Argitaratu: 11.10.2018
After 2 days in Rio, we are already moving on to the next destination in Brazil: Foz do Iguaçu. The city in the tri-border area of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, whose 250,000 inhabitants probably mainly live from the sometimes largest waterfalls in the world. Since Foz is 1500 km away from Rio, we (maybe for the last time during our trip) take the plane instead of the bus. After a 2-hour flight, we arrive in the green paradise and are greeted by a rainbow.
The next day, on our way back from the supermarket, we are surprised by quite heavy rainfalls and already consider going to the waterfalls the following day. However, since the weather forecast predicts even more rain for the next day, we decide to visit the falls despite the rain. As we have already learned from the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, you get pretty wet anyway when admiring a huge waterfall :)
The Iguazu Falls can be admired from both the Brazilian and Argentine sides. Each side probably has its own peculiarities. However, since we are currently in the Brazil fever and the bus to the falls leaves right in front of our doorstep, we naturally choose the Brazilian side. Without knowing the other side, we are more than satisfied with our choice! A 1.5 km long path leads us along a part of the total of 20 large and 255 small waterfalls (over an area of 2.7 km) to the Garganta do Diabo (Devil's Throat), where the water not only comes from the sky but from all sides! Along the path, we are accompanied by a very cute raccoon family. Jan is already close to putting the little quati (as they are called here) in his backpack, but Lisa's reason wins out :)
The falls are simply gigantic, you could watch the falls with their 1500-7000 m3/s of water masses plunging down from 60-80 meters for hours on end. For a moment, you wish you were a fish and could be carried away by the water. Fortunately, the rain eventually stops, and we admire the falls from the last viewpoint in the dry for a while. Do the other tourists actually notice how beautiful and powerful nature is while they shoot one selfie after another?
On the shuttle ride back to the entrance, we make a small emergency stop because a not too small tree blocked our way!
Back at the hostel, we cook our dinner for the first time ourselves and enjoy the view of the city from our rooftop terrace.
Although the weather on the following day does not at all adhere to the rainy forecast, we briefly consider going to the Argentine side. But since we liked the Brazilian side so much, we simply stay in the city, stroll through the streets, and enjoy the 'doing nothing'. We soak up as much Brazilian air as possible because tomorrow we will already continue to Paraguay!