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Day 6: Wednesday, March 6, 2002

So, we decided to take Celio up on his offer and met him at 8:30 AM to begin our adventures.  His deal was for $200 US he would drive us to Argentina, a scenic viewing point of the tri-country valley (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina), the Itaipu damn, downtown Iguassu, and take us back to the hotel.  Naturally, I was the skeptic, but after some independent validation, we were all comfortable with the deal.  So, his first move which at one point in time I felt was a conscious scam, was to recommend we start with the Falls.  He said it was supposed to rain today, with a sixth sense like Crocodile Dundee.  Anyway, we agreed and headed to the Falls.

Much like the press says, the Argentina side is the premier side to enjoy the falls.  We climbed on an open truck (not unlike a military van) and traveled across a dirt paved road through a rain forest to the water’s edge.  The ride was accompanied by a Brazilian nature fanatic explaining all of the wild life in the forest.  After a quick hike down a hill we came to a 30’ speed boat waiting for us.  We climbed aboard and were instructed to place all possessions in waterproof provided grocery bags.

After we all climbed aboard (the Summers', a couple from Toronto, and guy from NY, and us) , we secured our life jackets and sped through the wilderness along the Iguacu river.  The river was fairly wide and the boat traveled pretty fast, but it was still another interesting viewpoint.  The waterway we were traveling on was at the bottom of the falls 5 miles downstream.  We were traveling towards the mouth of the falls.

When we rounded the corner of the river and caught our first glimpse of the falls, it was truly mesmerizing.  The sound was deafening and created an awe inspiring sense of power.  We drew nearer and the captain spun the boat around and allowed us to take pictures from the bottom of the falls.  With more than six falls dropping water from 70 feet in an arc of about 240 degrees, this was truly magnificent.  After snapping our pictures and placing our cameras back in their protective bags, we succumbed to the power of nature.  We entered the falls.  Water crashed over everyone in the boat, with not a single item left dry.  We should have seen it coming when our driver put on a dry suit with little but his eyes showing.

After dunking the boat into water shed, we headed to Devil’s throat.  We pulled up short from going into the devil’s canyon, but could still stand awe struck of truly one of the natural wonders of the world.  Naturally, on the way back, our captain dipped us in simpleton fall of approximately 65’ and 12’ wide.

Back to dry land, we decided to take a ferry to an island in the middle of the water causeway between the devil’s throat and baby’s back.  The island offered three hikes all with interesting views, the most interesting being the canyon of the vulture and panoramic viewing of the falls that drenched us.

Next we climbed up the face of the mountain on the Argentina side, stopping briefly for lunch at a clearing along the way.  At the top of the precipice, we took a train ride through the rain forest towards the devil’s throat.  At the train stop, we exited and walked on a metal bridge over the water to a viewpoint at the top of the devil’s throat.  We could see the Brazilian walkway in the middle of maelstrom which was located at the base of the falls.  It was nice to gain perspective by viewing the Devil’s Throat from both the basin and height (precipice).  I cannot emphasize enough the utter amazement of seeing something so unbelievably impressive.  I am sure a similar feeling has been felt at other natural locales like Grand Canyon or Yosemite.  However, I can promise you it will be a life memorable moment when you experience awesome sight that is Iguassu Falls. 

    

 

We took the train back through the rain forest to our original drop off, where Celio was waiting for us.  The four us were gabbing about the amazement and discussing the next stop point.  Unfortunately, Celio explained that we missed the last entry for the Itaipu Damn.  This was when my cynicism had me thinking Celio chose the falls first because it would succumb all of our time, leaving little balance for the rest of activities.  However, on our trip back to Brazil the sky starting falling, a torrential downpour.  Clearly, if we were to miss an item on the agenda today; it would definitely not be the falls.  So, it worked out for the best.

Two other interesting things happened on our drive home, one while driving and one at the Brazilian border patrol.  The driving point while probably not categorically interesting was humorous to us four.  It was during this drive that I stumped our driver for the first and only time with a English phrase.  Still trying to work Celio to ensure we were getting a good deal, I asked him, “What he proposed we do with the balance of our time.”  I thought I was being polite, which my wife and friends found humorous.  The second thing, and certainly the more interesting, is when driving back from Argentina, the border patrol forces you to get out of the car and clean your shoes.  Apparently, there are some diseases being transported by the dirt on people's shoes, so they take this quite seriously.

That  night we headed to a highly recommended restaurant called , “Zaragoza”.  It was a seafood place with a menu filled with lobster options, which unfortunately were not relevant as the restaurant was out of lobster.   Anyway, we still choose a variant of different options and were graced with delicious food.  I still maintain that I may have had the best cream of asparagus soup I have ever tasted anywhere in the world. 

 

Day 7



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