Early morning March 11 - Emerson, Pierre and Mary as we leave Recoleta hotel at 6am to board bus to airport.
Boarding plane in Buenos Aires around 8am.
We fly to the city of Iguazu about 1000km north of Buenos Aires. The airport is in Argentina where we're staying but first we bus to Brazil to visit that side of the falls. We had a local guide for a short period of time to smooth our way through immigration.
Iguazu falls from the air. The falls straddle the Argentine/Brazil border and is a few miles from Paraquay.
Border crossing into Brazil.
We enjoy lunch at this outdoor restaurant.
Bur first we're served Cachaca, a popular Brazillian drink distilled from sugarcane. Lucas was our full time local guide during our time visiting Iguazu. Vicky is also in this photo.
Lucas gives us a quick lesson about a drink.
We learn to toast in Guaranie.
Tincho tells us about lunch and Lucas explains about the Brazilian soft drink that's more popular than Coca Cola!
A simple but very delicious meal.
Entry to the Iguacu National Park - Brazil side of the falls. The park is spelled differently depending which country you are in.
Some information on the falls. We're told that the falls were running about triple the mean annual flow during our visit there.
A comparison of falls. The Iguazu river volume varies a lot depending on upsteam rain. Table from Wikipedia.
Our first view of the falls.
We haven't gotten wet...yet.
Group photo.
A lizard on the path to the falls.
Devils Throat is seen at far left in this photo.
Devils throat and more.
We're heading down to this walkway built over the falls!
Ben and Jan on the walkway.
Emerson and Linda on the walkway. We were all soaking wet!
Close to the power of the falls.
Feeling it!
Last view of Brazil side of the falls.
On the bus to our hotel, Lucas and Martin discuss the proper method of preparing Mate. The Iguazu area is the original home for Mate.
We'll be staying in the town of Puerto Iguazu for the next 2 days.
Our pretty hotel in Puerto Iquazu.
From a view point at our hotel. The forground is Argentina. The right side of the bridge is in Brazil and the bridge connects Brazil to Paraquay.
This rather unusual statue was in the lobby of our hotel. It is labled Pieta Ovejuna.
Atrium outside our rooms in the hotel.
Morning of March 12 - We go to a Guarani village.
An interesting tree.
A corn field along the way.
Our Guarani guide with his wife and child.
A model of a trap for catching animals.
Another animal trap. Here the animal climbs up through the middle but then can't back down.
We sample some food.
Our food samples.
The greeting written in English.
Their pharmacy.
We asked about local medicine.
They had cigars for sale but nobody purchased any.
Learning more about medicine. The former shaman was very suspicious of outsiders inquiring about medicinal plants. There was worry that the plants could all be taken for use in Western medicine.
We take turns (Jan in this photo) paying respect to this particular tree and take a silent meditative walk through the woods.
We come in and greet our performers.
A nice performance. The man walking around is a Shaman.
We say the greeting as a group.
The Guarani women marry young. The woman on the left is mother to the girl in the middle. The 14 year old girl on the right is already a mother herself.
Gift shop in the village!
Getting back on our truck to leave the village. The bus wouldn't have made it in.
Leaving the village. At the start our guide wanted us to know that they were not poor but chose to live their traditional life style. We asked what they thought of us foreigners intruding into their village. He said they welcome it as the local non quarani basically ignore them. I think they are also feeling a lot of pressure on the land they own from outside forces.
Now we head to a special spot for lunch.
We spend the next few hours at the Biocentro Iguazo.
Map of the grounds.
We go to a botanical garden and greenhouse.
Lots of pretty bromiliads.
We visit the Mariposario (butterfly farm). Our guide was quite knowledgeable.
Lucas explains what we are going to have for lunch.
Our plate.
Group photo.
We spend the afternoon down the road from our hotel. It's near the river, a park area and an outdoor market - good photo ops.
Las Tres Fronteras - Flags for the three countries that share this area.
We find some Mate gourds at the market but decide to wait until the next day to purchase. This is the one that "got away" as it was gone the next day. However, we did find another one that we liked.
Before dinner we join up with another OAT group and their leader to sample the Brazilian drink Caipirinha made with Cachaca, muddled limes and sugar. Yum! Immeditely following this we're given a basic samba dance lesson. Fun!
This delicious dessert follows our hotel dinner.
March 13 - Heading down for breakfast. A view of hotel dining room from above.
Before we head out for the day, Cindy inquires about the Christmas tree in the hotel lobby decorated with glass decorations made by two members of their staff.
Cindy asked if they had ornaments for sale; they didn't but they gave her one of them!
Cindy left this note.
Today we visit the Iguazu National Park in Argentina.
We take this train for several miles to get close to the Devil's throat part of the falls.
The guys with their Mate!
Lucas explains the energy from the tree.
Emerson takes his turn.
Linda takes her turn.
On the walkway to Devils Throat.
Getting closer.
Almost there!
On the top of the falls.
The walkway we are viewing from was just reopened as parts of it were washed away last fall during a big flood. Tincho and Linda.
Devil's Throat is the largest and most impressive of the falls at Iguazu. About half the Iguazu River's flow is forced through this 150m wide and 700m long fissure, dropping 80m with amazing power.
Emerson and Linda at Devil's Throat.
A poem by Alfonso Ricciutto.
One more shot of Devil's Throat.
Heading back to the train.
Suzanne, Emerson and Ben on train back to see other sections of Iguazu Falls.
A colorful bird in the tree.
A closeup of the bird.
On the way to see some more falls we discover these very large ants! These happen to be dead ones. We're told to stay away from live ones - they bite hard!
Salto Bossetti Falls.
Same view but close up of the distant falls.
Group photo.
Boats below can be seen approaching the falls. Something we'll be doing a little later.
Close up of a boat.
Salto Mbigua Falls.
Hanging roots.
An unexpected treat. You can see through this butterflys wings
A walk on the Green trail.
This walk takes us back to where we'll have lunch.
Waiting for truck to take us down to the water.
Another ride in the back of a truck. This one takes us to a river excursion. We got wet from the rain just getting to the boat. But not as wet as we will be.
A rainy truck ride down to the water.
Getting on the boat. Everybody was given a dry bag to keep their belongs in.
Heading to the first of two falls.
Almost there.
Close to the falls.
Here we are!
Oh nice!.
Very wet. Water on the camera kept changing the focus.
Video Martin took with his Go Pro.
What a ride!
Wet and fun!
Heading back to deboard.
Linda bought a Mate cup and a few other items from a small shop close to our hotel. This picture is after we got back to Dallas.
Traditional Mate cups are made from a gourd.
At our hotel. Delicious little things made with Manioc flour.
On the way to the airport we stopped for a local breakfast.
Lucas explains.
Last view of the falls as we fly back to Buenos Aires and then to our flight home.
Flying back to Buenos Aires for a few hours before we fly home to the states.
OAT put us up in the hotel for several hours before heading to the airport. We shared this room with Ben and Jan and decided to get silly!
We get a laser "sendoff" as we fly away.
So long Buesnos Aires, heading back to Dallas.