Nov 30, Wednesday

Nov 30, Wednesday

I went to sleep at around 11 pm last night and woke up thinking that it must be about 6 am.  It was 12:15 AM !    It must have been that extremely noisy air conditioning unit when it restarts.  It sounds like it is going to come right out of the wall.  Managed to get back to sleep but had crazy dreams.   At 7 am I went to eat my continental breakfast of a white bun, butter, jam and coffee and was outside the Brazilian Consulate by 8 am when they open their doors.   They had not mentioned that the visas would only be available after 10 am.   DRAT !

Back to the hotel for my 8:30 pick-up for the trip to Iguazú falls.  The town is named Puerto Iguasu and is about half an hour drive from the Parque Nacional de Iguazú and the falls.    I shared the tour with a young Argentinean couple and their 11 year old son, and a middle aged couple from Spain.   Everyone was very pleasant and our guide/chauffeur Walter (pronounced Bálter)  was nice but provided no information about the falls;  he simply showed us the way and waited for us to come back from each segment of the tour.

It was another hot and humid day but being in the shade of the trees on the paths provided a bit of a respite.   We walked into the park and made our way to the train that would take us up to la Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat).   Once off the train, we walked on a series of bridges across branches of the Iguazú River to the north-eastern edge of the falls, the ones closest to Brazil.

  The train to the farthest part of the falls

  One of the bridges across one part of the extremely wide Iguazú River

  Another stretch of the upper river. The spray from the falls is visible

   The Devil's Throat

  Salto Union

  Salto Union

SPECTACULAR !   Not only did I get wet, but so did my camera and my camcorder.  My camera actually stopped working for about 15 minutes.   It would not open,  and then when it finally did, it would not close.   I took out the battery but that didn’t seem to fix the problem so I sat down and dried it as best I could.   Got some nice pictures of really beautiful crested birds however.

  He looks like he is wearing blue eye shadow

Among the critters:  iguana, lizard, coati, butterflies and a lot of spiders and ants.

  Lots of  paths &  bridges

  The back end of a Coati

  The front end of a coati !   Not that he was moving that fast, but the darn thing kept moving.

  One of the beautiful butterflies

We got back on the train and rode back to the main drop off point.  From there we walked along a very long path that led us to the Circuito Superior, all along the top of the falls southern most portion.

  If you look closely at the top of the falls, you will see the lookout points where we could take photos

  Love those falls

   Water dropping off the cliffs

  Tourist boat riding into the mist of the falls

  From the Circuito Superior, looking down at the end of the Circuito Inferior

  Another jaw dropping lookout

  Can this get any better ?

We then partially retraced our steps and went down to the Circuito Inferior, which isn’t right down near the bottom of the river, but rather at a midpoint along the cliffs. 

  More raised paths to protect the land

  Zoom of the Brazilian side of the falls and their mid-point look out

  Water water everywhere !

  Talk about the power of water

  View from the Circuito Inferior up towards the Circuito Superior

  Dos Hermanas Falls ! ! !   Specially for Yvette & Hélène

From this vantage point, we could look up to the top of the falls where we had been before on the Circuito Superior.

The Iguazú River is quite wide at its top, but many of its branches are only about 1 meter in depth.   Hence the 270 some separate falls in this area.   Only the major falls are actually named:  Garganta del Diablo is Salto Union,   along the upper circuit are Salto San Martin, Salto Bosseti, Salto Barnabe Sanchez among others.

After this the Spanish couple and I were ready for some lunch;  the Argentinean couple and their son had stopped to eat earlier and they went off to do the 12 minute river run into the spray of the falls.  (Not recommended for those with bad backs or weak hearts.  See above photo of boat riding into the spray.)   I did not feel like paying a small fortune for an extremely cold shower, so I stayed on shore.    After an hour, the soaked Argentines came back and we walked all the way back to our vehicle for the ride back to town.   It was almost 4 by the time I came into my room to remove my damp clothes (from sweat more than from the spray of the falls) and had a nice cool shower.    I had planned on going out for dinner, but can’t find the energy to get dressed again and head out, so I’m staying in, eating oranges and drinking lots of water.

By 6 pm we had a huge rain storm which really helped to cool things down.  I should be able to turn off the air conditioner tonight and sleep with the window open.  It’s OK, there are mosquito screens on the windows.

PS  -  I added photos to my last full day in Buenos Aires:  Puerto Madero