The mighty Igazu

Voted Brazillian hostel of the year 2007 by hostelworld.com, Hostel Bambu sits two blocks away from the main strip of Foz de igazu. We arrive to find the hostel undergoing significant maintenance work, whilst also trying to avoid wet cement, fresh paint and builders indifferent to the fact they have cemented over the exit’s door release switch en route to reception. The steps to the reception are flanked to the left by a row of old red decorative telephones that nicely “ding” when the steps are walked upon, ringer bell still intact. The staff are friendly and as we have learnt from our previous hostel experiences, incredibly essential in connecting us to the location we are staying. You need to get friendly with the staff in order to get the best from an area. Hostel Bambu is our final hostel in Brazil, being the place that initiates our trip to igazu falls. Most people you meet will say that the Argentinian side is the clear winner in terms of falling water eye candy but don’t rule out the cinematic and panoramic views the Brazillian side has to offer. The Brazillian viewpoints incrementally improve and serve as a pretty stunning introduction to igazu. The elevated Brazillian walkway lets you get close to the Devil’s throat and experience a walk (run) through the spray that the foot of the falls creates. A poncho or serious waterproofing is essential, but pricey from the booth opposite the falls. If you wait around long enough, generous tourists discard their disposable rain macs and offer them onwards to newcomers in this location. Our rain macs were donated by a pair of senior (señora) Brazillian ladies after they had retuned from the pathway soaked despite their plastic protection. We suited up and also receive a right old soaking. Unfortunately on the two days we visited the falls, we had cloudy weather and suffered slightly from the high water levels creating large mist clouds on an overcast day. If you do go gay for rainbows, save your visit for a sunny day.

Our trip to the Argentinian side of the falls is chaperoned by a Brazillian guide who is used to taking large groups around Puerto igazu, sometimes forty or fifty tourists in high season. We are his only group today and he takes much of the thinking out of where to go and knows the best time to see certain parts of Arge-igazu. We skip queues and get to the best photography vantage points (always go for the corners). The Argentinian side of the falls is a different experience, making you feel closer and part of the drama. The walkways straddle the top of the many falls allowing you to witness the speed and incredible height of the natural phenomenon. The falls produce a perpetually thunderous roar of water hitting water and are breathtaking in their spectacle. The vertigo inducing, hypnotising flow of water is dually devastating but beautiful as I convince myself I might not ever see anything as truly epic as igazu again. The Argentinian side of the Devil’s throat places you almost inside of the waterfall giving an almost 270 degree encapsulating experience. Blasts of watery mist escalate into watery showers rising out of the great white abyss. The falls appear to have been designed by an all star fantasy director team of James Cameron, Peter Jackson, or Guillermo del Toro, clearly being the inspiration for scenes in Avatar, lord of the rings (Rivendell) and Hellboy. Incredulously people video each other with iPads and Sony tablets semi-oblivious to the copious amounts of water enveloping their devices. I watch a large and colourful (probably rare) suicidal butterfly get sucked downwards into the descending air currents unable to escape its fate, but what a way to go?! Our guide tells us how he has also witnessed crocodiles and turtles going over the edge of the falls. Mockingly he mimics a falling motion screaming “Adios muchachoooooooos!”

Breath taken, it feels difficult to convey the grandeur and majesty the falls provide. The three kilometre expanse feels incredibly unique in the fact that save for Victoria falls (apparently) there is nowhere on earth to rival the charms of Igazu. We leave the falls with Lucy becoming visibly emotional with the enormity of the experience. Where we are supposed to go now?…