A home for my words.

You know that commonplace phrase you hear as a tourist? “Oh you have to see…” Well, I’ve learned that it isn’t always personally true, but I love when it is! That was the case for me when visiting Iguazu Falls from both the Argentine and the Brazilian side.

On the Argentine side, you can hike down to a boat and ride directly under the falls, which in the most literal sense, took my breath away. The perk of visiting the falls from the Brazilian side is that you get to see a much wider view of the falls and from many different angles.

Foz do Iguaçu

I felt short on time and didn’t want to deal with the headache of renting a car, so I booked a great excursion here. It would take from from Argentina across the border into Brazil. When the tour vehicle arrived, it was only a man in a sedan. He was my tour guide and he explained that no one else booked for that day, New Year’s Eve, so the itinerary was all mine to craft! Others were likely using the day to gather with family or prepping their bodies for a night of raging. My night would be considerably more relaxing, so I could swing the early departure for this day tour.

At one vista point after another, there were stunning angles of the falls. I realized why people told me it was absolutely worth it. I could even see boats on the Argentine side, where I’d been just the day before.

The tour guide did the usual of sharing interesting facts and offering to take pictures, but he also allowed me to walk around the falls independently at my own pace. Each time I was ready to go, I simply met up with him at an agreed upon location.

Parque das Aves

We also stopped at Parque das Aves, a bird sanctuary. My guide waited in the car and I strolled at my own pace. The good thing about being solo is that when I was ready to go, we could go. No waiting on anyone else. As a frequent solo-traveler, this is just the sort of selfish privilege I like to indulge in :p

Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam

This is actually where my tour began. I wasn’t so sure about doing this portion, especially since I was the only one and could simply skip it, but I figured “might as well.” If you go, know that your belongings will be scanned by security shortly after paying to enter.

I would say the best part of the excursion to the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam is that regularly scheduled shuttle buses drive you around the entire site. Even if I was with a tour group, Itaipu is planned out so that individuals can hop on and off shuttles at their own will. You would simply meet up with your group at the end of the experience.

I also liked that pre-recorded facts play in multiple languages whenever you get on the shuttles and each stop had signage explaining the significance of that location. There are some really beautiful views along the way. However if you were short on time, I would say skip this unless you are a fan of hydroelectricity.

Heading Back

The tour guide told me he would make any extra stops I wanted since I was the only tourist calling the shots for the day. I was craving fried fish because it’s one of my favorite things to eat while traveling. I searched on Google Maps and found a fish place that was a bit out of the way but since I moved through the day much faster than the guide normally would with a larger group, he was happy to make the drive. After all, he was still going to get home to prepare for his New Year’s Eve party with friends hours earlier than he originally expected.

I started to feel guilty when we found ourselves driving around the middle of nowhere on a less than ideal road. Someone near a home at first looked at us suspiciously, but ended up helping us out. They said they knew the place we were talking about, but it wasn’t where GPS said it was. They gave us accurate directions and we pulled up to what looked like a small farm. I think there were even a few chickens running around.

A man and a boy seemed perplexed at the sight of us, but my tour guide explained in Portuguese that I was looking to order fried fish to-go. It turned out the site was a place where people could go fishing at a nearby small lake and then bring it up to this man and his son to get it cooked.

Their customers normally didn’t ask for food to go but they showed me items in their kitchen that could be repurposed into takeout ware. I think we settled on empty plastic ice cream containers and they assured me they’d wash it thoroughly before storing my food in it. It was a pretty funny exchange and they were so kind that I no longer felt awkward for my naive request. They even fried up some cassava since they didn’t have potatoes to suit my French fry craving.

I sipped on a beer and chatted with my tour guide while I waited. He caught me up to speed on some things we’d seen on the drive over, like how “borracharia” in Portuguese meant tire shop even though to Spanish-speakers like me it looked like these auto shops were offering customers a chance to get drunk! (#FalseFriends) He also explained the heated presidential race Brazil was experiencing at the time. Once my food was done, I again thanked the family who had been so accommodating to me and we went on our way.

We had zero wait time at the border going or coming since it seemed Brazilians and Argentinians alike weren’t doing much traveling on the day of New Year’s Eve. The last thing I remember my tour guide pointing out was how the painted colors on the bridge between Brazil and Argentina changed. Green and yellow for the Brazilian side transitioned to blue and white once we were technically on Argentine soil. A cool touch!

When we arrived at my hotel, I tipped my tour guide for a great day. Then upstairs in my room, I chomped on a huge portion of fried fish and cassava while watching television until it was time to get ready for my own New Year’s Eve festivities 😀