Aghast at Iguazu - Blog

By: BW Admin (6/3/2019)

Date: 4/17/2019 - 4/18/2019

Rating:

Total: 0

As soon as we passed through the gates to Iguazu Falls park the road was blanketed by jungle on both sides, and the air was swarming with yellow butterflies for the entire drive to the hotel. Butterflies, butterflies and more butterflies. Driving through them was a bit surreal, so much so that I was too mesmerized to capture the moment on video.

I stayed at the Gran Melia Hotel which is nice because it is in the park, to get to the falls all you have to do is walk out the back of the hotel and you are there. The hotel is first rate but be advised they aren’t in much of a hurry there. Check in was at 3 but they didn’t have my room ready until closer to 6. There are worse places to wait while you’re having a few drinks than on the deck of the Melia overlooking the falls though.

The actual falls are nothing short of astounding, if you have a pulse you will be blown away by the beauty of this place. I only stayed one night but two days was plenty of time to see the park, even with the late check in. The only thing I didn't do was take a boat ride to the bottom of the falls, but I could have fit that in easily if I was so inclined. I didn’t venture over to the Brazilian side of the park either.

There are 3 general sections to the park that I hit, the lower circuit, the upper circuit and the devils throat. I found the lower circuit to be the most enjoyable simply because I went there first thing in the morning and there were no crowds. If you stay in the hotel you can get into the park before the main gates open to the general public, when I did the route through the lower circuit I barely saw another person. A much more relaxing experience that what I would deal with later in the day. Plenty of time to chill and even take some time lapse videos without mobs of tourists mucking up your shot.

From there I proceeded through the upper circuit which was a bit more crowded but still manageable. The views in each section are equally impressive.

Later in the day up at the devils throat is where things became a bit of a madhouse. This is the view from the top that you have to take a train to or hike about 40 minutes beside the tracks if you prefer. You have to get a ticket to board the train, they are free though they are just to keep the boarding process a bit more orderly. They run every 15 minutes or so and it’s about 15 minutes each way. At the top there was a mob, the trails were crowded with wall to wall people and barely moving. At the end where the lookouts are over the devils throat people were 3-4 deep against the railing jockeying for photos, throwing elbows, pushing and shoving, the whole 9 yards. I’m tall enough that I was able to get some shots over their heads but this was the least enjoyable portion of the trip by a wide margin. Perhaps next time I’ll hit this spot first thing in the morning to see if the crowds can be beat.