Day 20 - Arrival at Iguazu Falls

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Up early today at 05:15 to finish packing, have breakfast and be ready for 06:25 pick-up for Rio Airport. We ended up with a lot of time to kill as we got through the check-in very quickly but as we were waiting we heard very familiar accents sitting behind us, so I started up a conversation with Graham and Karen from Perth(ex-Sydney residents) who still have family in Sydney. They also do a lot of traveling and put us onto a company they use called expatexplore.com. We exchanged travel stories and it certainly made the time go quickly.

The plane left on time and we arrived as scheduled. We were met by our guide Reggie and his driver and we went straight to Iguazu Falls. These are definitely the most magnificent falls we have ever seen and lived up to our expectations. We did the usual “Path of the Falls Trail” which takes you right down to platforms at the base of the left hand side falls to an area called "The Devil's Throat" and you get quite wet but it was nothing compared to what came later.

After completing the walk, we decided to do the optional boat ride which wasn’t cheap at $US80 each, but we thought, we just had to do it. The park was called Macuco Safari and first we were transported through the jungle with some explanations of the plants, then a 800 metre walk through the jungle passing a small waterfall before getting onto our boats. We had our raincoats and waterproof pants on and Reggie also suggested we take our shoes off. We were expecting a large boat like the Niagara Falls one but it was actually a speedboat and it was almost like the New Zealand jetboats as we sped over the rapids to the falls. Well, we were expecting to get wet but in actual fact you get absolutely drenched under the falls, like someone was pointing a big fire hose at you, I couldn’t even look up, but it was fun and an experience we’ll always remember.

By the time we finished, it was 16:45 and we were then driven to our hotel, The Viale Towers. Reggie gave us 3 alternative optional activities for tomorrow and we opted for a boat trip up a river. He also made some suggestions for dinner. We quickly had showers and made our way to the restaurant he suggested, Rafain Chop and ate the meal he suggested which is called Picaha a Brasileira and we got the larger version for 2 people. It was 5 pieces of sirloin steak on a hot plate which is brought to the table and has sides of a banana fritter, salsa, kale, crunchy corn flour like the other day and a lovely mayonnaise type sauce and it was scrumptious, especially having missed lunch today. Then a quick walk to the supermarket for water and snacks for a full day tomorrow before flying to Lima.

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