Iguassu Falls

“Somos um breve pulsar.” ("Life is short." - my message of the day. Luciana, 08/08/2015

This morning at 1.30am I boarded my first plane, now it is 11.40am and I just boarded the third one, which is finally supposed to take me to Iguassu. I guess the last week has taken a toll on my body, as I was able to sleep a full three hours on the first flight, and fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the second plane. When I woke up we were on the runway, and I had no idea if we were about the start or had just landed. The former was the case, and I was asleep again five minutes later. Not bad for someone who usually can’t sleep on planes.

My trip schedule got a little juggled around, as I was actually supposed to leave for Iguassu yesterday morning at 6.20am – but figured out the night before that the German agency I used to book the flight had fucked things up. The next hour I started looking at the options. Either leave at 1.30am that same night, or a day later. Rafaela, the Brasilian girl I have met on the boat, had gotten quite sick to her stomach, throwing up all night and having stomach cramps. I did not feel like deserting her in the middle of the night.  So I opted to leave a day later. 

So I arrived her on August 7 at around 2.30pm in the afternoon. It is hot, but windy, so it actually feels pleasant.

After arriving at Iguazu airport yesterday, I struggled for an hour to buy my ticket to Salvador. Buying an airline ticket in Brazil with a foreign credit card is a nightmare. Hence my decision to buy it directly at the airport. I initially wanted to fly with Azul. When I checked on my computer that was the cheapest ticket and the times with well. When I got to the ticket counter five minutes later, price had tripled. So I opted for a company called Gol. They, however, charge 10% extra if you use their staff (at the counter or via phone), which would have cost me $13 extra. No way! Working through the webpage is a nightmare for all three major carriers in Brazil. One of the Gol employees was helping me, even entering his own address so that we finally got it to work. After one hour. I guess Gol’s policy worked out really well on that one. J Thanks so much to Felipe, I couldn’t have done it without you!

I take the bus from the airport, which drops me off 300 meters from my hostel. I check in, drop off my bags, and head straight out to visit the Brasilian side of the falls. The nice biology-student at the front desk gives me some useful pointers before I head out. I chose the hostel due to it's locatioin, from here, I can walk to the entrance (and it is only five minutes from the airport).

 The left side of the falls are the Brazilian side (see map below), the right side the Argentinian side. Today I'm off to visit the former.

I sign up for a boat tour, which takes us through the jungle first.

Our guide shows us some nice places - even though this waterfall is absolutely nothing compared to what is about to come. I ask our guide, a young girl around 20 or so, why there are always so few animals visible around those kind of trails. And she confirms what I have overheard a few times already - animals, and especially the ones that can be dangerous, try to stay away from people. Most hear much better than we do, and get away before we get a chance to see them.

In retrospect, I should have taken the boat ride from the Argentinian side. The driver made it fun for us in terms of cool maneuvers, but I guess the boats are not allowed to cross into Argentinian territory and that's where the best views are.

They have open buses taking you from stop to stop over here. After the two-hour jungle and boat tour I arrived back at bus stop # 9 at 5.50pm – worried I was not going to make it to the main viewpoint anymore. Three minutes later the next bus arrives. As I’m the only tourist on it, the bus driver invites me to set next to him on the tour guides seat in his cabin. I tell him that I was worried I wasn’t going to make it to the viewpoint, and he tells me he’ll take me there straight, skipping all the other stops. We continue chatting and he tells me that he is of German origin, his grandfather and grandmother only spoke German in the home. His grandmother never even learned Portuguise – during forty years living in Brazil. Apparently the whole town spoke German. I make it to the viewpoint and get some spectacular views of the sun setting over the falls. At first I take some pictures, then I decide just to enjoy the view. 

 My view as I get out of the bus!

So with the help of my bus driver, I made it in time and also get to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the falls.

Day 2:

Now I’m sitting here waiting for the tour to the Argentinian side to start. Last night at around 1am another guest came into our dorm and took the bunk bed above mine. Her alarm woke me up at 6am, and she almost fell as she got out of bed. As I knew I couldn’t go back to sleep after that, I got myself ready and joined her for breakfast. Her name is Luciana, she is from Rio de Janeiro, and speaks no English. We communicate in Spanish, her’s is about as good as mine. At some point I notice that she has a tattoo on her left inside wrist. She does not strike me as a tattoo-kind-of-girl at all, so I ask her about it. It says “Somos um breve pulsar”. She got it last year after a visit to the Tocama dessert in Chile. That was a tough time in her life, she tells me. Being there made her feel incredibly happy, and at that moment she realized that life is too short to get upset about the "small things". “Life is short”, what the quote conceptually translates to, is to remind her whenever she has a sad moment, that it will pass quickly and another good one will follow. 

Now it’s time for me to get ready for day 2! ;-) I hope you, as you are reading this, are doing well, enjoy your day, and remember – life is short!     

 Crossing over to Argentina, the river splits into two at the upper part of the picture, and the land in
between is Paraguay.

The transport organization on the Argentinian side of the not as good as on the Brazilian side, they have these trains that only go every half hour, are super slow, and of course you often have to wait. They say to calculate a full day for the Argentinian side - you could easily do it in half a day if the transport was better.

I have to say I was not that impressed with the Brazilian side of the falls. After day one I almost thought I should have invested that money differently. But seeing them from the Argentinian side completely changed my perspective. The largest part of Iguassu Falls isn’t even visible from the Brazilian side, and the part that is you cannot get a really good view of. I went there today with two guys from Denmark I met at the hostel. The organization on the Argentinian side is crappie, with slow trains that run only every 30 minutes. We learned quickly that if taking a train can be avoided, that’s the way to go. The pictures speak for themselves – I was overwhelmed. 

At this moment I finally understood Elenor Roosevelt's comment upon seeing Iguassu: "Poor Niagara!"

Now I’m sitting at the airport in Curitiba, it is 7.40am and I’m waiting for my connecting flight to Rio at 9.20 and then to Salvador. This morning I had to get up at 3.30am to make my flight at 5.20am. Not exactly vacation fun. Only five more night. I’ve only booked hotels from now on and hopefully will get good mattresses and some rest before returning home.