Max and Sylvia's Travel Blog: Iguazú Falls

No trip to South America would be complete without a visit to Iguazú Falls, presumably the world's most spectacular water falls (no offense to our Romanian friends, we know the Duruitoarea fall in Ceahlău is nice too), most likely contained in every "100 places to see before you die" list ever made, and recently declared one of the new seven wonders of nature (easily beating other finalist such as "Black Forest, Germany").

Discovered by some Spanish dude in 1541 according to Wikipedia, the falls have been a hugely popular tourist destination ever since. In fact, here's a picture of my (Max) parents visiting Iguazú Falls ... in May 1976:

From right to left: my dad, Traugott, my mom, Carola,
their friends Dieter and Thomas.

So, about 35 years later, we braved the post-holiday crowds at Retiro Bus Terminal (imagine a busy airport without the security barriers).

From there we got on a bus in Buenos Aires bound for Puerto Iguazú, the gateway town for the falls right at the border of Argentina and Brazil. The bus ride took 17 hours, departing B.A. at 8 in the evening, so you get to spend the night on the bus. We were lucky enough to still get fairly comfortable "cama" seats which could be extended to something like a bed, so it was actually possible to catch a few hours of sleep.

On arrival day, we went to see the falls from the Argentinian side. After a short train ride we walked along raised walkways to the edge of the falls. The views were already pretty impressive:

But the highlight was clearly the view from the Brazilian side, which we visited the next day.
We caught the earliest bus to get us across the border. What would have only been a 20min drive if measured by distance, turned into a one and a half hour trip due to formalities on both sides of the border. Once we arrived at the park, it was another 90min (!) wait to buy tickets. Let's just say we will be forever grateful to the person that thought of building a simple covered walkway for a large part of the plaza in front of the park! Otherwise we'd be fried like chicken in the Brazilian sun... ;)

Once again we walked along several trails and raised walkways to view the different waterfalls. We both agree that it was definitely worth all the wait! The views were spectacular!
It's really hard to get an impression by just looking at pictures, but nevertheless here are a few more:

(Note the walkway leading up to the edge of the falls. We took the following pictures and final part of the video from that platform on the far right...)