family of capybaras in the distance!) and around the giant spillway, turbines, and ginormous dam-wall (we even went on the Paraguay side for a few minutes but we are still debating whether we should count Paraguay as a country we have visited).

Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam

Alex posing for me, Luke trying to photo bomb!

While we road from the dam to our next stop, a bird and butterfly sanctuary, our guide freely chatted our ears off about the Parana state of Brazil (where he makes his home with his family). He notes that everyone in his area works hard (a lot of folks in agriculture, he points out the red, rich iron soil), unlike those northern Brazilians, who just wait for the government to hand them money. He was not a fan of Lulu (“a criminal”, he said) and missed Bolsonaro's policies that he thought ended government coddling of lazy people who did not want to work).

We enjoyed seeing macaws and parrots and a whole lot of other very colorful birds. We also enjoyed eating a chicken coxinha, which Mayara had introduced us to 10 years ago.

Katie in front of.. crocodiles or caimans, I cannot remember which!

Such colorful macaws.

Enjoying a Brazilian snack, chicken coxinha.

And finally, after the dam- and bird-buildup, we got to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. Wow! People debate which side is “better” but usually say the sides are “different”. Hmm, with Devil’s Throat closed for our visit on the Argentina side, there was no competition, the Brazilian side walkways were amazing, much better than what we could access on the Argentina side. AND, bummer of bummers, the Brazilian side allows kids of all ages to take the boat tour that ventures in to the splash zone of the Falls; major bummer because we didn’t know this until our guide mentioned it and of course, the day was too full for Alex and Luke go; such a bummer to have that dangled in front of them (until I came in with the dream-crushing truth that we were not returning to the Brazilian side after the tour). But! Back to the view, the walkways provided a whole lot of splash and tremendous sounds and views, it was amazing. Even Alex enjoyed this day at the Falls!