I had booked a 3-night stay in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) with the hopes of seeing both the Argentine and Brazilian sides of the falls. Unfortunately, a few days after booking my flights, I read that the Argentine side of the falls was due to be shut on the 30th and 31st October due to a protest by park workers. This all stems from a court case involving workers from another Argentine park who stand accused of manslaughter as a result of the deaths of a group of children killed by a falling tree. The court case was set to start on 30 October, and the officials at Iguazu National Park (and apparently all other Argentine national parks) announced they will close the parks on the first two days in protest, as well as on 3 November when the trial is due to finish.

I tried to change my flights, but the cost was prohibitive and besides, I figured I could still visit the Argentine side on the first full day of my trip (29th) and just go to the Brazilian side on the 30th.

But the Argentine officials scuppered those plans, using recent heavy rainfalls as an excuse to shut the park on both 28th and 29th, claiming it “not safe”. The Brazilian side (Cataratas Iguacu) remained open, however, so I went there both days.

It’s very easy to go to the Brazilian side from Puerto Iguazu – the main bus terminal has buses serving both parks. Most of us had already bought tickets for the Argentine park on Sunday morning when it was announced it was shut, so we were all offered either to switch to the bus going to Brazil, or a refund for anyone not wishing to do so. The bus stops at the border for everyone to go through immigration, then carries on to the park. The journey itself is probably only about 30 minutes long, but immigration adds another 30 minutes or so to the overall journey time.

The park, unfortunately, was horrendously busy, being a weekend and with the Argentine side shut, so I had to wait just over an hour to be allowed to board the bus that takes visitors from the visitor centre to the start of the trail. There are shops and a cafe, though, so I spent some time looking at the shop, buying a T-shirt, and then passed some time having a coffee and a pastry (I had skipped breakfast and was quite hungry by this time). Eventually I was allowed to join the queue for the bus – despite being ridiculously long, there was a very jovial atmosphere and it was moving constantly as buses kept arriving and filling up. The bus journey itself probably took about 15 minutes, and I was itching to get moving by the time we finally arrived at the start of the trail.

I ended up having an absolutely fabulous day. The heavy rain which had been thundering down most of the night, had stopped – there was a fairly low cloud cover initially but this lifted and the sun even appeared eventually. The Devils Throat walkways which go across part of the falls, were shut due to being partially submerged, but the remaining walkways were open and the views over the falls were spectacular.

As one gets closer to the main waterfall, and the end of the trail, the amount of spray from the falls increases, and most people who wish to stay dry tend to have their waterproof jackets and ponchos on by this stage. But I hadn’t bothered as it was a really warm day and I was more than happy to be cooled down by the spray. There is also, for those who wish to get completely drenched, the opportunity to stand on a platform right in front of the falls, where great waves of water get blown straight onto one – rather like having a giant bucket of water thrown straight at you. Of course I did! The water wasn’t remotely cold and it was just exhilarating feeling the force of it coming off the falls.

The circuit is relatively short and there is a one-way system in place, but there are various points where one can leave the trail and either walk back along the roadside to an earlier point to see parts of the trail again, or just to head to the restaurant or the bus stop back to the visitor centre if you’ve had enough for any reason. Unlike at Macchu Picchu, nobody cares how many times you go round – I went round the entire circuit twice as I’d noticed the skies were clearer by the time I completed the circuit the first time, than they had been when I’d started, and I wanted to see if the earlier views had opened up more – they had. There were even, now, condors circling lazily over the falls, which hadn’t been there earlier – I spent quite some time just hanging around in a single spot, enjoying watching them gliding effortlessly on the thermals.

I finished off my visit with a mojito from the pop up bar serving various cocktails at the end of the trail – the whole day had felt very much like a holiday and the Brazilians do a very good job of keeping the festive atmosphere alive.

On Monday, with the Argentine falls shut again, I headed back to the Brazil side. Entrance was much quicker this time as there were far fewer people, being a weekday. But as the bus approached the start of the trail, it started raining heavily, and didn’t let up for the next few hours. I walked quickly along the trail this time, noticing how the water levels were even higher than they had been the day before – but with the rain and accompanying strong winds it was a lot cooler than it had been the previous day, and not at all pleasant for hanging around. The lower platform, where I had enjoyed getting so wet the previous day, was completely shut off – though people were getting just as wet from the heavy rain falling on the upper platform!

I joined the queue to get a bus back to the visitor centre – sadly the first bus available was already full downstairs, and the only available seating was upstairs, where the sides are open, safari-style, to the elements (very pleasant on a warm, dry day; not at all pleasant in lashing rain!). It was a very long 15 minutes back to the visitor centre!

Thankfully I didn’t have too long to wait for a bus back to Puerto Iguazu, where I showered, changed into dry clothes and hung out in the room listening to the rain still hammering down outside.

I had, earlier, spotted a hummingbird garden across the road from my accommodation – it had been closed at the time but a quick Google search had revealed it would be open from 3-6pm. Thankfully I was able to take advantage of a brief respite from the rain, to pay a visit, which was absolutely magical. I have never seen so many hummingbirds in one place – they were quite unperturbed by me or any of the other tourists who were watching them, and would buzz right past us on their way to and from the various colourful water containers hanging from the trees. Lots of other colourful little birds besides the hummingbirds – we were all transfixed watching them dart back and forth around this beautiful setting.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days – a great shame I didn’t get to see the Argentine side of the falls but the Brazilian side, and the hummingbirds, more than made up for it!