Iguazu falls...

09.09.2010 - 12.09.2010 27 °C

So glad that Laura was finally feeling better. Finally we could go and have fun. Still she was not feeling a 100% so we decided to sleep in and see the Ipatu dam instead. We decided to go to Paraguay as Brazil charge money to visit the dam (20 Reales per person for entry), but its free from the Paraguayen side. It was a complete mess to get there as you have to cross over two boarders. In theory you should get an exit and entry visa for each one which means stoping at four different places. The problem is that there is no info and the busses don´t stop at some boarders as e.g. the people from Paraguay does not need an exit stamp to leave there country.

After two busses, walking across the boarder between Brazil and Paraguay, taking a new bus only to hear that taking a buss by yourself to the dam in Cuidad del Oeste is too dangerous, we decided to give in and hire a taxi. It worked out a bit cheaper than going to Brazil anyway so it was ok and the taxi guy waited for us for over 2 hours.

The dam is absoluty enormous. We got blown away by figures of water mass, size of the dam (worlds second largest dam), electricity generated etc. However, the sad thing is that the dam ruined a waterfall much bigger than Iguazy...actually it probably was the largest waterfall in the world...now that I would rather have seen.

The next day Laura was feeling even better and we got up early to go to see the falls. You first take a bus to the entrance, then there is a train within the area. Basically the waterfall is a few kilometers wide so it take 30-40 min to go from one side to the other...crazy! We had heard that it gets really busy in the morning so we decided to go to the main attraction, the powerfull Garganta del Diablo, first. It seems that quite a few people had thought the same and gotten up early to beat the crowds. I mean the force of this part of Igazu where water falls in a sort of horseshoe shaped formation, is absolutily amazing. You can hear the sound from several hundred meters away and as you get closer its gets really loud. Its so much water coming down that it is impossible to take pictures. First because its just to big to get in a photo. However, also because there´s so much water in the air that it creats like a fog which covers the view of the bottom half of the fall. Think you need to take a helicopter to get a photp that can really show what it looks like.

Afterwards we went to see some of the smaller falls. We were not expecting that much, but this place was huge. I think there is 275 waterfalls in total with walkways that takes you close to most of them. We spent hours just walking around from waterfall to waterfall. You could see them from below, from the sides, from above. I must say that I actually prefered the view of some of the other waterfalls. The Garganta del Diablo is definately the most powerfull one, but like I said it was really difficult to see it due to the fog, not to mention the other 300 people that are crowding up with you. However, at the other waterfalls it was never more than a few people, and sometimes we were even by ourselves.

To top things off, we decide to spend a bit and go on a boat ride next to the waterfalls to really get close. The speedboats drive you right up to some of the falls giving you a so called "babtisim" which basically means that you get completely wet. We had seen a few boats before, but we were still in so suprised as the boat got closer and closer to the falls and finally entered a bit under the falls. In the end we were as wet as if we would have jumped in the river. It cost a 100 Argentinian pesos, but it was really worth it. Everyone was laughing like children that just came off a rollercoaster when we were drow back.

We had heard that 2 hours or so would be enough but in the end we had spent 7 hours in there. It was actually that great and we had seen so much of the waterfalls that we actually felt like not going to see the fall from the Brazilian side. However we had already booked a hostel and since we were here we might as well go. The Brazilian side does give you a nice overview of the falls, but it is nothing at all compared to the Argenitian side. My recommendation is to take a full day on the Argenitinian side and spend the money on taking a boattrip instead....

Damn that´s a big dam! Also managed to ask the guide if this was a god...dam!