Welcome to our second blog post about the Iguazú Falls. Welcome again to Brazil. As chance would have it sometimes, we meet a couple of travel friends at the border on entering the country. The last time we saw each other was in Ecuador. What a nice surprise! As filling out the documents somehow takes longer than expected, we can give ourselves a first update on our time in South America and our next plans. And with that we end up seeing the Iguazú Falls on the Brazilian side at a special hour with a total of four travel friends.

Sunrise over the Garganta do Diabo – Devil’s Throat

After all, the name is the same on both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. As already mentioned, the Devil’s Throat is also the main attraction on the Brazilian side. Because of the idea of our friends, we book special tickets which give us access to the sunrise including a breakfast buffet. A unique experience – fantastic! We make our first walk along the banks of the Iguazú River in almost complete darkness at just before 6 in the morning. You can’t see very much yet – only the sound of the water and thunder of the Iguazú Falls gives the scenery a special atmosphere. Gradually, the sun’s rays make their way down to the river and bathe the waterfalls in a soft, golden light. As we are closer to the equator than before, the whole color change of the sunrise takes place in about an hour. This is enough time for us to take lots of beautiful photos. What’s more, after this time close to the Devil’s Throat, we are again quite well showered by the strong spray that is constantly splashing up from the river around the clock.

Conclusion on the two sides of the Iguazú Falls

The paths on the Brazilian side are significantly shorter but offer an even better view of the many waterfalls of the Iguazú. In the narrow valley of the river with waterfalls on both sides and the mist and spray, all that is missing is a flying dinosaur to bring a bygone era back to life. Still impressive, and from here we can see just how long the cliff edge is over which all the river water from the Iguazú plunges. We are torn between the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side of the Iguazú Falls. If we had to choose one side, we would probably choose the Brazilian side by a wafer-thin margin. But both sides have their charm. In Argentina, as visitors, we are closer to the waterfalls, to the water, but we don’t really see the full extent of the Iguazú Falls. In Brazil, we usually look across the river to the other bank where the majority of the waterfalls are, so the waterfalls are correspondingly further away. But the panorama is imprinted in our memory. That has something very special about it. Our conclusion about the Iguazú Falls is therefore only clear on one point: the enormous size and the very original and natural appearance are worthwhile. They are not comparable with other large waterfalls, as the brown-grey rock formations with the typical green vegetation create a unique waterfall picture.

And now for the crowning glory: Anyone who gets up this early is entitled to a really good breakfast. The breakfast buffet is now open and we can look out over the Iguazú with croissants and fruit juice and internalize the impressions once again. Wonderful! And we were only able to have this unique experience because we met old travel friends by chance at the border – thank you for that!