Foz do Iguacu

This weekend Michelle and I spent the weekend in the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguacu (Falls of Iguazu). There is a national park on both the Brazilian side of the waterfalls, and also the Argentinian side. Though we wanted to see both sides of the falls, we only went to the Argentinian side called Puerto Igauzu. The park is much bigger and has more trails, and you can get closer to the falls than on the Brazilian side.

The owner of the hostel where we stayed used to be a tour guide in the national park, but isn't anymore. Instead he owns a few hostels and has a tourism agency as well. As he was giving us advice on what to do and where to go on Saturday, we asked if he could take us to the falls instead of us going by ourselves. He was reluctant to go since he could get in trouble if he was seen acting as a tour guide (since his license already expired) but after much convincing, he ended up going with us. He knew  everyone that worked at the park so we didn't have to wait in any lines or have to do much of anything, he just pointed us in the right direction and told us what we needed to know...it was great!

We got to the falls around 9:30 in the morning and left around 4:30, so it was a full day. The weather was perfect, in the mid 70s with sunny skies; it couldn't have been better. There were many trails that took us to different parts of the falls, all the views of which were stunning!! The biggest of all the waterfalls is called "the devil's throat" and we were able to be right at the top of it.

One of the highlights of our day spent at the falls was the boat ride that Michelle and I went on. There are no pictures, unfortunately, mainly because we literally went under a waterfall and got soaked!! After seeing the falls up close and personal, we sped down the river between the canyons and then took a jeep ride through the jungle. There was a tour guide on the jeep who told us all about the wildlife we passed, it was a great way to dry off after getting wet from the falls.

After we got back from the falls, Louis barbequed delicious meat and fruit and we enjoyed the rest of the night eating outside the hostel in the beautiful weather that continued on through the night. It was a great way to end the day!!

We got back to Sao Paulo this evening, and our next adventure will hopefully be this weekend when Fernando takes us to the beaches of Sao Paulo. Enjoy the pictures!