How does it feels like when some destinations which were never in your travel bucket but you suddenly realize those are happening ?
This story is somewhat similar, trip to Foz do Iguaçu a beautiful Brazilian city located in the Brazilian state of Paraná, is the main base for visiting famed Iguaçu Falls, one of the world's largest waterfalls. Also counted in the list of one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Interesting isn't it .🤟
Located presently in Londrina another city in South Brazil in the Brazilian state of Paraná, so my voyage begins from here accompanying me Payel, Som,Saba, Susmit and Pranav all of us belonging to same mother land and visiting Brazil for the first time.
So with lot of exhilaration we started our inaugural trip in the midnight of 31st October 2019, it's a 500 km drive to the city of Foz do Iguaçu. We were in package tour that we booked a month ago, as we didn't want to put ourselves into trouble since Portuguese being the official language here often turn fellow Indians like us into dumb.Package costs R$ 800 (Brazilian Reais) per person which includes travel, accommodation, tickets and breakfast. Had no idea then if it's was cheap or expensive and we never thought of calculating it either.
So overnight drive on a Mercedes van in Brazilian express way is itself a thrill that can barely be explained and pouring extra spice to that are those Bollywood evergreens running in background.
Don't be surprised the agency added another dozen and half of lovely Indian folks. So our total count is 19 including our agency manager cum guide who speaks quite fluent Portuguese despite being an Indian.
So we checked in our hotel around 8 AM in the morning and after quickly getting freshen up we devoured into breakfast and completely snapped in few minutes. Overnight journey is always hectic and we were able to feel it but our excitement was in no mood to maximize that.So we headed for the Iguaçu falls, it was around 5 km drive through a picturesque city with roads appearing like mirage throughout and passing across signals with zero to moderate traffic.
Finally we reached at the Iguacu National Park after completing the ticketing procedure we headed towards the falls in a bus(service available inside the park) it was utterly beautiful well maintained roads with huge branches over it paving the way for open roof bus pass by shades, and then for the first time I got glimpse of the majestic falls and that fuelled additional exhilaration in me minimizing all the arduousness.
Bus dropped us at a point after 4-5 kms and from we were on our own to trek down another 2-3 km to reach the "Devil's Throat", it's the main viewing point of the fall which is around 98ft tall.
For a moment I could not believe my eyes, that I am really viewing this spectacular beauty, gallons of water per secs rumbling and crushing over the gigantic rocks with rainbows here and there.It was such a soothing and blissful view. Truly nature can be so amazing.We spent around an hour or so while continuously kept on clicking photos. And before we get completely drench we left and went up for lunch.
In the photo the falls we are viewing is from Brazilian side which is only 40% of it and rest can be viewed from Argentina side, which I heard is more amazing.
Time was around 2PM and after completing lunch now was the time for most exciting part of the trip, "The Safari".
We already had booked the tickets in the beginning which costs us around R$250 BRL each. Two of my friends Susmit and Som unfortunately doesn't gather enough courage for the safari so we left them waiting in the waiting area and headed for the adventure.
Now "The Safari" is all about riding on a boat upstream along the river towards the falls and getting drench underneath it, sounds regular but actually not !!!
After geared with necessary stuffs we boarded the boat and start sailing, the initial few minutes was amazing and each one of us was like it's doesn't scare us at all, but !! The moment we started slowly getting underneath one of the mighty gigantic water stream what feels like dying in a moment. Each one of us in the boat was screaming don't know was it excitement or fear. But it was total adrenaline rush and off-course total value for money.
It was around 30 mins of safari, and that 30 mins i will always cherish throughout my lifetime.
With that safari we were done in the Iguaçu park after clicking few photos we left for our last destination of the day. And it's Argentina, main purpose was actually shopping in a duty free shop, located in Argentina-Brazil border.After few hours of shopping and completing our authentic Chinese dinner in Argentine soil we completed our amazing and adventurous day to get ready for Day 2.
It's was a pleasant 1st November morning and today we completed our breakfast through an hour along with chit chats. Our first destination today is Itaipu dam which is built over Parana river, and is one of the major electricity generator for Brazil and Paraguay. After all ticketing procedures and general overview of the dam we boarded the bus which took us into some part of Paraguay then slowly on through all heavy machinery generating power to the top of the dam.The view was mesmerising and most exciting part is we can see two countries Paraguay and Brazil at the same time separated by river.
Overall it was a very nicely decorated and well maintained area with some picturesque spots. So we quickly wrapped up from there and off-course after some group photo sessions. Our trip photographer was our agency manager, so that nobody in the group misses out, a pathetic photographer though 😛.
Now is the time for visiting one of the popular bird sanctuary, it was a nice sanctuary where hundreds of different origins of birds can be found.
We spent around an hour there. We thought of spending few more hours but it was that time if the day where most of us started losing energy with empty stomach. After intensive googling and going through numerous review comments we finally did manage to lock one restaurant.
Lunch was not that exciting that to be cited about 😟, now we headed towards our final destination "Marco das Três Fronteiras". It's a view point where Iguaçu and Parana river intersects each other and thus creating a natural border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
It's a beautiful place well maintained and along with some regular shops. We spent around 2 hrs there chilling, clicking photos and buying gifts. Among 5 of us Payel spent most of the time in shopping and rest of us on photo sessions.
After tiring 500 Km journey we reached home midnight. That's why may be nobody wants to have the return journey but that's how return journey marks the beginning of another trip.
So with that I completed my first trip in Brazil. Altogether it was a very enjoyable trip with bunch of energetic and enjoyable folks. It can also be called road trip as throughout the journey we rode in our same beloved Mercedes van.
Coming on to the costs accept lunch, dinner and personal shopping everything was included in the package mentioned above.
Thanks for reading..... Coming up some other exciting trips "Samba Safar- Part 2".
Uploading few more photos all clicked with my mobile lense.
