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Day trip to Brazilian falls
By Laura - Argentina - 14 Oct/02 - Viewed 3335 times.

Got up early yesterday to go to the Brazilian side of the falls. It is not clear in either the Footprint or the Lonely Planet guides how to go from Puerto Iguazu over to the Brazilian side of the falls for a day trip. We managed to find out from the tourist information office at the bus station. Initially we got a bus with Tres Fronteras, which cost A$3.00 each. This bus travels between Puero Iguazu and Foz du Iguacu in Brazil. It makes a stop on the far end of the bridge for immigration purposes. We did not need a visa as British Citizens but other nationals do and this must be obtained in advance.

The bus then turns left to head towards Foz du Iguacu. We got dropped off at the turning and headed over to the Hotel Carima. There is a bus stop outside the hotel and green buses take you down to the falls. After waiting a while we arranged to go with a taxi for 2 reais each. We shared the taxi with two Italian tourists and a little dog which was carried in box. The entrance to the falls costs 8 reais each and can only be paid in reais.

We found out why the taxi driver was willing to take us for such a low price. She dropped us off inside of the National Park at a place where they offer extortionately priced boat trips. We declined her offer of trip for 80 reais each (including a discount) and hopped on one of the National Park free buses to take us to the start of the trail for the falls.

At the start of the trail there were some raccoon like animals called Coati Mundi. They are horrible scavenging animals who dive for food as soon as anyone opens their bag. I was not sure if we were going to be able to shake them from Mark´s bag. They managed to take away half a banana with them.

The Brazilian side of the falls offer a more panoramic view. The weather was a lot better too and we even saw a faint rainbow. It is not really visible on the photos though. Spiders and butterflys appeared all along the walkways. The platforms seemed to be a lot more sturdy than those on the Argentine side. I think it is because you cannot see the water underneath. The park was very busy, apparently Sundays are the busiest days. After queueing for a while we got the bus back to the National Park entrance. We walked up to the road and caught a bus heading to Foz du Iguacu. Once we had passed the bridge we got off, crossed the road and waited for another bus to take us back to Puerto Iguazu. We were back there in time for a cheap lunch and a relaxing afternoon.

Today we had to get up early again to fly back to Buenos Aires. We got a bit confused about our flight time and ended up being at the airport 3 hours early. There is no regular bus to the airport anymore. You have to call up a company called Sol Iguazu who will collect you from your hotel in a lovely yellow minibus. Once we arrived in Buenos Aires we got public bus number 45 from just outside the airport, instead of the Manuel Tienda Leon bus. This cost just A$0.80 each. It should have meant we got off nearer to our hotel (Hotel Uruguay) as well but we failed to get the bus driver´s attention. I would recommend this hotel, which is only A$35.00 a double and is in a very central position.

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