Our first experience in Brazil was… interesting. Foz Do Iguacu is the city from where backpackers/tourists/outdoor lovers venture to the incredible Iguazu Falls. The city itself isn’t the most specactular… but to give you an accurate description of it, I’d have to ask you to imagine an ordinary city whose main meal options include a piece of chicken or beef, rice and beans. The beans? We loved, but eventually you start craving vegetables. Now that we are in Ecuador, I’ve been ravaging salads like there’s no tomorrow!
Anyway, the reason for coming here is to stand – drenched – as a witness to thundering waterfalls and epic panoramas. Epic is an overused word, but epic justifies Iguazu Falls. For some reason when we travel, we aren’t overly taken by tourist sites nor find ourselves wanting to visit many, so going into the falls on the local bus, my expectations were mediocre. That sounds crazy looking back on it, but it certainly set me up for the knock-out punch that these mighty, cascading falls delivered.
The day after the falls, when we tired of snacking on chips and chocolate for the lack of food options, we decided to go to another place which is far less talked about. Indeed, we only heard about it because we saw a small sign outside as we passed it by on the bus. Nobody seems to talk about it. For us though, Parque Das Aves was the best zoo experience we have ever had. Anacondas, colourful macaws, toucans and other crazy-looking birds whose names we will never remember, filled what is technically a zoo, but more a loosely contained wildlife park. The zoo has literally been built in between a rainforest, which makes you feel as though you aren’t in a zoo at all!
Check out our photos below. If you visit the falls, you absolutely must put aside a few hours for Parque Das Aves – you will not regret it!
backpacker adventures 