Paraguay to Iguazu Falls

I had been told repeatedly that Paraguay was an impoverished and backward country of little interest to most tourists.  Perhaps this is true for the most part, but I can only report that Asuncion is GREAT city.

Asuncion itself is a very clean and friendly city.  In contrast to what I expected everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about Paraguay.

My time was limited to only a couple of days and unable much of surrounding countryside which would likely have greatly changed my opinion.

It’s true that the road from the border to the first paved road was treacherous; so treacherous, we were never able to over 10 km/h during the entire (say) 7 mile route, and along the way we repeatedly had to stop to allow free roaming cattle to cross the road.

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The bus trip from Asuncion, Paraguay to Encarmacion, Paraguay a southern city on Argentina border just across the Rio Parana was, sadly, a midnight departure.  I had wanted to travel by daylight a capture some of the Paraguayan countryside, but the daytime bus did not depart until 1 PM and such a late departure would have cost me a full day of travel time.

When I initially began thinking about making a trip to South America my major impetus for the trip was to see Iguazu Falls.  But the closer I got to Iguazu the more I began to fear that the romanticized vision that I had painted in my mind would be more than even the “GREAT IGUAZU FALLS” could fulfill.

Since I was approaching the end of my travels and the intended final “hurrah” at Iguazu Falls, I wanted to not pass up any opportunity to see the falls at their very best.  In that effort, I chose to go on the Great Adventure tour; mostly in the interest of getting the best out of my time at Iguazu Falls, but also due the fact that the cost of the full tour was a very reasonable $90.

As it turned out my fears were all for naught; Iguazu fulfilled its billing – the “Falls” were fantastic!  (Don’t miss the videos of Iguazu Falls).

The first part of the tour was boat trip up the Iguazu River to “Garganta del Diablo” (The Throat of the Devil).  In preparation for the boat ride, we donned life jackets and were given a waterproof bag and told to remove any extra clothing that we didn’t want to get wet; because, as we were told, “you will get wet!”

They didn’t lie!  Before going into the “Throat of the Devil” we approached very close to the smaller (but still substantial) falls and received a thorough “dousing.”  It was great fun!

From the smaller falls we proceeded in the direction of the “Throat of the Devil”, but it was obvious that we (thankfully) would not go anywhere nearly that close to the tons of water that poured over “Throat of the Devil”.

The videographer on the boat was fully prepared and held a camera fully protected from the elements in order to capture, as best he could, the full effect of the majesty of the falls (how, I envied him).

It is obvious that the falls have been major Argentine tourist attraction for number of years.  They have done a tremendous job of providing great access for visitors to the falls and allow one to be able get very close to the falls without having destroyed the integrity of the falls in the process.  There are thousands of feet of metal walkways that even cross hundreds of feet of water in an effort to bring one as close as possible to the “Throat of the Devil” as well as other areas of the park.