ajmatt blog

Matt again - this morning we got up quite early and made our way to Jorge Newberry domestic airport in Buenos Aires to catch our Aerolineas Argentinas flight to what would turn out to be the amazing Iguazú Falls.

We were bumped to the next flight, which made us a bit grumpy since we were very sleepy and had such a short time at the falls. However, our original flight left late, so we only lost about an hour and a half, and we got “upgraded” to the bulkhead row of the airplane.

Once we arrived at aeropuerto Cataratas del Iguazú, the tiniest airport either of us had ever been to, with its one runway and two gates, we met Mario Cuña, a local remise (private car) driver that we hired to get us to the hotel. He filled us in on the best things to see in the area, and offered, among other tours, to use his conveyance license to take us to the Brazil side of the falls without visas.

We had read about the conveyance option and that the Brazil side had the best panoramic views, and because of our timing, I charged forward and agreed to the deal. While it sounds sketchy, it is completely legal, but Allegra was a bit unsure (and still questions the legality) as we got to the Sheraton inside the park. Guided by Mario, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to Iguaçu National Park, Brazil.

We took the park bus in Brazil into the falls trail and walked about 3/4 mile, observing hungry animals, crazy birds, and of course, the amazing views of the falls, including of course the Garganta del Diablo. The falls are about twice as large as Niagra (which we’ve never seen) and are absolutely breathtaking. Words aren’t adequate to describe what we saw, so be sure to look at the pictures in today’s gallery, as they are incredible (notice, for example, the double rainbow—below right).

It turned out the conveyance deal worked great, and ended up being cheaper than getting the visas and paying to get a ride across the border. I highly suggest this approach for other Iguazú travelers!

It was an amazing day, and Allegra and I sat on our hotel balcony until it got so dark you couldn’t see the falls anymore before we went to sleep.