Foz do Iguacu

"My poor Niagara" - Eleanor Roosevelt lamented when she saw Foz do Iguacu


Foz do Iguacu is amazing! It is a UNESCO World Heritage site on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide. The falls separate Argentina and Brazil, and they are monstrous: the force of the water is just incredibly impressive! I was there this week to to give a talk on pronunciation at the University in the town of Foz, and one of the English teachers was nice enough to host me and take me around this weekend as well. Right now the water is really weak and the falls weren't as strong as usual, but still it was quite a sight to see. From Argentina, you can walk up close to the top of Garganta del Diablo (the largest and most powerful part), and from Brazil you have a more panoramic view. Most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, so there are lots of walks through the forests, a boat ride to the island with an up-close view of the falls, etc. They seem to be more organized than in Brazil. They have old-fashioned trolley trains that takes you from the visitor's center up to the the different walking paths, and they run every 15 minutes or so. All the paths are realy spread out so you need a full day here if you want to see everything. We saw quite a bit - the falls from the top, the overhead trail and part of the lower trail too. The only thing we missed was going to the island. We went here on Saturday and I loved this side of the falls because you were right up close to them and there were fewer people than on the Brazilian side. However, the weather wasn't as nice as it was on Sunday, so the pictures from Brazil are a little better, but to be right on top of the large waterfall is very impressive.

On the Brazilian side you have a magnificent panorama of all the falls, and a close up front view of the Garganta del Diablo, which is unbelievably impressive! The only thing I didn’t like here was that there were SO many people! You could barely take a picture and were always being pushed out, so it took away a little from the majestic nature of everything. Still, in spite of that, it was spectacular. And the weather was very nice so we had rainbows in the falls too. I also took a boat ride to be up close to the falls. This seemed like a good idea because the one at Niagara Falls goes close to all the falls so that you feel you are a part of it. This one had great views but then you were on a speed boat and they tried to get you as wet as possible – that was the only goal! I don’t mind getting wet in the process of seeing all the waterfalls, but if the only motivation is to take you close to a waterfall and have you drenched, that doesn’t seem like much fun. Plus, you had to take a train and then walk down hill 15 minutes or so to get to the dock. This was a beautiful walk, but it was really far. Once we got there, nobody was directing traffic, saying which boat to get on or where to leave your shoes, how to tie your life jacket, etc. And once we came back and got off the boat, we had to wait 30 minutes for jeeps to come and take us back up hill to the train station, so that we could wait for the train that would take us back to the bus stop to wait there to get to the visitor’s parking lot. The jeeps took so long they were asking people to go on foot. 60 people had to walk back uphill and many of them were not in the shape to be doing this! They seriously need to consult Disneyworld to get some tips on how to be better organized!!! Even the Brazilians were upset over this:) We arrived back an hour later than they had told us we would, and my hosts had to wait there for me until I arrived; there was no choice. Apparently, this is a privately run organization and they were only trying to make money, so they had sold more tickets than they could accommodate for. Many customer complaint cards were filled out after the trip!

But still, despite being soaked and freezing, the day was really fun and it was wonderful to be able to be there in person. To loosely quote Ferris Bueller, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking up a ticket and coming to Foz do Iguacu!"