Brazil/Argentina Trip Report, Day 7: Brazil, Iguazu national park

DAY 7: April 2, 2012

IN BRAZIL SIDE OF IGUACU ONCE AGAIN.

We started the day a little late by our usual standards--so had to wait in queue with the general crowd for tickets at 10.30. We are so used to be everywhere bright and early, so it was a bit of an issue wasting time in a queue.

This is the rainbow pool at the entrance of the national park. 

All trails marked here...

READY FOR THE JEEP RIDE--glass top for the jeeps.

on the double decker...

About 23 km or 15 miles before the junction where Iguacu joins Parana river, are the great Iguassu Falls,

Walking the trail on the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls is easy as said earlier.

There is a main trail, approximately 1,600 meters (one mile) long. This leads us along the river with its many smaller falls to the base of the biggest waterfall GARGANTA DEL DIABLO where a catwalk extends out over the brink.

we did all the trails/several levels and had a great time

This side provides a good general view of the falls.

At the top the trail leads to the end of the tour in front of the Iguassu River above the falls.

Here, there is a souvenir shop, We bought some nice Tshirts with the logo and lovely souvenirs too with macaws and the famous semiprecious stone of Brazil.

. There is a lovely bird park on Brazil side just adjacent to the national park. 28R$ entry; open 8.30—5.30

This is red ibis on tree...and flamingos on the ground...

Flamingos on the ground at the bottom of pic.

These are grey crowned cranes--This species and the closely related black-crowned crane are the only cranes that can roost in trees, because of a long hind toe that can grasp branches.

The grey-crowned crane is about 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and weighs 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs)and a wingspan of 2 m (6.5 ft).  Its body plumage is mainly grey. The wings are also predominantly white, but contain feathers with a range of colours. The head has a crown of stiff golden feathers. The sides of the face are white, and there is a bright red inflatable throat pouch.  The bill is relatively short and grey, and the legs are black. They have long legs for wading through the grasses.

 The grey-crowned crane has a breeding display involving dancing, bowing, and jumping.  It has a booming call which involves inflation of the red gular sac. It also makes a honking sound quite different from the trumpeting of other crane species.  Both sexes dance, and immature birds join the adults. Dancing is an integral part of courtship, but also may be done at any time of the year.

camera shy....

Here's a toucan on the branch--this is a shy guy--there are very naughty ones as well

This is Curassow restricted to tropical South America.

Amazing how all birds are out in the open--there is a net high up in the ceiling though.

Here are green, yellow parakeets.

These colorful macaws are so noisy...

A naughty toucan caught in flight...it was kind of purposely flying low very near us...whooshing past us as if playing... 

 here it is showing off...alighting right near us

the same toucan flying low past us and then turning its back on us.

 The toucan agreed to pose ...

Then we were in the reptiles section—iguana here...

Caiman sunning itself near pond

turtles hardly visible in pic.

Here's the dreaded rattlesnake.

A different colored toucan--they come in 5 shade combinations

Here are some lovely macaws... nice restaurant with live music.

 A guy was helping us hold a macaw. Could have spent a whole day with this sweetie...weighs quite a bit, claws feel like barbed wire.

This is a mature sweet bird as opposed to the naughty ones we saw earlier

Scare at the Airport:

We were in hurry for our flight which was scheduled at 3.45pm. We were both flying back to Rio from where I was to be on my international flight back to Houston while son had to take the domestic flight to Sao Paulo.

We caught a taxi back to our hotel a km away, got their free shuttle ride to the airport another km away. As we won't have adequate time at the Rio airport before taking our separate flights, I spent few minutes repacking our bags.

 We then went to the checkin counter at 5 minutes before 3 PM. The guy there took his time and then told us "CERRADO"... we are too late for checkin and the gates are closed! The flight timing had been changed to 3.20 and they were boarding. It is such a small airport and people were walking to the plane we could see through the window. 

We requested him repeatedly to let us check our one bag and join the boarding line, We showed him our onward flight tickets for international and domestic connection and pleaded.  But he vehemently refused saying checkin closes at 3pm and pointed at the wall clock there which was showing 3 just then. But we had been standing there for 5 minutes when he chose not to attend to us and frankly we had thought the flight was at 3.45; that had been the original schedule! The guy was smirking at our misery and said we can buy new tickets all over!

Our problem was everything should be rescheduled and walkup international flight may not be easy

Son was contemplating buying new flight tickets and asking him for suggestions . I told the guy "I would like to speak to your supervisor please". He called up a young lady and we made a fervent request to her. She was on phone, gestured us to wait, then thankfully called up an employee to take our checked bag after tagging it. She also gave us our boarding passes. Took her just a coiuple of minutes! We thanked her profusely and joined the line of boarding passengers and got on our plane

Whew! From then on we always check our flight's timings on the official site looking out for changes.. mostly we get an email informing of changes, but it doesn't hurt to be careful!

VIDEOS:

Here are videos of the Terrific Iguazu falls on Brazil side, Argentina side as well as the island San Martin, all with music and captions.

https://goo.gl/photos/NPpohEpMidq3DexM7

brasil iguacu

https://goo.gl/photos/rCoA3c52ntjP8YL56

Argentina Iguazu national park

https://goo.gl/photos/RBRQyQHGHXgdmPK49

Isla San Martin

Hang gliding in Rio:

https://goo.gl/photos/W619DZsvh1XZXP6d8

Here are some pics of the tandem flight son took before he returned back home. He had done the canopy, ziplining etc too and had had a great time.  Video link above

I'll post the rest of the videos a little later as this has been so hugely delayed. We would return to AWESOME ARGENTINA for a 17 days holiday which I'll cover soon

I wanted to continue with Awesome Argentina where we had a 17 day holiday but decided I'll start with our recent 18 day vacation in New Zealand...it starts here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/03/how-to-plan-trip-to-new-zealand.html

Brazil/Argentina Trip Report, Day 6: Devil's Throat and Arrechea falls trail

DAY 6 April 1, 2012

Parque Nacional Iguazu ARGENTINA:

We had an easier time commuting to the National Park in Argentina as we didn't need exchange. Rain was pelting down as we left our hotel; despite our poncho the wind was drenching us. We hopped on to the bus that took us to the Brazilian border, got the passport stamped and got into the Argentine bus. 

This one bus took us all the way to the terminal—we have fond memories of the kind Argentinian driver as he was extra nice to us. When we got down at the border for stamping of our passports, we requested him to please wait for us in our broken Spanish..."por favor, esparar um minuto" He smiled and said cincu minuto. We dashed for our stamp, the driver even came down from the bus and helped us put our day packs through the luggage scanner. We climbed back into the bus and he dropped us all the way to the Puerto Iguazu bus terminal saving us time and money. He gave us a warm handshake and smile as he sped off!!

We reached the park. As the day began wet, raincoats sold like hot cakes--just 7R$

At the souvenir shop here...

We were on the train to the last station GARGANTA DEL DIABLO.

We had done the blue (circuito inferior) and red (circuito superior) trails as well as the yellow San Martin island trek the previous day...

 we did the top orange one... Devil's Throat and the bottom left Sendero Macuco that day,,,

 The name Iguassu originates from the Tupi or Guarani language, and means “big water”.

 There is a nice legend associated with the falls.

The Legend of the Iguassu Falls:

The region where Iguassu Falls is located today was called Valley of the Butterflies, belonging to the territory known as Mba´e-vera-guassu (Golden Brightness).

 In the Valley of the Butterflies lived Naipi, the virgin daughter of Igobi, the chief of the tribe of the Guaranies (or maybe the Caigangues). She was so beautiful that the river waters stopped when she looked at herself in them.

 She was chosen to be the bride of M´Boy, a God who often took the form of a snake as he desired her. No human being could now even look at the promised girl; however, Tarobá, a brave warrior, broke the taboo. He spoke to her and she answered. They decided to run away together to escape the marriage.

On the day of the wedding, the Indians drank too much of the cauim (a native alcoholic beverage made from fermented corn) and slept in a stupor. Tarobá and Naipi wasted no time and escaped on the Iguassu river in a canoe.

But M´Boy noticed the escape and thrashed around in anger.  His thrashing opened a gigantic crack in the earth causing the river to fall down the gorge created

Tarobah and Naipi disappeared in the tumultuous waters. The snake god lay in wait for them to end up in his underground cave.

The Iguassu River was now going down the new gorge as waterfalls and began its eternal fall into the abyss formed by the earthquake. However, The lovers were not caught by the snake awaiting them at the bottom cave...their love was too great....

Tarobá was transformed into a lonely palm tree on the edge of an abyss over the Devil's Gorge, and Naipi into a big rock over which the raging water of the river falls into the canyon... which can be seen to this day....

The vengeful snake God is still awaiting his victims in the underground cave wondering what's taking them so long!

When the sun is in the right position, a rainbow can be seen touching the tree and the rock; it is Naipi´s love veil eternally caressing her lover, Tarobá

And yes, we did see numerous lovely rainbows connecting the star crossed eternal lovers! They were AWESOME!!

GARGANTA DEL DIABLO (Devil's throat):

The tour to reach the lookout balcony of the majestic Devil’s Throat allows us to approach a few meters from the most important and mighty waterfall of the Iguazu Falls. The itinerary begins about 1,100 meters before the monumental fall, after getting off the Ecological Jungle Train at Devil’s Throat Station.

The gangway leading to the balcony that faces the waterfall is just over a kilometer in length. The balcony, gives us a magical moment, staring at a huge wall of water over 80 meters high, located on the border of Argentina and the sister Republic of Brazil.

The rain had mercifully stopped; there was a slight drizzle and along with the spray from the GARGANTA DEL DIABLO, we needed our ponchos.

There is awesome ambience--the volume of water is so huge, there is a permanent mist of 100ft. It was a challenge to use the camera without damaging it due to the spray.

 There seems to be a headless guy in the left...ha, ha..

The folding system of gangways was designed to preserve them from being damaged due to an increase in the flow of Iguazu River. In normal circumstances, when the river is low, the railings are raised and the gangways allow the people get to the Balcony of the Devil's Throat. When the river increases its flow, railings are folded to allow the flow to pass through, by reducing the resistance. And if the river level is very high, the flow velocity increases, the gangways are detached, to avoid compromising the concrete structure. Once the flow is down again, all the structure is reset. There is no access to Devil's throat in those times, but the Iguazu National Park never closes its doors, and those who are visiting can enjoy the other falls/view points.

These are shots from the official site...nothing does justice to these AWESOME FALLS

After seeing the high point of the park...Garganata del diablo, we took the Sendero (trail) Macuco .

Macuco Trail and Arrechea Waterfall:

• Length: 7,000 meters there and back (7,655 yards) • Accessibility: wild path, without transports. • Difficulty: low in the first 3,200 meters (3,499 yards), high in the following 200 meters (218 yards), and medium in the final 100 meters (109 yards). • Final destination:  Arrechea Stream waterfall and pool.
• Estimated time of visit: 3 hours • Restrooms and bar: only at the beginning, at the Rainforest Ecological Train Central Station.

This trail has the name of a bird of the South American partridge family, a brown bird bigger than a chicken. The access to the Macuco Trail is allowed from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and it should be completed during daylight. We started at 2 PM, the trail is closed at 3 and the park closes at 6.  It was a race to finish the trek and not to get locked in the forest.

Caí monkeys can be spotted as this is their natural habitat. They live on trees, are restless and very curious. They move in groups of no more than 20 individuals. They eat fruits, and the forest has everything they need. It is advised that visitors should not approach them or feed them, and simple watch their natural behavior without interfering.

The Macuco Trail ends at the edge of the Iguazú canyon. Thousands of years ago, the Falls were located at this point, and gradually moved backwards to their current location. Nowadays, their old location has been taken up by many streams that flow into the Iguazú River, such as the Arrechea Stream, which has a 20 meters high (65.62 ft) cascade before the end. Here the stream gushes under the wooden bridge...

Happy after completing 31/2 km and reaching the end of a long trail. It was a 7km trek both ways to reach this falls Arrechea.

Million year old forests surrounding the sendero macuco reaching Arrechea falls here...

ARRECHEA FALLS after descending the final steps here...

On the way back: saw some unique new things --cactus flowers here.

Had the forest to ourselves, a little scary feeling...there are pumas, jaguars and a recent report talks about meeting a puma while on foot. Trick is not to make eye contact but back off slowly!!

Closeup of twisted barks...

Saw eagles returning to nests, other colorful birds flitting by, a batch of coatis scampering away and a naughty baby monkey shaking trees.

Nice oranges from the trees laden with the fruit...we picked those on the ground

 brought these home to Houston...quite sweet.

The notice board gave fair warning; very happy to have finished the trek.

The only knock was by the nut that landed on the head --probably thrown by the baby monkey. 

Triumphant after the trek--did it in 3 hours... the gate closed here as it was almost 5pm.

My stupid shoes were killing me. Son stumbled and the sole of his new shoe got damaged. His big toe was bleeding and I almost burst into tears at the sight of the blood! Guess the lack of adequate sleep and the long hikes in stupid shoes were catching up! But it had been such a huge privilege visiting such BEAUTIFUL places!

I sat at the train station trying to compose myself and son went to the nearby center. They washed and bandaged the toe with their Firstaid kit and he was alright. Really very nice people all round!!

We regrouped, caught the train and reached the entrance.

Caught the bus back as usual and got off at the Brazil border after the routine of stamping passport. Did not want to repeat previous day's mistake of going all the way to the town center.

However, did not get any bus to hotel, so took a taxi, overpaid as usual and reached our hotel safe and sound at 8 pm

Our next day is posted here:

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/02/brazilargentina-trip-report-day-8.html