This is an arial view of Iguazú Falls! We wouldn’t see the falls from that perspective (helicopters are possible) but we were planning to see the falls from both Argentina and Brazil. The advantage of having a very experienced travel agent is that she knows these things when we do not.

Iguazú Falls are located on the natural border between the two countries. 

Iguazú Falls  are on the list of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.  Our Antarctica cruise company offered a pricy pre-extension to the falls. We opted for a less expensive private excursion arranged by our travel agent. 

We had a two hour flight from Buenos Aires to the town of Iguazú.  Maria, a Tours by Locals guide, and her driver met us at the airport and took us into Iguazú National Park. 

We needed entrance tickets for the park right away because our hotel was inside the national park. 

This was our first impression as we walked into the lobby of the hotel. It was lovely but , as designed, your eye goes straight through to Iguazú Falls.

Our second impression was being told we needed to be sure to lock, not just close, our balcony door because the monkeys have figured out how to open them. 

We had to sign that we understood the mandate- presumably so we would take it seriously. Otherwise, we could be held liable for their mischief.

After settling in, we explored the hotel and grounds.

We saw the very beautiful pool and lamented not bringing our suits.

We saw the brown capuchin monkeys crawling around the hotel.  A couple of the small ones stayed on the top of the building, seemingly not yet coordinated enough to scramble around on the balcony glass.

We met Maria and a different driver quite early the next morning because of the summer heat and likely delays crossing the border between Argentina and Brazil. Crossing borders is referred to as “going to the other side.”

We saw a few guinea pigs alongside the road.  Indigenous people in this area eat them but not the regular population.

We also saw numerous signs asking drivers to be aware of jaguars.  They are nocturnal so our chances of seeing one was very slim.

Maria collected our passports and Brazil visas.  She filled out the Argentina required paperwork for the four of us. The process of doing it all by paper seemed inefficient, but it isn’t our country.

We were in an expedited lane because our transit was for tourism. It still moved slowly  – but more quickly than the others.  

The billboards advertised electronics which are much less expensive in Paraguay.  Maria said there is an illegal market for buying in Paraguay and reselling in Argentina.

Eventually we made it through the Argentina exit with Maria handling everything.

We went through a few hundred meters of no-man’s-land, and stopped to enter Brazil.  This time Randy and I needed to get out and move through the process in a more traditional way.   Our passports were stamped.  

Maria and the driver did not need to do anything to enter Brazil because their visit was to be less than 24 hours.  As an Argentina resident, Maria can travel anywhere in South America with just an ID card.

Before the September 11 attacks in the United States, there wasn’t any legal border crossings between Argentina, Brazil and nearby Paraguay.  Restrictions have tightened more with various world events including the Hamas attacks and Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Even though crossings can take hours, Argentinians do everything from buying groceries to vacationing in Brazil.  The Brazilian currency is stronger and more stable than the Argentinian peso.

The city on the Brazilian side of the falls has developed tourism infrastructure including a water park, aquarium, and golf resort.  These are used mostly by Brazilian families on vacation.  International travels are usually in and out just for the falls.

We could see our Grand Malia Hotel  right over there – yet it had taken us two hours to go around.

Maria told us that the experience from the two sides of the falls are very different. Brazil has the panoramic view.

Some visitors take a boat to get “up close and personal” (and wet) by the falls.

We saw coatimundi!   We saw them several times but getting a picture was very hard. Randy got lucky!

We saw signs discouraging visitors from feeding the animals because human food makes them sick. 

We enjoyed some wonderful views!

We occasionally got a cooling spray.

We could see where we would be walking on the Argentina side the next day. The flag is just visible in the top center.

This is our delightful guide, Maria!

At the end of our walk along the Brazilian side of Iguazú Falls, there was an elevator to take us back up to street level!  How great is that!

On our drive back we saw more signs to watch for leopards.

We made our way back through the borders. Brazilian border patrol stamped our passports again.

We were hot and tired when we got back to our hotel and went straight to the gift shop to see about buying swimsuits. There wasn’t anything workable so we decided we would go in shorts (and a top for me). It was fine.

The pool was great – and with such a view! We ordered Argentinan beer from the pool bar. It was served with potato chips and peanuts. 

Every time we had drinks in this hotel, it came with chips and peanuts.  It wasn’t hard to get used to!

It was a great day, with two new acquaintances, beautiful views and greater understanding of life in this part of the world.

Although not specific to Iguazù Falls, I did learn some interesting things about Brazil while preparing for this trip:

*The large triangle that is Brazil in South America has borderers with every other country in South America, except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil’s landmass is bigger than the contiguous United States .

*Since 2021, Brazil is second in the world in making cheese. Only France makes more.

*There is a program in Brazil’s prison system where reading a book and completing a report, can take four days off your sentence up to 48 days a year. It is seen as a mode to enhance the prison prisoners rehabilitation, and also to reduce crowded conditions..

Next Up – We see the falls from the Argentinia side.