The reason people go to Foz do Iguacu is to see the Iguassu Falls. There are other things to see like the zoo which is free entry and the Foz do Iguacu version of Madame Tussauds although I’ve heard it isn’t worth it for the entry fee.

I arrived midday Sunday, collect my luggage and go through arrivals and see a sign with my name. It’s the first time I’ve had that. I felt like a big time celebrity. I booked a round trip transfer from the airport to the hotel as Uber doesn’t operate in Foz do Iguacu due to heavy resistant from taxi drivers.

I arrived at the Che Lagarto hostel and waited till I could check in. I was in no rush to do anything. I had the tour of the Brazil side of the Iguassu Falls booked on the Monday and the tour of the Argentina side booked for the Tuesday before departing on Wednesday so there was no need to rush. Apart from the tour I didn’t plan anything else. I was going to play everything by ear.

There’s a chain of Che Lagarto hostels around Brazil and I think South America as well. The one in Foz do Iguacu is one of the newest ones which was lucky for me. I heard from other people staying here that most of the other ones have poor facilities and in general aren’t that great. I believe the majority of the Che Lagarto Hostels are undergoing renovation to bring them up to standard.

After dumping my stuff in the room, I went out to an all you can eat Churrascaria restaurant. These are very common in Brazil and if you’ve not eaten in a while, they’re the perfect place.

Bruna, the receptionist at the Che Lagarto showed me two Churrascaria restaurants on the map. One which was R$75 and the other one was R$32, she said the food at the cheaper one was better. I mean, how many restaurants can you think of where the food is cheaper and better than another that does the same thing? It was a no brainer. R$32 is less than £10 and the food was really good. You’d be looking at paying double at a minimum in England for how good it was.

I found out when I got back to the hostel that from 7-7:30 it was happy half hour with free caipirinhas. That was my evenings sorted for the duration of my stay. I didn’t give a shit about going out, and it was nice not needing to find something to kill time with.

As I ventured to the rooftop for happy half hour, I notice a jacuzzi in the corner. Caipirinhas in a Jacuzzi sounded like a good way to spend an evening. I managed to get 3 in before time was up and took my time with it. Apart from the free alcohol, the good thing about this was interacting with the other guests, who were all here to see the waterfalls or had already seen them. There were a few who were staying in Foz do Iguacu as a stop gap to Argentina as the border was around a 20 minute drive.

I rushed to get ready for the group tour. I was greeted upon arrival in reception by my tour guide Lily. It turned out I was the only person in the group. What a great start to the day. We could go at our own pace, spend as much time at the waterfalls and do whatever we wanted at our own convenience.

Lily told me that entry wasn’t included which I didn’t realise at the time. It was probably in the fine print which let’s face it, most of us don’t take too much notice of (another lesson learnt). There was no big issue as I took enough money with me to get in. So if you’re planning to book a tour make sure you bring extra money for entry on the day you go.

If you haven’t visited the Iguassu Falls before and you go there the first time, I can guarantee you the first word you’ll say is “WOW”. I guess you wouldn’t if you’ve been to other waterfalls but this was the first one I’ve visited.

The trail is around 1km, and throughout the walk you get a panoramic view of the waterfalls and you finish the walk with a view of the famous Devil’s Throat.

You’ll come across a lot of racoons. The funniest moment of the day was seeing a racoon go up someone’s leg, rip open their food bag and steal their food. I noticed the racoon looking at the food bag and saw it coming a mile off. Unfortunately I couldn’t get my camera ready to record the whole thing in time.

Having a personal tour guide in Lily was pretty useful. It was less pressure for her having to repeat stuff in different languages for groups of people. She was also the best person to take the photos as I imagine she’s taken many photos for others who’ve visited the Iguassu Falls with her.

On the way back we stopped off at a currency exchange place as you need to pay your entry for the Argentina side of the waterfalls with peso. It cost more to get into the Argentina side as you need to pay at immigration to enter and pay a fee when you leave the border on the way out.

On an average day a group tour might finish around 5pm. I was back at the hostel by 2pm. After eating some food, I relaxed in my room until it was time for caipirinha happy half hour.

Now if I’m being honest, I went a (not so) little bit overboard with the caipirinhas. It wasn’t packed when I turned up so I grabbed as many as possible. The Manager was trying to limit me to one at a time and offer them out to other people. I offered it to the people on the nearest table, a Scottish guy called Grant, an American guy called Robert and Johanna, a French lady staying in Curitiba for a couple of months. Grant was the only one to take the a drink. When I offered him more he declined. I was stuck with 8 caipirinhas so I took my time with them. I wasn’t going to offer them out again.

The manager didn’t seem happy, and to be quite frank I didn’t give a shit. I usually tried to go to the other guy serving the drinks, Roberto. Everyone at the hostel loved him. He was good with the guests, funny and interacted with everyone on our level. The manager was good at his job, professional, and polite. However he’d be the type of guy you’d want to punch if he was in a normal environment.

It was another chance to go in the jacuzzi, the challenge was not to spill or lose any caipirinhas. I met an Argentinean couple, Alina and Jordi who were going to travel to Europe after and were in fact stopping off in Brighton. I’d not met anyone on this trip who’d heard of Brighton let alone going there.

Grant invited me out for food but having consumed a lot of caipirinhas I declined and stayed in the jacuzzi for another 10 minutes before I stumbled back to my room and fell asleep. Grant was heading to Curitiba the next which happened to be my last stop so we arranged to meet for a drink.

Somehow I woke up at 5:30am. I needed to be ready for 7:15am as Lily suggested getting to the Argentina side of the waterfalls, Puerto Iguazu when it opened so we could enjoy it at a time when it was less packed.

I forgot to set an alarm so you could say I had a stroke of luck. It was the only time I’d have a full night’s sleep and it took a lot of alcohol to achieve it. I didn’t mind about a lock of sleep as it’d been a good trip thus far.

I met Lily at reception and we were on our way. For the Argentina side of the falls, you need your passport to get through the border and immigration. We arrived early enough that the process took 5 minutes. If you’re in a normal tour group the process can take up to an hour as all passports need to be checked, immigration forms etc.

We had time to stop at the actual border itself and take some photos. Apart from the Lebanon/Syria border years and years ago which I can’t really recall, I’d not been to border before. It wasn’t just the Brazil/Argentina border, it was a triple border as you could see Paraguay from a distance, it was another first for me seeing a triple border.

When you arrive at Puerto Iguazu you take a train to the first trail which leads directly above the Devil’s Throat. There are three trails though one of them was closed off after sightings of a jaguar. The Brazil and Argentina side are protected areas and the animals come first as it’s their habitat. Even if a snake is seen on the road the cars will stop until it crosses the road.

The first trail is around 1km in which you’ll pass over the river. When you get to end, again you’ll think “WOW!” You’re standing directly above the Devil’s Throat looking down into the waterfalls. It was something else! Getting there early allowed me to take my time and savour the moment. Within 30 minutes it was packed, you could barely move. Waking up early and going out with a hangover was worth it.

The second trail was shorter. Everyone else either took their time or were being held up on the Devil’s Throat which meant less pressure on me and Lily. The second trail was nothing special. You could see the Brazil side of the waterfalls and a small Island in the middle called San Martin. Usually people can go there if it’s safe, and the conditions are ideal. According to Lily they weren’t, I can’t remember why. I wasn’t too fussed I got everything out of the tour I wanted.

Lily offered me a chance to go on a speed boat tour the previous day. I decided on the morning to go for it. She even paid for me and despite offering to pay her the money there and then, she said I could pay her back on the way…providing I survived and returned. So good news, I could get it for free if I didn’t return (I imagine some of you reading this might have settled for that scenario for me!). It was nice of her to trust someone she’d met 24 hours ago, I definitely wouldn’t have trusted someone enough to do that for them.

It cost R$210 (just under £55 according to Google currency converter as of this writing) to do this and you get to drive through the jungle on the way. You go directly to some of the waterfalls. It was definitely worth the money. The whole excursion lasts around 2-3 hours. The time flew by.

I waited in the restaurant while Lily got the car. Once we met up we were on our way, but not before stopping off for an ice cream at the well known cremolatti. Throughout the day Lily was hyping this place up. I don’t eat deserts often but I’m partial to a good ice cream. My go flavour, chocolate and mint chocolate chip with some chocolate sauce was the perfect way to end the tour. Cremolatti gets the thumbs up.

Throughout the journey back Lily would go over a lot about everything, Brazil, the waterfalls, anything you could think of. She was a good tour guide. You can tell she loves what she does. She’s been a tour guide for almost 20 years and still has the enthusiasm for it. I think what helped make the experience good was being the only one on the “group” tour. We could just go with the flow, have no schedule to stick to and do whatever. I was back at the hostel by 3pm.

The definition of perfect doesn’t even cover how the two day tour went. The weather was perfect, the timing of everything was perfect. Even recovering from the hangover for Puerto Iguazu was perfect.

I took it easy with the caipirinhas in the evening as I had an early flight to Curitiba. I didn’t do too much in the evening. I’d already sorted my suitcases out, all I needed to do was let the time pass. It was the complete opposite to the last few hours in Belo Horizonte.

Foz do Iguacu is a must. Even when you’re not doing the tour there are things to do and places to eat and drink. You’d want to stay a minimum two full days to be able to tour both sides of the waterfalls. It would better to arrive a day before you start the tour and leave the day after if all you intend to do is go to the Iguassu Falls. I’d suggest doing the Brazil side first and the Argentina side second, because it’s a shorter walk on the Brazil side, and you get the panoramic view. The Argentina side is one where you’ll want to take your time, and potentially do the speed boat tour.