¡Llegamos!

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¡Hola chicos! Well, this is going to be a very short update, because I am VERY tired...it is 10:38 here, 11:38 in Brasil, and who knows in Estados Unidos.

Our flights here went basically without a problem. The Continental flight from Houston to BA was actually reasonably comfortable, with our own personal screens with a choice of movies and even video games.The only slight hitch was we were about a half hour late getting out of Houston, so a half hour late getting into Buenos Aires, and it took FOREVER to get thorough customs. It took so long to get our passports stamped that they didn´t even look at our luggage. In any case, we still managed to change airports and make our afternoon flight to Iguazu. Argentina has a lot of cars and drivers for hire called remises, and we have been using quite a few of them.

So, by Thursday afternoon we were at the Sheraton in Iguazu, walking along the upper path and gaping at the falls. What can I say? They are absolutely unbelievable. Just incredible. I´ll let my pictures speak for themselves.

Our first night we went to a great restaurant here in Puerto Iguazu called La Rueda (the wagon wheel) which specializes in fish from the river- very good.

The next day we spent the whole day exploring the Argentine side of the falls by speed boat, inflatable boat, walking, swimming, climbing….you name it. The great part of this side is you can get so close you can actually go under some of the falls. The DVD will be available when we get home!

We had a very Argentine lunch, Parillada (grilled meat) at a restaurant in the park, so after all our walking and CLIMBING (yes, we did have to climb up those cliffs!), we decided to take advantage of the incredible view room of the falls, so we bought a couple empanadas, a milanesa sandwich and beer, and had a picnic on our balcony. We watched a toucan settling down for the night though the binoculars, as we munched away, with the falls in the background, No, it does not get any better than that!

This morning we took a little open narrow gage train in the park out to the biggest falls, Garganta del Diablo (the devil´s throat). Then we spent the rest of the day in Brasil (illegally I might add). We visited a great bird place, and then were going to visit the Brasilian side of the falls, but decided it was just too hot. It was about 44 degrees centigrade- don´t know exactly what that is, but it´s HOT. So, we went into the city of Foz, did a bit of shopping and then had and early (by South American standards) dinner in Foz in this great restaurant I found on the internet called Tempero da Bahia. It serves food from the Northeast of Brasil, specifically Salvador, Bahia, which I think is some of the best in the world. It was fabulous, and we finished it off we some wonderful Brasilian ice cream in tropical fruit flavours.

We're back at the hotel now, Don is sleeping (surprise, surprise) and we are packing to leave tomorrow. Our flight is at 1 pm (13:00), so we need to leave the hotel at 11:30. I'm hoping to get one more hike in in the morning, but I need to sleep now if I´m going to! So, good night everyone, more details later, and Ushuaia here we come.

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Photos

Las Cataratas
The sound is unbelievable

Falls
More

Comments

[Mari]

hear the falls
Wow, the Falls pictures are FABULOUS ! I can almost hear the water pounding on the rocks.

[Cindy]

Amazing Photos!
Val -- Thanks for the blog. What an awesome trip. The photos were breathtaking. I was especially jealous of the close-up of the toucan. Glad your travels have been uneventful to date. Praise God that you've been feeling well enough to enjoy some pretty strenuous activity. Enjoyed the shots of Donaldo, too. We look forward to your next contact. A very cool way to communicate. Love to you both.

[e]

waterfalls are amazing!!