The Amazing Iguazú Falls!!!!

This is a trip that I recommend everyone who comes to Argentina or South America in general do! In the United States and Canada, everyone has heard of Niagra falls and these two waterfalls are often compared due to their massive size. However, everyone that I know who has been to both waterfalls agree that Iguazú is much more impressive because it is located in a National Park, surrounded by beautiful foliage and trees, rather than next to a big developed city. It’s an incredible site and a MUST for all travelers.

When I went to Iguazú I joined in with an organization, Argentina For All, that organizes trips around South America for international students. There are many organizations like this and lots of opportunities to join—I jumped on board after seeing that it was more affordable for the holiday weekend than if I were to plan it myself. I’ll give a play by play of my trip if you are thinking about joining a group trip or want ideas for planning your own!

First, we left on a Friday afternoon on the bus to Misiones, the town right outside of the national park. The bus ride is a hefty 15 hours depending on what time of day you leave from the city and how much traffic there is. I committed to this because the difference in price between a bus and flight for the holiday weekend was immense. If you have the money, however, a flight is a much easier 1-1.5 hour trip and it’s easy to plan a transport from the airport to your hostel or hotel.

The bus arrived to the hostel on Saturday morning where we dropped our things and many returned to the bus to head to the Brazil side of the falls (I was unable to go due to the difficulty in obtaining a Brazilian tourist visa for Americans—you MUST do this in advance and I planned my trip too late to have enough time to complete). I stayed at the hostel and did a hike nearby with some other Americans who had to stay back.

The next day everyone hopped on the bus and headed to the Argentine side of the falls. It was 600 pesos to get in as a tourist and wow it was well worth it! Our trip had a guide who took us on the trails up to the first view point of the falls from above then back to an area where we could eat lunch.

After lunch those of us who signed up for the Gran Aventura headed down to take the shuttle to the boats! I HIGHLY recommend this to everyone who goes! It was worth every peso!! You take a 15 minute guided ride through the forest to the dock where you can strip down to your bathing suit, put on your life jacket and place your important belongings in a waterproof bag on the boat. On the boat they take you up close and personal to the falls and they give you a chance to take our your phone and take pictures of the incredible view from the boat before putting them back safe in sound in the waterproof bag. After photos they bring you right up to the falls and dunk you straight under!!! Everyone was screaming and it was an amazing experience.

Following the Gran Aventura, we headed back up to the meeting point where we followed the guide up the path and on the train in the park to the other upper view of mouth of the falls. It was an absolutely mesmerizing view. We took pictures and headed back down to the entrance to hop back on the buses to return to the hostel for our asado dinner.

The next day we packed up our things and headed back to Buenos Aires, stopping at some ruins on the way back to break up the trip. We arrived Tuesday morning exhausted and amazed at our experiences of the weekend.

There are many organizations you can pay the trip fee to join with other students on the trip, travel organizations who will help plan your own trip, or for those more independent souls there are several online resources for you to plan your own trip!