4 Non Blondes Part Dois

Today was the last day in Brazil for Betty and Judy. We were welcomed awake with nonstop rain. It had rained almost all night and all day. We did have one last excursion planned before our 3PM flight. Lillian and our driver picked us up around 10AM to go see the world’s largest dam, Itaipu Dam. It was about 30 min away. We started with a short video on the construction of the dam and history of the area. They did tend to leave out the information on how they misplaced the natives when they created the lake and how a waterfall bigger and greater than Iguazu is no longer there, but still informative. We then got on an open-air double decker bus to go see the actual dam. When it is sunny and not raining ... read more

We actually got to sleep in a little this morning as we were not heading out until 9 am. Chester was up and in the bathroom around 4 am with an achy, breaky belly. After breakfast we were picked up by our guide Lily. She is very knowledgeable and personable. She even spent time working in LA a few years back working at Magic Mountain. We were very excited for this day since we are headed straight to the Falls. Both Chester and Kirsten have been to Victoria Falls in Zambia, and now Iguacu Falls in Brazil, but not Niagara Falls. Ironic. Again this country and its attractions are very organized and clean. We made our way to the walkway which takes you to an amazing view of the Argentina side of the falls. They are ... read more

Day 6 topped them all with the amount of reading and sleeping that we have done the entire trip. All agreed we should have left one day earlier. We started as usually with a nice buffet breakfast. When Kirsten and Chester arrived at the table the once pestering parrot was now at the table with Judy and Betty as they prepared a plate of bread and fruit for its breakfast. This is the first sign that you have been here too long. We then met our guide along with annoying couple again, but they were at least almost on time. We headed for what we thought was a morning of piranha fishing that would be exciting and active. WRONG again. A morning of fishing in the Amazon constitutes about 1 hour with bamboo poles. Chester did ... read more

As with any trip it can get hard to sleep through the night, even with the help of alcohol and/or sleep aides. Kirsten, Chester and Betty tossed and turned a bit last night, while the “Great Tumbler” Judy slept like a rock. Breakfast was served at 7:45. We made our way to the restaurant and found fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, breads, eggs, and sausage. Breakfast was good and filling. The four of us ate in the pleasant morning until we were accosted by the local parrot. He is not afraid of people and will eat off your plate if you let him. We did not like this at all and kept trying to shoo him away, which would work for about 30 seconds and then he would fly right back. If he does it again tomorrow ... read more

Day two started with a little sunshine, a good breakfast and some noisy neighbors. We got up early to shower before breakfast because we had a full day of touring Rio ahead. We returned to our room after breakfast to grab our cameras and rain jackets (just in case) and learned just how thin the walls in our hotel really are. Our neighbors, or neighbor, we only heard a man, was quite loud while gratifying himself or his partner. He finished right before we needed to be downstairs to meet our guide. This gave us a good laugh to start the morning. Our guide, Victor, picked us up promptly at 9 am. Betty and Judy were late as usual and kept everyone waiting. The tour was in an open jeep, so thank goodness it was mostly ... read more