The pure, natural beauty of Iguazú Falls is indescribable and unparalleled.

Max, Pia and I travelled 22 hours by bus on Friday 28/03 to the beautiful city of Puerto Iguazú. This small, tourist driven town lays on the boarder of both Brazil and Paraguay. It is a picturesque town, abundant with red soil and lush green plants. The intense humidity and heat along with the regular rainfall provides the area with thick and beautiful jungles filled with exotic animals and flowers. This environment however, is merely a backdrop for the main attraction.

We stayed at Hostel Inn for 3 nights which was very pleasant. The hostel had a lovely breakfast and large swimming pool included (it was so nice to swim again!). Once again we met a solo backpacker like our pal Dugie, named Dwight. A 31 year-old man from San Diego who served 7 years in the Marine Corps. He was extremely nice and joined us on Sunday when we went to the Argentine side of the falls.

The Iguazú Falls are split between both Argentina and Brazil, approx. 80%/20% respectively. Since I am clearly from the U.S. it is quite difficult and costly to attain the proper visa to visit the smaller Brazilian side, so I only saw the Argentine park (which is completely fine!). Many favor the Argentine side because there is much more to do and see. We spent 7 hours walking around the national park, whereas Max and Pia only spent 2 hours in Brazil.

In the park there are several paths to see the many different sets of waterfalls. We started at the smallest and progressively made our way up to the grand finale, La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat).

On the Circuito Inferior (Lower Trail), we saw our first glimpse of the beautiful falls. First from far away and then we made our way to the bottom.

It was mostly overcast for the duration of our visit, but it kept us a bit cooler. The trails from the different falls are mostly consisted of stairs, so it was quite a workout. At one point on the lower trail we had the opportunity to take a boat across the river to La Isla de San Martin. This island sits in the middle between Brazil and Argentina and gives a spectacular view of one part of the Argentine falls. After hiking up to the top of the island, we were incredibly close to the falls. The mist soaked us as we stood in amazement at the edge. Just as we arrived the sun peaked out of the clouds and a created beautiful rainbow across the falls in the mist.

We then made our way up to the Circuito Superior (Upper Trail). This trail gave us a view from above the falls looking down over Isla San Martin and the respective falls we saw earlier.

The pictures I am posting don’t even come close to the actual thing. It is truly indescribable.

La Garganta del Diablo was a sight I’ll never forget.

We made our way to the top of the falls where La Garganta del Diablo is located. The sheer force of these falls is absolutely amazing. The water pours over the U-shaped cliff into what seems like a never-ending abyss. The crashing water sends up a constant cloud of mist in the center of the “throat”. If the water wasn’t going downwards, I’d refer to it as heaven-like… but the Devil gets claim on this one.

We couldn’t stop looking at it.

Even though our clothes were soaked through and I was struggling to keep my camera dry, we couldn’t find the will to leave. It was as if the falls were calling us and telling us to stay. Every time that I’d look away I immediately felt the urge to look back, and every time it was more amazing and beautiful. The roar of the water echoed in our ears as we held the railing and peered over the edge.

“La Garganta del Diablo” is the perfect name for the falls. There is something that is just so powerful and mysterious about it. I felt like I was on top of the world.

The next day, Monday 31/03, Max and Pia made there way to the Brazilian side and I went on an excursion into the jungle. I hiked through the thick green maze of the Iguazú jungle with a tour group of all Argentinians! It was a lot of fun listening to the history of Iguazú entirely in Spanish. The group also did zip-lining through the canopy of the jungle. It was so awesome! Afterwards we rappelled down a cliff next to a waterfall about 50 meters high. It was an amazing experience to actually explore the nature of Iguazú instead of shopping in the touristy village.

It was another amazing trip and I am so happy that I was able to spend Max and Pia’s last weekend in Argentina with them!

Saludos amigosss xx