Iguazu Day 3- Just popping to Brazil!

Today we went to the Brazilian side of the falls (which are located at the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet). Officially, I believe the falls are on the Argentinean side of the river, however this does mean that from the Brazilian side you are looking onto the falls, as opposed from approaching from behind or the side, which gives you a very different view, and I suspect is the reason why for most people their trip involves a visit to the park on both sides.

It was another early start for us. It's not strictly necessary to be at the park early, but the coaches arrive a bit later, and the humidity start to arrive in the early afternoon, which makes the place much less pleasant to walk around. We took the bus to the Brazilian waterfall park, which involves getting off the coach twice in  each direction (Argentinean and Brazilian immigration), although the whole journey only takes about half an hour.

The Brazilian park seems slightly more modern than the Argentinean park, it also might have been more expensive, but I'm not sure because I forgot to look up the Brazilian exchange rate before I went. I think it's safe to assume that as a tourist hotspot, things were quite pricey. As on the Argentinean side I was impressed with how everything was set up and organised, and as a tourism business I would say they are generally running "the waterfalls" pretty well.

The one downside to the Brazilian side is there there isn't really so much walking to be done. The whole trail is around 1km long, and then you're sort of done. We took about an hour and a half to wander round, stopping for photos, and crossing over the path in front of the falls where you get hit with water on one side of you like you were in a shower! After this we decided to take a trip into the town on the Brazilian side which was about 30 minutes a way. This was, unfortunately, not hugely successful. The town was eerily quiet and had a slightly uncomfortable feel to it. Perhaps it is only because it was Sunday and the tourists were all out at the falls, but after a swift walk around (during which we didn't even find a cafe where we wanted to get something eat) and we decided to head back to Argentina (where at least we understand the language!)

I'm not entirely sure it's necessary to rank which view of the falls was better, and they are both pretty impressive, and for most people who have gone to the trouble to come here (given it's quite a way from anywhere), a trip to both sides would be natural. However, the panoramic view of the falls from Brazil was probably more awe-inspiring than from Argentina, even if you are perhaps closer to the falls themselves in Argentina. What is so impressive here is not only their height (although on the list of top-dog waterfalls of the world by height they're not number 1), but the sheer number and breadth of them, and this impression is best appreciated from Brazil. And the trip to Brazil meant another set of stamps in the passport...