The falls sit near the Paraguayan, argentinian and brazilian border with the latter two countries sharing the falls (80% are on Argentinian land and 20% are on Brazilian turf)
They are massive, to see them properly takes at least a day and a half, and we were told that you have to view them from both sides, on the Argentinian side you get really up close and personal with the falls, there is also a solid 8 or 9 km walk to see all of the separate waterfalls where as in Brasil you can see pretty much the whole falls from one vantage point. On both sides you are going to get wet, if you take a speed boat to get a closer look (i would recommend it) you are going to get completely drenched so take a spare set of clothes or stuff that dries quickly (at least you dear reader are forewarned, we just got soaked and had to live with it).
The falls themselves are really amazing, you get to be incredibly close (on the speed boat this could be characterised as TOO close) and really get and idea of the power, you also get spectacular views of the beauty of the whole of the falls from a distance (as it was my birthday my fiancée treated me to a helicopter ride over them which I would also recommend, but at 225 real or 72 quid it isn't cheap for 10 minutes)
We stayed in Brazil at Foz do Iguaçu, the Argentinian side is called puerto iguassu, this is important when booking busses to escape, if you are heading into Argentina busses from Puerto are cheaper and more plentiful but you have to get across the border yourself, the busses from foz only cost 5 pounds more and do the crossing with you.
Both of these towns feel like frontier towns, lots of electrical shops, pharmacies, clothes shops and all you can eat restaurants. These restaurants are Rodizio restaurants, you pay a set fee and get access to the salad bar and an endless stream of waiters bringing food which has been cooked on giant metal skewers.
These places vary quite a bit in price and quality of the salad bar, we paid 18 real for one, 22.50 for another (called gaucho's) and on my birthday we shelled out 60 real per person (6,7 and 20 pounds per head). The quality of meat was largely the same, although at the expensive Buffalo Branco there were more different cuts and the fillet steak appeared a lot more often.
The selection of things turning up on sticks was pretty impressive, fillet, sirloin and rump were common, occasionally these were wrapped in bacon, top and silverside joints which were roasted also made pretty regular appearances. Pork and chicken breast played a heavy part, as did various cuts of lamb and racks of ribs. One of our favourites, although sadly quite rare was a mozzarella type cheese which was melted on the skewer, the most common thing was chicken hearts stuffed with herbs which I actually really liked (once I got over the initial shock).
As I said the main difference was the salad bar, although the cheaper ones had pretty good stuff it was a fairly uninspired selection consisting mainly of lettuce, tomatoes, chips, potatoes, rice and beans. Whereas at Buffalo Branco we were treated to all sorts of things, from sushi to tabbouleh (pictured below).
Dessert was also included in the price and as well as pineapple covered in cinnamon and grilled there was also a selection of jellies, cakes, ice cream and a myriad of other sweet delights (I should probably add that the dessert at the cheaper Gauchos was probably the best so if you have a small budget and a sweet tooth head there!). After all that food it was lucky that foz is quite a nice place to go running as, with a wedding looming, all you can eat is not exactly what I had expected to be eating!
I had a really good 3 days in iguassu and can definitely see why it is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, next up is Monrevideo in Uruguay (via and 18 hour bus trip to Buenos Aires, a ferry to Colonia then another bus!) as you can imagine I am looking forward to getting there rather than the journey!
Pictured below are some of my shots of the falls and my birthday buffet at Buffalo Branco.
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