Day 6 - Into the Falls

Day 6 – Into the Falls

As a prelude to the day’s adventures, you have to understand that the Iguassu River (note: when we are in Argentina, I will spell it Iguazu) separates Brazil from Argentina, and the Falls are so expansive that they span both countries. You can see the Falls from Brazil, Argentina and from the border – that is to say, from a boat in the middle of the river. We did all three!

Also, this entry will be picture-heavy since there are no wrods to describe the magnificence of Iguazu Falls.

After a delightful buffet breakfast, we were picked up by Marco at 7:30 for a trip to the Argentinian side of Iguassu Falls (spell check: we are still in Brazil). After a 30-minute ride (and going through a Brazilian checkpoint and an Argentinian Check point), we entered Iguazu National Park (spell check: we are in Argentina). This is when it pays to have a guide who dropped us off in the “preferencio” line (I’ll let you figure out what that means) while he purchased tickets. Throughout the day, Marco guided us to be in the proper line at the proper time so that we minimized crowd conflicts and optimized our time there. Being first in line in “preferencio” allowed us to catch the first train, which allowed us to bypass another train station (i.e. it was the “express train” directly to the Falls), which allowed us to be in the first wave of tourists to get to the trails that lead to the viewing platforms overlooking the Falls. Needless, to say, as one goes through this process of riding and walking, the sound of the Falls is ever-increasing. Also, we could see a rising cloud of mist coming from the most voluminous part of the Falls – the Devil’s Throat.

We walked on a metal grated sidewalk with guard rails across the Iguazu river, which is unimaginably wide. The water was clear below and running very quickly, though it appeared calm and fluid.

As we approached the overlook of the Devil’s Throat, the roar was very loud and we could see huge volumes of water rushing to the edge of the Falls.

The plume of mist rising on the left side of the picture is from the Devil's Throat.
At this point, the thundering of the water is getting loud.

 Then we got to the viewing platform with a clear view and gawked in utter amazement! The sound, the fury, the mist, the wind created by the falling tons of water (1.0 million gallons per second falling ~250 feet!) is impossible to describe in these meager words and only a video could give you a sense of remarkable power and majesty of the Falls. I will let the pictures speak for themselves … but you must keep in mind that this represents only about 40% of the total waterfall system that is Iguazu Falls!!!

From the viewing platform, some of the river edge is just below our feet,
and this edge of the Falls almost seems reachable.

A bit of a longer view of the Devil's Throat.

These are the falls that are off to the side of the Devil's Throat,
and in themselves they are spectacular.

This is a panoramic view looking down the left side of the viewing platform
into the Iguazu River valley and back to the right where Devil's Throat is.

We returned to other trails that led through the tropical rain forest for many and varied views of the Falls – Adam and Eve Falls, St. Martin Falls, etc. Marco led us to spots on the trail where we could get the best angles and views. [Note that the trail is a well-defined metal grate with guardrails so that overly ambitious tourists don’t wander into trouble or disturb the environment.] Again, I will let a few pictures speak for themselves.

Marco took us back to the Brazilian side for a buffet lunch with authentic Brazilian food where we sat on a patio overlooking the Falls. We returned to the hotel to resume our general laziness by hanging around a very nice pool. At 100+ degrees, the sidewalk gets very hot, so having some lounge chairs in the shade with some cool drinks was essential.

The view from our lunch table overlooking the extremely wide Iguazu river.

The pool at the Belmond.

After a few hours of this, we chose to take our laziness for a walk along the path/trail in front of our hotel. Yesterday evening, we walked part of this path, but we wanted to take it to the end. It was after 6pm, so only Belmond residents were in the Park, which is to say, there were only a few people on this path.

To our amazement, we saw one incredible view after another. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, we saw that the walkway (again, a metal grate on concrete pylons) went out over the river in into the midst (and mist) of the Falls. We were looking right up Devil’s Throat with enormous gushing waterfalls all around us. The noise was so loud that we had to yell at each other to be heard. The spray was like rain pelting us because, what we didn’t realize, was the turbulent wind that is generated by the falling waters. I hate to keep saying this, but there are no words or analogies that I can give. It is like no other experience I have ever had, and I can’t imagine having another such experience ever! I also must note that the wind and spray was very cool and refreshing. Here are some pictures to help convey the story.

This long walkway traversed the river right to the edge of the waterfalls
and looked straight up Devil's Throat.

Standing on the end of the walkway on the platform that hangs over
the edge of the river and the Falls.
Devil's Throat is in the middle of the picture in the distance.

The mist is obscuring Devil's Throat.
In this location, the roar is deafening and the spray totally soaked us.

Standing on another platform that allowed us to get within 20 feet of the falls.
Here the wall of water is 100 feet high and the crashing water is thunderous.

We walked back to the Belmond in the 103° heat and humidity, and both of us were sweating profusely. We cleaned up and went to the Itaipu Restaurant in the hotel, which is their exquisite Brazilian dinner experience - not to mention the ultra-cool sunset as well.

Steve had piranha broth soup (who has had piranha before?!?!?) with shrimp and scallops for a starter followed by (of course) Brazilian beef filet (as did Bob). Both were delicious. After ice cream for dessert (of course), we chatted with some folks in the lobby (we met all sorts of neat people, including a female entrepreneur who was the initial CEO of Tivo and her husband – a professor of math and economics at Stanford). And that was the end of a day neither of us will ever forget (assuming that someone finds the cure for Alzheimer's before we are too far gone).