Iguazú Falls

Taxi ride through Rio this morning was slow at first: people were busy getting to work. The morning was lovely: clear & cool. All things considered we made it to the airport in good time. There were many, many flights requiring processing so the queue was somewhat slow.

Flight was a re-cap of what we'd seen over the past couple of days as it took off over Rio: the beaches, Sugarloaf.

As we approached close to the Brazilian side of Iguaçu (as it is spelt there), the landscape changed from open countryside to thick rainforest with a huge dirty brown river meandering through it. It was hot & humid. A little time was spent re-negotiating with our driver what had already been negotiated. It seemed to us he just really didn't want to be bothered with the drive out to Itaipu Dam which was what we had arranged. He tried to tell us we couldn't do that AND the Brazilian side of the falls.

But we could; and we did.

The dam is a HUGE hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay; in fact it is the second largest in the world after the Three Gorges dam in China.

The tour was interesting but could have been tighter: less waiting around for people to take their selfies would help.

We returned to our driver who I think was snoozing between assignments - don't blame him: it IS hot (!!) -  & he pushed the boundaries of the speed limits (I think he wanted to get home) to take us to the Brazilian side of the falls. Nevertheless, despite having to put the agenda straight with him initially, Enzo maintained a friendly attitude throughout the day & we had no complaints. He certainly saved us a lot of time & hassle.

The falls were fantastic. No doubt about that. Definitely not disappointed. Getting there mid-afternoon was probably a better time anyway than had we gone there straight from the airport as it was very hot (mid 30s) & humid. So the day was starting to cool a tad (a very small tad). We enjoyed the walk from the last bus station to the main falls, huge lizards sliding out of the way as we went & the famous Devil's Throat Falls at the end thundered down sending drenching spray everywhere which was very refreshing!

Another fast-paced drive brought us firstly to the Brazilian passport control which Enzo went & dealt with for us; a further drive on across the border brought us to the Argentinian side; the queues were long but again, Enzo massaged our way through this too. A final rapid drive brought us to the entry gates for the Iguazú National Park where once more we were processed efficiently because Enzo knew what had to be done: guests staying in the park have tickets that allow them multiple accesses in & out.

We wasted no time on arrival; it was nearly 6 p.m. (1 hour difference from Brazil) & we made haste for the pool for a quick dip & an expensive drink before the light disappeared off the falls for the day.

Nice view from our bedroom window!

Thunderstorms predicted for the next couple of days ....