DAY 3
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2025
OFF TO IGUAZU FOR A JUNGLE ADVENTURE
Today was a VERY early wakeup, as we were headed back to the airport to fly to one of the great natural wonders of the world: Iguazu Falls. It’s on the border of Argentina and Brazil (and Paraguay to some degree) and we were fortunate that we’d be able to explore it from both country’s sides on this trip.
Most people would call the “big three” waterfalls of world Iguazu, Niagara Falls, and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe/Zambia (maybe four with Angel Falls in Venezuela though that’s really hard to get to so not really a tourist destination)… and while I haven’t been to Victoria Falls yet, I have to say that Iguazu Falls blows anything I’ve seen out of the water. Not just waterfall-wise – this is arguably the coolest thing I’ve seen in my life.
But we’d need to wait until tomorrow to see the falls themselves – today was about settling into our new tropical hotel and then taking on the “Jungle Fly” activity, a course of ziplines, rope bridges, and waterfall rappelling in the surrounding area.
Am I functional before 7am? Not really. Though a coffee for “Mary” helped haha. I almost always order Starbucks through their app now – I miss the days of creative names! Security was pretty empty this early so we walked right through.
Took this through the plane window – my seatmate Carin and I were pretty sure this is the mist of the Falls from the air! Either that or something was definitely on fire.
After the ~2 hour flight, we landed and were met by our local guide Florencia who’d be with us during our whole time in Iguazu. After collecting our baggage, we hopped into a bus and headed to the hotel.
Love getting off the plane and seeing an ad for the activity we’d be doing in a few hours haha
We arrived at the Mercure Iguazu Hotel Iru, a really nice hotel basically in the middle of the jungle. Definitely a far different vibe than Buenos Aires – you could already hear the tropical birds chirping away!
We handled the passport stuff with Sol and Flor, and then hung out a bit in the lobby, had some lunch, and walked around to check out the beautiful pool area outside while waiting for our rooms to be ready (as it was still early before check-in time).
The rooms themselves were really lovely, and had a private balcony where you could just sit and enjoy the peacefulness of the nature outside. And I loved the abstract toucan art set into the wall!
We had a good amount of free time before gathering in the late afternoon for the Jungle Fly activity, so I wandered the grounds a bit, checking out the scenery and hoping to maybe see a toucan haha. (I ran into Jenn on our trip and she showed me the absolutely perfect picture she had just taken of one in a tree by the pool!)
Cornell’s Merlin Bird ID app is so helpful on trips like these. I don’t really know anything about birds, but if you haven’t played with that app, it’s fun to take the little quiz about what you’ve seen and where, and then triumphantly pick “this is my bird!” None of these are exactly rare birds haha, but still. Very satisfying to find the right bird.
Also had my first couple of encounters with a ‘black and white tegu’ (aka tiger lizard according to Flor), which are all over the place here! They’re BIG – like 2-4 feet nose to tail! – so the first one I saw nearly gave me a heart attack when it was taking a nap on a stair, totally blending in, and then scurried right off as I started walking down.
While walking around, I also spotted a mom dove and her two babies in a nest hidden among this natural branch basket thing set out in the foliage not far from my room. I have no idea HOW I spotted it since they were so camouflaged, but started to check them out every time I walked by for the next few days and got pretty invested! Those little birds… were going through a phase, let’s say? I’m sure they’ll be cuter as they get older. But baby birds really are so awkward. 😅
Aside from exploring the nature, I also ran into Nina and Krista who had found the hotel’s little spa, and were in the process of booking a treatment for that afternoon. Excellent priorities haha! It turns out that both of them were planning to skip the Jungle Fly activity and enjoy a longer spa afternoon, so I grabbed the earliest available time to squeeze in an “Express Massage” before the adventure. And man, what I thought was going to be a quick light back massage turned out to be a DEEP tissue and hot stone massage – I was definitely bruised for the next few days! But I guess my knots needed it haha. (I have never gotten a massage where the therapist hasn’t asked me how many kids I have lol. It’s not kids, it’s working in advertising 🤗)
After our hotel break afternoon, we gathered to get on the bus to head over to our jungle adventure.
When we arrived at their home base, we immediately got to work putting on our harnesses and helmets before getting a debriefing from the activity leader on what to expect, along with some basic safety tips for the activities.
And then we were off! The adventure started with a quick walk through the jungle before arriving at the first zipline platform. We took turns flying over the jungle and it was so much fun!
Celeste’s zipline trip, my GoPro POV (a little higher than expected, sorry about that), and Sol capturing me coming in for a landing haha. That extra buzzing is my helmet hitting the wire!
We continued along the path, stopping for some pretty views.
Next was a series of rope & plank bridges, with another zipline in the middle.
While on the bridges, we had a full view of the thing I was most excited about: the little waterfall that we’d be rappelling down, which turns out has a name: Salto Escondido. (Which means '“hidden waterfall.”)
Those of us who wanted to do it climbed up a narrow pathway to the top of the waterfall where we were met by a Jungle Fly guy on a little landing, ready to hook us up to the ropes. I was definitely excited and happily volunteered to go first – I do love in my POV video the rest of our group peering anxiously over the railing to see what it was like haha.
And it was so much fun! I wasn’t expecting the rocks to be so slippery (which… come on, Mardie – they’re wet rocks 😅) so it took a few seconds to get my bearings around how much I could rely on my feet staying put, but got the hang of it and made my way down.
Here’s a video that Sol took of me doing the rappelling…
…and a POV from the GoPro clipped to my hip.
Fully soaked but satisfied, we made our way back through the trails to the end point of the experience, where we were met by a few indigenous locals selling crafts. I chose a little wooden toucan in the hopes that it would manifest seeing one over the next few days (it worked!), and then we made our way to the little “Glamping Selva Iguazú” hotel, which I’m pretty sure is owned by (or in partnership with) the Jungle Fly company.
We had some time to change out of our wet clothes and enjoy a glass of wine with an absolutely beautiful view, toasting to a really fun afternoon adventure!
After watching a gorgeous sunset, we settled inside for a nice group dinner, enjoying a variety of local foods while reliving our exciting afternoon adventure.
After a hearty dinner (and me walking outside to hear a few of the Brits in our group saying, “how do we figure out these tips – we need an American” 😂), we got back on the Jungle Fly safari vehicle and headed back to our waiting bus to head back to the hotel.
A very exciting day! But I was ready to get a good night’s sleep to prep for the full day ahead and the main event: Iguazu Falls itself.
