Iguazu Falls and Tres Fronteras (Brazil, Paraguay, & Argentina)

 

February13, 2024 - View into Devil's Throat at Iguazu Falls, Brazil

Having left Carnaval a couple days before the cumulating event to try to limit our expenses, we caught a flight with a serendipitously long layover in São Paulo. Without prior planning or realization, it just happened that we would be in a huge city exactly during the Super Bowl. Flying into São Paulo, I was absolutely blown away by its size. Skyscrapers literally as far as the eye can see, it is the 12th largest city in the world, most of the others being in Asia. After essentially throwing our bags down in our airport hotel, we were off to one of the known ex-pat party neighborhoods to find the game. There were lots of dressed-up revelers in the street, reminding us that Carnaval was still in full swing, but there were also a surprising number of bars showing the Super Bowl. We went first to one that Johnny found online as "the" place to watch, but it was so crowded we left at halftime to find a more comfortable spot. The results may not have gone the way I hoped, but nonetheless, it was a very entertaining game to watch. We did have to behave ourselves as we needed to be up at the break of dawn for our connecting flight, but I was still very happy to find the place we ended at had gluten-free beer so I was able to have a beer while watching the game. 

Up early the next day, it was off to one of the natural wonders of the world, Iguazu Falls. Often compared to Niagra or Victoria Falls, Iguaza is certainly one of the most famous waterfalls in the world. Having seen Victoria Falls earlier this trip, it was interesting to compare the two. For those of you who don't know, like Victoria Falls in Africa, you can visit Iguazu from two different countries, Brazil and Argentina, each with their own airport to boot. 20% of the falls are on the Brazil side, but it's actually the more popular side to visit because you can look across at the 80% on the Argentinian side for the panoramic views.

On the Brazil side, you stay in the town of Foz do Iguaçu and see the falls at the Parque National du Iguaçu.  I had read online that crowds can be insane there, but I was hoping that because it was still Carnaval there would be fewer crowds. I had also found a sort of "secret tip" while researching online that definitely worked out for us to help manage the crowds. Apparently, everyone gets off at the start of the trail and walks to the dramatic climax at the end at the Devil's Throat viewing platform, which then gets totally overrun as people push their way for photos. Instead, I had found the advice to ride the bus until the last stop and hit Devil's throat before everyone on the first bus has time to walk the trail. The tip was golden and sure enough, we basically had both the upper and lower viewing platform to ourselves for a few minutes before the crowds started to arrive. 

The areas you visit on the Brazil side are quite small and you've seen it all within a couple hours. Side note, while we were relaxing with a coffee after taking it all in, a bee decided to get into my shirt and sting my armpit, which resulted in me throwing my shirt off while jumping around and yelping for everyone at the cafe to enjoy. 

After a down day in town, we moved across the border to the town of Puerto Iguazú on the Argentina side to see the falls from the other angle. A very different experience, you can definitely spend a whole day on this side with lots and lots of hiking trails. Many of them are very sturdy bridges that go directly over the falls. Unfortunately, because we were there in the rainy season, the famous Devil's Throat trail was closed, but we were still able to take in the incredible beauty of the hundreds of falls that make up what they call Iguazu. Yet another side note, as we were ending our day and on the last trail, I got stung by yet another insect that I was unable to identify but hurt just as much if not more than the bee string. Apparently, the critters of Iguazu don't like me much. 

When discussing Iguazu Falls, everyone talks about Brazil and Argentina, but what some might not realize is that there are actually THREE countries at all touch here. Paraguay is also a part of the "tres fronteras", but unfortunately often gets left out because it doesn't offer any access to the falls. The town of Ciudad del Este is instead most known for, well, shopping. Spawling markets ranging from stalls on the sidewalks made of tarps, to high-end malls with luxury products, Latin Americans come from Brazil and Argentina to shop in Ciudad del Este because of the reduced taxes, or to find items unavailable in their own country. People talk about the black market there, but honestly, we didn't get any sort of seedy feeling, and vendors were not pushy like in some markets we've been to around the world. One store that really stood out was "Shopping China", which had literally any item you could think of, including Blue Diamond Almonds, ukuleles, and bottles of high-end liquor for a fraction of its US price. Even more interesting, the store accepts four different currencies for payment, Brazilian Reas, Argentinian Pesos, Paraguayan Guarani, or US Dollar. 

After the whirlwind 6-weeks in Brazil and visiting Iguazu Falls, we were ready for some downtime and decided to kick our feet up for a week somewhere to get caught up on some things. Of all the places, Johnny chose Asuncion, the Capital of Paraguay, so we hopped on the bus from the falls and headed across the country to our home for the next week. I was slightly concerned about our decision based on the reaction we kept getting from people when we said where we were headed, which was essentially "Why?", but Asuncion ended up being the perfect choice. Not particularly known for any tourist attractions or sites, it was just an easy, relatively cheap city with lots of trees and outdoor food courts. We had a comfortable apartment in a nice neighborhood, I was able to do my taxes and start some job applications while Johnny worked his way through some programming courses and we took advantage of our balcony grill and roof-top pool to just slow down for a few days. I also have to mention the local rum, Tres Lions, which you can get a flask-sized bottle for about $0.32. What's not to love. We checked out a couple of the nightlife neighborhoods and overall, just really enjoyed a break from the tourist life for a few days. We didn't hear or see another American, or even tourist for that matter, the whole time we were there. That may be changing though, as ironically New York Times Travel did a feature on Asuncion mere days after we stayed there, so maybe we were just ahead of the curve.

The plan from there was to fly to Buenos Aires, but when we did the price comparison to the overnight bus, I managed to convince Johnny to subject himself to another 20-hour bus ride to save us about $350. So after our time getting caught up on life, it was back on the road and back to Argentina. We stayed in the neighborhood of Palermo, a pretty touristy area, but a comfortable spot to use as a base for exploring the city. We still spent a lot of this time on the computer, me continuing to work on my digital portfolio for my job applications and Johnny to manifest some programming ideas he had, but we still made sure to visit all the big spots. 

We started our introduction to the city with a walking tour of Recoleta, a neighborhood known for the acoustically perfect Teatro Colón, the Parisian-style palaces, and the famous cemetery where Eva Perón (Evita) is buried. Upon our guide's recommendation, we also signed up for the walking tour of La Boca. I especially loved La Boca, an enchanting neighborhood that, without the guided tour, may have just seemed to be a colorful tourist trap. Learning the history of Buenos Aires immigrant history and a bit about the various political movements of the last century was fascinating. We also got a glimpse into the Argentinian love for Fútbol by visiting the stadium for La Boca Juniors.

Besides our two walking tours, we spent our time trying our hand at carne asada on our rooftop grill and exploring the city using the public buses and metro. With lots of neighborhoods to explore, from the high-end Puerto Madero and nature reserve to the more bohemian San Telmo with its Sunday artisan market, it was difficult to make it to all the places we had on our list. We did make sure to check out the nightlife in San Telmo one night to try a fernet and Coke, a very popular local drink, but we didn't make it far once Johnny discovered a British Pub that was just his style. 

A week clearly wasn't enough, so we ended up adding on a couple more days. Our last day was spent watching Tango and exploring the Buenos Aires Ecoparque, essentially a free zoo set into the vegetation. We both loved Buenos Aires and easily could've spent more time there, but with a camper van reservation on the books, we knew we had to keep moving. 

The next stop in Argentina was Mendoza and the neighboring wine country of Valle de Uco. Besides visiting the city of Mendoza itself, there were so many bodegas (wineries) to choose from that we had to divide and conquer the planning, Johnny taking Maipú and me taking Valle de Uco. Tastings were ex-pen-sive, so we were limited on the number we could hit. They also all require reservations, with many of the most popular wineries booking up weeks in advance. It was a lot of WhatsApp messages, emails, and coordination to set up the tastings that we were able to do. For the area of Maipú, we opted to rent bikes and hit some of the cheaper wineries closer to town, including La Rural, one of the oldest and largest producers in the area. With tastings ranging from about $6 to $14, most also included a tour of the grounds which was especially cool given that it was during harvest. One downside was that some tours were only offered in Spanish, so Johnny got his own personal translator via his amazing girlfriend. 

To visit Valle de Uco, we rented a car for a few days to make the hour trip South and stay out in the countryside. The tastings around the valley were significantly more, the cheapest being around $25 or $30. We visited a range, from the smallest winery in the valley that was run out of a garage, to one of the more commercialized labels for export. The big treat of the visit was a 5-course tasting menu at La Azul in which each course was accompanied by a different bottomless wine selection. Something else worth noting was that I have never been to a restaurant that took so much care for Celiac disease and cross contamination, to the point where someone came out with gloves and switched out all my utensils to a special set that they wash and store separately from anything that touches Gluten. Every single course had a gluten-free option so I didn't have to miss out on a thing. 

The last spot we would visit in the valley required a bumpy drive up into the foothills to hike in Manzano Historico to the waterfall Chorro de la Vieja and explore some of the canyons that eventually connect to Chile. So with a very dusty rental car, we headed back into Mendoza for the night to catch an early bus the next day that would take us across another border and into country #21, Chile.

The journey traveling from Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile will possibly go down as the most amazing bus ride I have ever been on. The views were incredible, but not for the faint of heart as there were times when the bus wheel must have literally been on the edge of the drop on some very winding mountain roads. Clocking in at only 8 hours, it was one of the shorter bus rides we've had as of late and that evening we were already in Santiago. With only two days in Santiago, we didn't try to do too much as we knew we would have the chance to pass through the city again in about a month. For now, this was time for us to make progress on the daunting task of planning out the next leg of the trip, a month-long camper van trip through Chile and Argentina that would take us to the famed glaciers and national parks of the famous Patagonia region.