Iguazu Falls

When looking into getting from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janiero, we realized it’s really expensive to cross country borders via flying so, we looked into going to Iguazu Falls. It ended up being the same price to fly to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, stay there for a few nights, cross the border via bus to Foz de Iguazu, Brazil and fly to Rio, then just flying directly. So we did just that, and no regrets!

Iguazu Falls is the largest waterfall in the world and is fed by Iguazu River which separates Argentina and Brazil. We spent a full day on the Argentina side of the falls, which offers more trails and views than the Brazil side (there’s only one trail there). We spent the entire day in the National Park, walking the Lower Circuit first, which takes you to the bottom of the falls. You’re really able to get an idea of the magnitude of the falls and see everything flowing down together. It was just so beautiful. We then went to the Upper Circuit, which was less exciting but interesting because the water was so shallow and calm compared to what we saw down below.

We took a little break from the tourist trails – I was actually very surprised to see how most of the “trails” around the National Park were paved and ramped and allowed everyone access, which is a good thing. So, to Tom’s suggestions (of course.. one of the reasons I love him) was to trail run the 2 mile “actual dirt trail” of a far lesser known path that takes you down to a waterfall where wayyyy fewer tourists walk down. It was so hot and a bit humid that it was a sweltery jog, but boy it felt good to move! Especially knowing there was a cool down swim at the end. Technically you’re not supposed to swim in the water, but no one is there patrolling and other people were in the water, so in we went. And it was so refreshing! As usual, Tom had a great “get away from the people” idea and we were rewarded!

Were told by our hostel hosts to save the Devil’s Throat view (where you get to walk up on top of the major part of the falls) for the end of the day when the sun wasn’t in your eyes. They know their stuff! We caught the last train up (somehow timing worked out perfectly after the waterfall swim) and didn’t have many people with us, considering how the previous trains were jam packed. This view was unbelievable! The magnitude of water coming from the rivers into this one point was just astronomical. It was impossible to capture in a photo (as is most things). From this vantage point, we were able to see and hear the amount of water. I’ve never seen anything like it. This was, by far, our favorite experience of the falls.

The next day we took the bus across the border into Brazil.. so easy! We felt very satisfied with our Argentina Iguazu Falls visit so instead we opted to go to the Parque das Aves (Bird Park) – the Brazil side of the falls is just one hike (although I hear it’s different than Argentina). The Park focuses on the conservation of birds in the Atlantic Rainforest. It was way better than I thought! We were able to walk in areas with Tucans, flamingos, and parrots.

Rio de Janiero

We had been extremely lucky weather wise throughout the trip and of course it had to run out at some point. The day after we arrived was sunny and warm and beautiful, so naturally we went to the Copacabana beach! It was a glorious day. We heard these beaches were filled with the most beautiful people in the world, yes there were a lot of them, but we were rather surprised at how many were just normal looking people. Which made the rest of us feel better. We rented umbrellas from “the chair guy”, ordered coconut waters and beers from him and enjoyed the sun, water and above all, the amazing people watching.

The next few days were mostly rainy. We managed to sneak in a run along the beach before the rain came down. It was a bummer that it rained, but Tom and I were in need of some rest days to plan the next part of our trip (Africa!) and some general brainless Netflix watching. We were also able to run some errands – the zipper on one of our bags broke (our shoulder back that we carry our passports and computer and important stuff in) so after going to several places asking if they could fix it, we were sent to a shoe repair guy and in 2 seconds it was fixed!

We had a few hours before he were heading to Sao Paulo to get Adam to the airport (it’s cheaper flying internationally through Sao Paulo than Rio) and thankfully it wasn’t raining! So we did the second most touristy thing in Rio, went to see Christ the Redeemer. We took the train up instead of the hike because of time and the views were amazing! The clouds were coming and going but it was really neat seeing cloud puffs over the city and passing over the Redeemer. Even though we didn’t do a ton in Rio, I’m so glad we made it!

Sao Paulo

Our initial plan was to go to Ihla Grande Island which is between Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo, but it was raining there too so we opted to cancel those plans and head straight to Sao Paulo. I found us an Airbnb with a gym that we were able to use (first gym in 6 weeks!) and an awesome deli right across the street with the best sandwiches ever. We ate there 3 times. We did our own walking tour (through maps.me) and saw a bunch of awesome buildings in town and the best market ever! I wanted to buy and eat everything, but that just didn’t happen. Just outside the market building was the lesser market where people lined the sidewalks with everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! It was overwhelming and amazing at the same time. People and things were just everywhere, there was so much to see. But I was glad when we found the Central Market building and wondered the beautiful displays of all food related items.

The lowest point of our trip happened as we left the Airbnb. There was a Carnaval happening a block away, we were looking for storage lockers to put our bags the door man told us about and a kid on his bike swooped by and grabbed Tom’s phone from his hand! Tom dropped everything and started running after him. This kid had it well played being on a bike and racing away before we could even get close. Randomly, an off-duty cop was driving by and told Tom to get in, they drove around looking for him but didn’t find him. Just when we were over big cities, this happened, but it’s good to know other’s are there to help when shit goes down. So after that, we were very much over big cities! We headed to the airport, Tom bought a new phone and spent a few hours over the next couple of days with T-Mobile getting his old SIM card hooked up again (thankfully he kept his old one from when Brent brought the GoogleFi SIM cards to us). This experience wasn’t the best, but I felt violated more than anything. We figured this trip would eat a phone, but not like this and not this soon… Onto Cape Town after we learned a few lessons!