Chris: As I said on here several days ago, this trip was built around the falls. I saw a reference to them several years ago, where I do not know, and looked it up, WOW, we have got to see this I thought. I told Rhonda about it and we both agreed, that's a must see. We planned to do it in the fall of 2020. Uhhhhh, that didn't happen.
As I said earlier, we went to Niagara Falls a few years ago and were hooked on the big waterfall. Niagara was amazing and we highly recommend it, but don't go in the summer unless you have to for school kids. We went in September and never stood in a line. People told us that a month earlier it was a two hour wait to do anything.
By the way I think our beloved Texas Rangers will be much improved this year. We finally have an above average pitching staff, actually a way above average staff if everyone stays healthy, but of course they won't. That's because baseball do what baseball do.
I do think the Rangers will be better but what I'm really doing is trying to appear to Rhonda that I'm writing about the falls, she's been on me since we were there and I've put it off and put it off because I'm absolutely certain I don't have the words. There are only so many times you can say amazing, spectacular, unreal.
The falls are located on the Iguazú River which forms the border between Argentina and Brazil. We stayed on the Argentina side. We checked into our hotel, had breakfast then asked the front desk to get us a cab to the Brazilian side. We had learned that it takes less time to see the Brazil side so since we had already gotten up early, flown from Buenos Aires and checked in to the hotel, all before breakfast, we would do the less taxing side first.
The cab ride was fun, we did our first of ninety seven I think it was boarder crossings, we were so excited, we were finally going to see the falls, Iguazu Falls !! We were glued to the windows of the cab hoping to be the one to get that first glimpse of the falls. We could not have been more wrong. You see Niagara Falls from your cab on the way to the hotel but Iguazú Falls is in a jungle in the middle of nowhere. It's a drive then a hike from either side. The cab took us to a national park entrance, we learned that both sides of the falls are national parks, the driver pointed and said buy your tickets there and offered to wait for us for three hours and take us back to Argentina. Ok, I guess the falls are just on the other side of that entrance, we couldn't have been more wrong.
We bought tickets, went inside, figured out we need to follow this trail and started walking, and walking........and walking. Which was ok, it was actually really pretty in the jungle but didn't we see something about a water fall around here ?
Finally, we get to a clearing with an observation deck, we ran to the railing and, we were, as Rhonda said, underwhelmed. There were eight or ten maybe waterfalls, big waterfalls absolutely but nothing as spectacular as our first glimpse of Niagara. The water in a lot of places was a yellowish brownish color. We were a bit disappointed but we said let's keep going down the trail and see what is up ahead. I just hope that there wasn't someone around us who knew Iguzu Falls and over heard our conversation, if there was I'm sure they were thinking, you stupid ass Americans, you're looking at maybe ten percent of one of the top three most spectacular waterfall systems in the world.
The majority of the falls are on the Argentinian side so when you view them from the Brazilian side you get a straight on across the river view. The trail is one point seven miles and goes up and down to give the best views. It's very well done, the trails and platforms are well marked and well built with plenty of signs and directions in a variety of languages.
We continued down the trail and the falls were more and more spectacular with some that were three and four tiered where one fall would cascade down into another and then another. It was just spectacular. After we realized that Iguazú is completely different than Niagara we started to appreciate it for its own uniqueness. As the light changed from sun to clouds and back to sun the colors of the water changed as well. It fell in columns or ribbons of different colors, from white to light brown like watered down cola to a light yellow all within each waterfall. And this is where there are no more words, it was stunning but that comes no where close to conveying the
magnitude of what we were seeing.
The Brazilian trail ended at The Devils Throat, the largest and most spectacular of the Iguazú Falls. There is a platform built out over the river at the end of the trail that takes you right up to the Devil's Throat, you are maybe thirty to fifty feet from the waterfall. You can't hear anything but the roar of the water, it takes a minute to be able to adjust to the mist in your eyes and you get pretty wet but good lord, it was just spectacular. It's definitely a pinch me, look were we are moment.
Next was the exit from the park, we went out and found covered benches next to the street, thankfully because it started to rain. Our driver was a bit late but that's OK, we asked him to take us to a store to get wine. He took us to a very nice shop, we got out in the pouring rain and went in and shopped. It was delightful. He took us to the hotel and we payed him more than he asked for since he had been so helpful. We changed into dry clothes , went to the bar and ate off the bar menu and played Rummy Cube. It was wonderful to just play and talk about all we had seen. We agreed it was one of the most amazing things we had ever done. We had no idea we had only just begun to see and experience the amazing Iguazu Falls.
We had read that the Brazilian side was pretty straightforward, get a ticket, go in , walk the trail and look in wide eyed wonder. However the Argentinian side is bigger, more complicated and takes a lot longer, the trail is almost six miles and involves walking and riding a cool little train. We also wanted to take an Iguazú River boat ride up to the falls and that's a separate ticket from the park entrance so we just booked a tour that would do it all for us.
The driver and guide picked us up at the hotel early. It was a van with maybe twenty people, they were all nice so no problem. We got to the falls and waited while the guide went and bought tickets for the group then gave us a stern lecture about the pace of the tour. She was a tiny little Asian girl who turned out to be very nice, we really liked her. But she said we have a lot of ground to cover, a lot to see and places to be at certain times so I can't wait on you if you can't keep up. So, off we go, thru the jungle at break neck speed. A lot of us were just huffing and puffing at each of the first few stops but we quickly figured out the game. The girl walked so fast that she had to wait for the stragglers, of which there were many, or she would soon be out of people to guide. Once we figured out she would wait we just went at our own pace. There was only one way to go and that was down the trail and we stayed at each observation point for quite awhile so we always caught up.
Oh, and one side note before we continue seeing the falls. On both side there are these animals that look like raccoons only with longer pointy noses. Sort of a raccoon with an opossum nose. They are not raccoons but cousins to raccoons I guess. When we saw the first one the first day on the Brazilian side it was walking along the edge of the trail. Wow, look at that guy we said, and then started frantically taking pictures before he ran away. We didn't need to do that, they are literally everywhere, and tens of thousands of them I'm sure. We stopped for a break at a little shop selling sandwiches and drinks and these things were all over the tables, jumping onto people's legs and backpacks and heaven forbid you buy something to eat. People were fighting them back while trying to eat a bag of chips. They were super aggressive and not easily deterred.
As I said earlier, most of the falls are on the Argentinian side so the views are completely different than on the Brazilian side. In Argentina the trails and platforms go above and beside the falls giving just amazing up close views. From that distance and perspective you get a real sense of just how massive and powerful the falls are. In several places we were not more than twenty feet away from the point were the water fell over the edge. In other places we were equally close to where the water fell into the river. The power of the falls is just spectacular.
After walking most of the trail we got on the coolest little train to take us to the last observation point and in case you are wondering, yes, it was crawling with raccoon rats. One ran right over Rhonda's feet. She screamed and almost jumped out of her skin!
We got off the train and the trail resumed thru the jungle to the last observation point. We walked a long long way but it was ok, the jungle was fascinating and there were tons of beautiful butterflies and plenty of places to sit and rest. Well before the end of the trail we started to hear the falls, faintly at first then louder and louder until it was a deafening roar. We come into a clearing and saw another bridge and platform that went right in front of the Devil's Throat. I have no idea how they possibly built the walkway and platform so close to the massive waterfall but somehow they did. It was actually a bit unnerving walking out on it, it was just total sensory overload, even more so than the day before. It was overwhelming and just spectacular. We had never experienced anything like it but, just wait a couple of hours. We ain't near done.
After hiking back thru the butterflies to the little train station and being greeted by a pack of raccoon rats we rode the train to an area with restaurants and gift shops and got off to have lunch. The lunch was ok but the ice cream cones afterwards were delightful!
After lunch we boarded a four wheel drive open air truck like thing that drove us through really thick jungle down to the Iguazú River. We saw beautiful birds and a few capybaras. The guide said there are leopards in that area, we really wanted to see one but we were not that lucky but it was still a cool drive.
At the river we were given big plastic bags for our shoes and belongings and life jackets, we boarded a long open boat holding maybe forty people or so and took off down the Iguazu River. We passed in front of the falls at river level and again, here's that word, I can't think of another one, it was absolutely spectacular. Again , the scale and the power of the falls is just unbelievable. We went through some rapids and that was amazing but then we pulled up to one pretty big waterfall and stopped, really close to it. The driver turned the boat around to give the other side of the same view. After pausing for a few minutes to enjoy the view we pulled away from the waterfall, turned around and stopped with the front of the boat facing the waterfall and the driver pulled the engines back to idle and we could hear nothing but the water. And then, we hear the engines rev up, the front of the boat pitches up and we takeoff straight into the waterfall. Just as the nose hits the falls the engines die down, the boat settles into the water and we start to back out. We turn around go back out into the river and do it all again. We did it four times, the engines roar, the nose pitches up and we go straight into the waterfall, but each time we do it we go farther in until the last time when the boat was completely sideways under the waterfall. We were on the side next to the rock cliff behind the falls and I think you could literally reach out and touch it. We were in an absolute torrent of water. We were under a huge waterfall !! It was just thrilling and amazing. We were laughing uncontrollably. We absolutely loved every second. What an adventure. We then went back up river, back thru the rapids and back to the starting point. We got back on the truck and as we drove back thru the jungle it started to rain but who cares ? We were already drenched to the bone. Soon we were back in the van then at our hotel. We showered dressed and went to the bar for wine and rummy cube.
It was an amazing day full of spectacular sights and sounds and experiences and adventures , and a whole bunch of raccoon rats.
Rhonda: Ok I cut Chris off. That took him 48 ( now 60) hours to write and I want to get this posted. He is such a good writer and I am just a diary writer and we operate differently. I want to post every day even with flaws. He needs time... I just need minutes to tell you what happened. We will get back to more about the falls on the next sea day.
Ok Rhonda, I'm done now !!
We are finishing our 3 ( we made it 4 with not getting off at Recefi) days at sea. It's been lovely to get breakfast room service, play in the pool, games and games of rummy cube, sitting on our balcony to watch the sunset and a dinner and a show each night. But we are ready to get on land tomorrow. We will be in Cape Verde from 8-3p. Our plan is to get a cab to take us up Mt Verde to see the panaramic view of all of the islands and then drop us off in the old town to find some lunch. So, more about our adventures tomorrow night.
Love y'all .
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