Tall Tales of Adventure at Iguassu Falls in Brazil
by Bill Hinchberger
André Silva True Tall Tale: Rappelling at Iguaçu Falls
Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná - If you have any Brazilian friends, you may have heard this one before. They love to tell it whenever there are Americans around. Here goes. When First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt got her first glimpse of Iguassu Falls, she is said to have exclaimed: "Poor Niagara! This makes it look like a kitchen faucet."
That story seems about as easy to verify as the Guaraní Indian legend that attributes the origins of the falls to the vengeful whiplash of a jealous giant serpent-deity deprived of his human princess. Nor could I confirm whether the snake-god really used his newly acquired horns to carve out some of the more impressive individual cascades of the Iguassu complex.
But there is one Iguassu-related tall tale that I swear is true. I did indeed lean back off the platform of a 55-meter high tower just across from the falls. I dropped into mid-air and enjoyed an unobstructed bird’s eye view of the furiously falling water as I deliberately rappelled my way down to the riverbank below. Once back on terra firma, I jumped into a raft for a white-water trip through the canyon down the Iguassu River. Before that I had fumbled my way through a tree-top rainforest obstacle course.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In Guaraní, the language of the original inhabitants of these parts, “iguassu” means “big water.” The Indians couldn’t have been more on the mark. During their hot stove league debates, waterfall freaks talk about something called absolute magnitude. On that measurement, based on logarithms that I’d rather not discuss, Iguassu beats Niagara 203-169. That’s probably not how Eleanor would have put it, but at least it provides an objective measure.
The debate over Mrs. Roosevelt’s alleged visit will no doubt rage on like the waters, but in more recent times celebrity spottings at the falls have become more frequent than those of the region’s once abundant giant otter.
A precursor of the age of celebrity, the father of aviation Alberto Santos Dumont (apologies to Wilbur and Orville) paid a visit in 1916. His lobbying efforts helped force the Brazilian government to create the Iguassu National Park in 1939 (albeit seven years after his death). Thanks in part to Santos Dumont’s efforts, the way has been paved for visitors like Tony Blair, Gisele Bündchen, Catherine Deneuve, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Kennedy, Roger Moore, David Rockefeller, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Steven Spielberg, Lady Di, the Count of Wandeleg, Bill Clinton and Bill Hinchberger
I can’t vouch for the motivations of those other folks, but I balked several times before taking a chance on Iguassu. When it comes to travel, I’m a bit of a Frostian, a road “less traveled by” kind of guy. Like Tim Leffel, author of the book Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune, I’m one of those “contrarian travelers” who aim “to get a better experience for their money, every time they travel.” As Tim suggests, you win when you “yin while everyone else yangs.” So for me, big numbers are bad signs. And Iguassu has them. About one in 10 foreign visitors to Brazil includes Foz do Iguaçu in his or her itinerary. Only megacities São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro attract more gringos. Counting Brazilians, annual attendance figures can sometimes top one million – pretty impressive for a town with 300,000 permanent residents.
But like the Grand Canyon, which I finally visited as a detour from a journey along US Route 66, Iguassu Falls is worth the yang-yang battle against the inevitable crowds – even worth facing what my colleague Wayne Bernhardson, author of the Argentina Moon Handbook , laments as “rampant Disneyfication” on his side of the fence. A true reward awaits you. Whether Eleanor really said it or not, she was right: “Poor Niagara!” Robert Frost himself would have joyfully taken the road most traveled by to witness this rumbling force of nature.
Veteran local guides suggest three “can’t miss” angles for viewing the falls. Each must be approached from a different starting point. A spectacular panoramic view can be seen from the Brazilian side. A close-up of the literally breathtaking section called the Devil’s Throat can be had only via the pedestrian ramp on the Argentinean side. Finally, from below, accessible from either side of the border, outboard-powered rafts ease you right up to the powerful showers as they smack the surface.
Unless you were willing to shell out for the pricy helicopter tour (R$140 per person for 10 minutes), that used to be pretty much it. (I’ve never taken the helicopter, but I recommend it nevertheless. A few years ago, with a group of fellow foreign correspondents in what appeared to be a World War II vintage air force propeller plane, I was treated to a dramatic view while we circled overhead several times. It seemed all the more dramatic because I half expected us to crash!)
Even with the copter ride and a visit to nearby mega-dam Itaipú, now global number two with the completion of China's Three Gorges, you can do everything in a couple of days. The city of Foz do Iguaçu itself has little to offer. Across the way on the Argentinean side, Puerto Iguazú harbors a handful of top-notch parrillas, or barbeques, so meat eaters can get a few good meals under their expanding belts. But the casinos over there are pretty sorry for anyone who has even heard of Las Vegas.
So there you were. All paid up with nowhere else to go. Until now. Cânion Iguaçu has changed all of that.
Founded by Massimo Desiati, a former Brazilian kayaking champion, Cânion Iguaçu holds the first and still only concession for adventure tourism inside a Brazilian national park. Besides the three activities that I tried out, his company also runs rock climbing excursions in full view of the falls.
Desiati is the technical director of the Brazilian Adventure Tourism Association, a trade group that is working with the federal government to improve safety standards and implement a certification scheme for operators. Responsible companies and tourism officials have both recognized that Brazil’s poor international image for safety is scaring away their best customers. And they’re trying to do something about it.
Wearing his association helmet, Desiati has launched a pilot program to test the certification standards, which consist mostly of procedures for equipment checks and maintenance and intensive employee training. And he’s using Cânion Iguaçu as the guinea pig. “It is good even for us, a company that was already using international standards,” he said.
So however hopeless I may have appeared as I hung there in mid-air, rappelling down into the canyon, I had nothing to fear but fear itself. And, no, as far as I know, Eleanor did not scamper back from the grave to exclaim, “Poor Bill!”
The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism provided support for the author to visit Foz do Iguaçu.
, I’m one of those “contrarian travelers” who aim “to get a better experience for their money, every time they travel.” As Tim suggests, you win when you “yin while everyone else yangs.” So for me, big numbers are bad signs. And Iguassu has them. About one in 10 foreign visitors to Brazil includes Foz do Iguaçu in his or her itinerary. Only megacities São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro attract more gringos. Counting Brazilians, annual attendance figures can sometimes top one million – pretty impressive for a town with 300,000 permanent residents. 
, laments as “rampant Disneyfication” on his side of the fence. A true reward awaits you. Whether Eleanor really said it or not, she was right: “Poor Niagara!” Robert Frost himself would have joyfully taken the road most traveled by to witness this rumbling force of nature. 
