Iguazu Falls

While I enjoyed Rio, I was looking forward to getting away to a more natural spot, that spot being Iguazu Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World; or as Eleanor Roosevelt said upon seeing Iguazu, "Poor Niagra".  I can hardly begin to describe how awesome these waterfalls were.  They stretched at least a mile across.  But first, upon taking an Uber to the Santos Dumont airport in Rio (Santos Dumont is considered by many to be the father of flight, not the Wright Bros), I hustled through security and my special hideaway wallet fell off my belt when I removed it for security.  Didn't discover it until I reached the interim stop on the way to Foz do Iguassu, Campinas Airport (no jokes please, I've already used them all up).  The airline folks were kind enough to call security in Rio and find that my money pouch with my CCs and about $400 in cash had been turned in; unfortunately, their policy didn't allow them to simply put the pouch on the next flight and I must have spent 5 hours with them, my former landlord and Sedex (the courier) as I waited three days to finally reacquire the pouch.  A friend came to the rescue and wired me $300, so I wasn't destitute.  Anyways, the friendly city of Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, was kind enough to have a very efficient bus service from the airport to town (to counter the mafia-like cab operation) and I was at my hotel in about half an hour.  Since it was getting late in the day, I wandered around and wound up eating at a very high quality churrascuria.  They must have offered 20 different cuts of beef, chicken, pork and lamb and I'm sure I ate a kilo of meat....or what might be healthily deemed a year's worth; oh, and there was the excellent bottle of Malbec.  Got up early the next day and once again took the bus out past the airport to the falls and spent the day hiking about and viewing the falls from many different angles, including being able to get within a few feet of the base of the falls.  Afterwards, visited an amazing bird park just across from the Falls entrance.  They must have had every bird from Brazil there and it was well worth the couple of hours spent walking the 5 acre park.  And that was just the Brazilian side, so the next morning got on a small tour bus and headed for the Argentinian side.  Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate organized tours, but in this case it seemed the best way to make an international border crossing, as the driver handled all the paperwork and, apparently, drivers get priority at immigration which involved exiting Brazil, entering Argentina, exiting Argentina and re-entering Brazil, all on the same day.  Well worth the extra $20 I had to pay versus trying to do it on my own.  The Argentinian side is generally regarded as the best side to see the Falls, though to do it properly, one must hike about 5 miles on well-graded trails that take one to the tops of falls, the bottoms of falls and everywhere in between.  I sprung for the boat ride which takes you underneath the falls where you get completely drenched.  Really, they should have let us all get naked, leave our clothes at the launch and then towel off when we returned.  Man, that boat ride was the ultimate E ticket and really gave one the opportunity to feel the fierceness of those falls

On the Boat to Get Soaked

The Bird Park

Argentina Border

Just a Small Section of the Falls