Waterfalls – amusemusings

Don’t take my word for it. Iguazu Falls of the Iguazu River on the border between Argentina & Brazil has been voted as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The only waterfalls to make it & since they’re the biggest falls in the world, it’s not surprising. There’s over 275 falls over nearly 3km & the drop is as high as 90m in some places. They are unbelievably breathtaking. Thankfully, my new Brazilian visa allowed me to view the falls from both the Brazil & Argentina sides. I was told from Brazil, you get a lovely panoramic view, while from Argentina, you get up close to the falls. After I spent day 1 in Brazil & day 2 in Argentina, I can confirm that’s pretty accurate. The craziest, coolest, most impressive spot is called the “Devil’s Throat” & once I saw it, I imagined it was appropriately named. This is everyone’s highlight & from the Argentina side, you’re literally right above it whereas you get a lovely view a bit further away from Brazil.
So what side do I prefer? After much back & forth, I’ve decided I prefer the views on the Brazilian side & you’ll see from my photos that it was an ideal day & ideal conditions. However, I prefer the manner in which you view the falls on the Argentinian side. Brazil’s national park probably wisely ushers everyone into park buses. You’re on your own after you hop off at your stop but it seems a bit more like a proper tour & you all know I’m not a huge fan of those when it can be avoided. Argentina has a similar herd mentality to view the Devil’s Throat, swapping out the buses for a little train. But after you knock that out, there are a bunch of trails you can hike to view different falls from various vantage points. So I quite enjoyed heading off on my own to find those falls less frequented by the hordes.
Bottom line… if you go to Argentina or Brazil, you must visit. It’s a bit off in the middle of nowhere. I opted for a round-trip flight to/from BA (my first of the trip!) as it’s a 28-30hr one-way bus ride (no thanks). But every local I talked to in Argentina leading up to the trip said it was a can’t miss (along with Patagonia, Bariloche, Mendoza & BA). And they’re right. It’s a highlight of the trip.

View from Brazil side on day 1 (view of the Argentina side)

There’s a path along the river on the way towards the Devil’s Throat (pictured). Rainbows, seriously? It couldn’t have been a more perfect day.

Brazil has a lookout catwalk, that gets you right over the falls w a spectacular view into the Devil’s Throat, & a tower that offers awesome panoramic views

There are a few shots here that make my list of trip faves

Yes, I was actually here but I certainly didn’t direct this shot. Where’s the sky?

Before day 2 in Argentina, I thought this mama & her baby wanted to join. I used points to stay in the only hotel on the Argentina side that is located WITHIN the park & has a lovely view of the falls. It’s ridiculously expensive but for free, it was pretty fantastic to just throw on a daypack & walk out the back door to hook up with the hiking trails.

Argentina on day 2 – the walk towards the Devil’s Throat

Devil’s throat from Argentina – you are in it https://youtu.be/yYUkmt7m7c4

Devil’s throat from Brazil – rainbow heaven https://youtu.be/eQ_KBXAvDbQ

Brazil pano from tower https://youtu.be/0bWHXccmD10

Brazil pano from path https://youtu.be/_ATe71yga6Y

We negotiated w a cute Laos boat captain, Mr Sing, for a day trip to Kuang Si waterfalls and Pak Ou caves via a Mekong river cruise. We arrived at the river bank and boarded our apparently private large long boat (we had just assumed he’d try to fill the rest of the boat… but we’ve found Laos people to be more honest and less apt to scam you than Thai folks). Despite the weather being a bit on the cool side (70), with some intermittent light rain sprinkles early in the morning, we were real excited for the trip. The boat was a convertible as the roof slid open (we enjoyed after the rain ceased), it was equipped w old airline seats that recline (which made for a very comfortable ride), and featured a good sound system (Mr Sing apparently likes to rock out as he played loud local music).
The arrival at the falls stop was a bit understated as Mr Sing just cruised up onto a sand bank in the middle of nowhere and “docked”. He then led us past the bank up along a rutted dirt “road” that popped out in a tiny local Lao village. Our captain had previously promised our price included bus transport to the falls. Upon arrival in the little village, Mr Sing began going door to door to find someone to drive us. The answer was a young local guy who had a pickup truck so Amy and I piled in the front seat, Dazed & Confused style. He spoke no English but happily drove us for 80k Kip and the 20 minute drive was gorgeous… passed rice paddies, locals going about their daily business (yes, some carrying 2 baskets w a shoulder pole & wearing the conical hats), kids walking to school, etc. Just a lovely super special snapshot into Lao life. Our driver dropped us and showed me his phone. The time said 9:22pm. Uh oh. “Two hours” I said. He laughed. “You wait here?” He nodded yes so Amy and I were off to the falls.
The waterfall was easily the prettiest I’d ever seen. Each tier, even more spectacular. Amy and I tried to guess how many tiers. I said 25+ if you’re counting each little drop. She thought 15+ major drops. One just drop dead spectacular one that left me speechless (I know, a real rarity) and this was after I already found the falls just captivating. To the right of the big fall, there was a basic wooden sign with an arrow pointing “To top”. We had already passed a proper set of stairs to the left of the fall. We opted for the right, luckily so as it was a pretty tough steep amble up to the top, and took the more gradual way down on the other side. Just a beautiful place.
Back to the bottom and nearing noon, we grabbed take away lunch from local street food vendors, found our “bus driver” hanging w the locals and made it back to the river bank to find Mr Sing sleeping on his boat but still rocking out.
It was a 2.5 hour boat ride to the Pak Ou caves (upstream) and was simply a drop dead gorgeous journey. Amy and I both agreed that Laos was one of the most spectacular places we’ve ever been. I will definitely be back to Luang Prabang and I will certainly explore the rest of the country.
Upon arrival, we hiked up into a large cave that serves as the graveyard for Buddha statues no longer deemed suitable for placement in a temple or those given as offerings by worshippers. So it’s a couple caves full of abandoned Buddha statues. Big and small. I thought it looked like an army of Buddhas was assembling. Clearly these emblems are sacred enough to warrant special placement in a gorgeous cave on an gorgeous island in the middle of the Mekong river, but it was a little creepy, I’m not going to lie.
1 hour glorious boat cruise back to LP. I say glorious bc the sun finally made its appearance, which made for a whole set of new pictures.