Hey everyone! Lauren here to tell you about our trip to Iguazú Falls!
Arriving at Iguazú Falls and Getting to Our Hostel
As Gerrod mentioned in our Mendoza post, we had no trouble getting to the airport, and we ran into very few issues on our flight to Cataratas del Iguazú International Airport. Upon arriving at the airport, we were instantly hit with humidity and heat! The airport didn’t seem to be air conditioned, and we were sweating just waiting to get our luggage.
After getting our bags, we had to find a way to get to our accommodation. We were staying at a place called Hostel Bambu in Puerto Iguazú, which is about 30 minutes away from the airport.
We found a 200 peso per person bus to Puerto Iguazú. It was a small shuttle that was packed and also incredibly hot. I was dozing on the bus ride to Puerto Iguazú, and luckily they made several stops which woke me up before they stopped at our hostel. Check-in went smoothly, and soon Gerrod and I were in our room cranking on the air conditioning.
Waiting for Josh
Gerrod’s brother Josh had a different flight to Puerto Iguazú and was arriving later in the afternoon, so Gerrod and I decided to do some laundry since we were running low on clothes. We found a local laundry place and went to grab some food at a local restaurant.
After dropping off our laundry and eating, Gerrod and I headed back to our hostel to relax a bit before Josh arrived. Josh finally arrived in the evening and joined us for drinks and dinner at the hostel bar/restaurant. During dinner, we ran into the girl we met on our Amazon Jungle tour in Peru! She was staying at the same hostel as us! Small world.
Getting to Iguazú Falls
The next morning we woke up at 6:30am to get ready to go to the falls. We reserved a taxi and a boat tour around the falls at the front desk of the hostel. The taxi cost $900 peso cab ride round trip, which was a little but more expensive than the bus but seemed to be way more convenient.
The taxi was picking us up at 9:00am, so after getting ready and eating breakfast, we went to a local convenience store to grab some snacks for the day. We also heard that you needed to pay an entrance fee to the park, so we stopped at an ATM before headed back to our hostel to catch our taxi.
The taxi ride to Iguazú Falls took about 30 minutes, and our driver was very laid back. He told us just to message him when we were ready to go back to our hostel. After arriving at the park, we went to buy our park ticket which cost $700 pesos per person.
Iguazú Jungle Boat Tour
After buying our park ticket, we headed to the boat trip check-in desk. The boat trip we booked was with a company called Iguazú Jungle and departed at 10:15am and was $2000 pesos per person.
We headed to the start of the boat trip, and of course the girl we met in the Amazon Rainforest in Peru was on the same boat tour as us!
The boat ride was incredible. It started with a guided open air bus ride through the forest. The guide gave us some fun facts about the jungle and about Iguazú falls on our way to the boat terminal. After arriving at the boat launch, we were given dry bags for our things and these very fashionable life jackets.
We rode the boat all the way up the river, and I got splashed with water a few times as we rode through the rapids. The first view of the falls was so beautiful, and more and more of the falls got into view the further we rode upstream.
After getting some pictures of the falls, it was time to put our things in the dry bag and get closer to the falls to get wet. What we didn’t realize, is this meant literally riding into the waterfall! We got absolutely soaked and they took us into three different sections of the waterfall. The water was way warmer than expected and it was so hard to see anything.
After getting soaked in the waterfall and soaking in how beautiful it was, we headed back to the boat dock, dried off, and headed back on the open air bus to end the tour. On our ride back we saw a toucan, which was pretty neat.
Walking the Trails
After getting back to the park, we ate some of the snacks we bought for lunch. We then began walking the various trails to see the falls.
We started with the blue trail which was above the falls, and got to see some coatimundi, a weird raccoon like animal, walking the trail. The falls were incredible. It was impossible to photograph the entire falls as there were so many different sections and so many different viewing platforms. The trail also lead across the river so you could look into the water and see the wildlife.
After finishing the blue trail, we went to the little train to go to the viewing for a section of the falls called Diablo Garganta. On the way to the train, we got to see some capuchin monkeys! They were pretty cute, but seemed particularly interested in some ice cream bars that other people were eating near us.
After snapping some good photos at Diablo Garganta, we took the train back towards the other trails. We then started walking the last trail, the yellow path. The yellow trail had a lower view of the falls, and even got very close to one of the falls so you got nicely misted!
By the time we were done walking all of the paths, it was almost 6pm! We messaged our driver on WhatsApp, and soon we were on our way back to the hostel.
Hostel Fun Time
Gerrod and I have stayed at hostels several times throughout our travels, and know how fun they can be. You get to meet people from all over the world, and most of the time they are very friendly and like minded. Hanging out with people in a hostel normally involves drinking in some way, and so far on our trip we have kept the drinking at a minimum to save money. However, since this was Josh’s first time at a hostel, we decided to indulge ourselves in the drink!
So when we got back, we had dinner, drinks, and good conversation with a bunch of fellow travelers at the hostel! We talked for quite a while before going to bed, and had quite a few Fernet and cokes, an Argentinian favorite drink.
Goodbye Iguazú
Iguazú Falls is truly incredible. I have never seen a waterfall so vast with such green scenery!
The next morning we had our taxi driver from the day before drive us to the airport to head to Buenos Aires! Gerrod will tell you more about that in our next post.
Until next time!
Lauren (and Gerrod)
