Iguazu Falls Day 1

Our third day in Rio de Janeiro got off to a super early start, because we were catching a flight to Iguazu Falls which takes about two hours.  We were rewarded for getting up early though, when we got to breakfast and saw the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean.  As always, pictures don't do it justice, but this was one of my favorites.

We got on the bus, and a lot of people fell asleep, but I wanted one last look at Rio.  We drove by the Christ the Redeemer statue and I imagined that he was saying goodbye, come back soon.

The flight was fairly painless.  I discovered that one of my favorite parts of this whole guided travel thing was that Marcia had printed our boarding passes and paid porters to help with the bags, so all I had to do was hand over the passports.  The airport was nice and clean, we had a short wait, a short flight, and then we were in Iguazu.  Once again, Marcia had arranged porters, so Jeff went over to ID our luggage, while I succumbed to Elena's insistence on taking her picture with Superman.

We met our special Iguazu guide, Val, who took us to a new bus.  Val explained that we were going to go to the hotel to drop off the bags, but that we couldn't check in yet, since it was too early.  Never fear though, since our hotel was inside the park, we could make use of the walking path and get a look at the waterfalls right away.  Then we would have time for lunch, and by then the rooms would all be ready.

It wasn't a long drive, and when we pulled up to the hotel, the first thing that I noticed was that it was pink!

Then we walked a few more steps towards the sound of rushing water and got our first glimpse of part of the waterfalls, wow.

The river is the border between Argentina and Brazil, so the falls themselves are in Argentina, but the view from Brazil is spectacular.  There is a walking path on the Brazil side along the almost two miles of waterfalls, and it starts right in front of the hotel, so we walked along it.  We tried to get pictures with the girls and the falls, but they weren't always cooperative.

Jeff also got some great panorama shots.

I like some of my smaller shots too.

It was just so spectacular.  When we finished with our walk, we waited for a while for the rest of our group and had a close encounter with a coati, which is a relative of the racoon.  Our guides had been very clear that these were not cute animals to be petted, and we had to keep repeating this to Elena.

Jeff also spotted a cool butterfly.

We took an elevator up to a little shopping and restaurant area where we had two options for lunch, a fast food court or a buffet restaurant.  We opted for the buffet, and Elena was especially pleased to see that they had decorated for Christmas.

We got a table with a lovely view of the Iguazu River before it goes crashing over the falls.

We got our favorite Brazilian drinks and the food was really good, so we had a leisurely lunch there.  After lunch, we took a look at the stores, but there were only a couple, one selling souvenirs and the other selling expensive jewelry.  Eventually, it was time to take the bus back to the hotel.  When we got there, they escorted our group to a lovely room where we waited with welcome drinks while they handed out keys and we identified the luggage we wanted sent to our rooms.  The girls made a beeline for the chess set by the window which cracked me up.

Jeff relaxed under the portrait of the first Emperor of Brazil.

At first we were a little puzzled at the title of emperor, but then Jeff started doing some research on Brazil.  It is actually the 5th largest country on Earth after Russia, Canada, China, and the U.S..  He also found this map, showing how Brazil dwarfs Europe.

One of my friends shared the fun fact that the easternmost part of Brazil is closer to Africa than it is to the westernmost part of Brazil.  Overall, we felt that someone who controlled the whole country was perfectly justified in calling himself an emperor.

While we were researching, the girls were enjoying their new hotel room.

Ours was connecting with slightly different decor.

The rooms were quite a bit smaller than what we had had at the Sheraton, but I loved the tile in the bathroom.

The real selling point for the hotel though, were the grounds, so we got changed into swimsuits and headed out to explore our pink paradise.

They had a VW van, pink of course, and inside were Santa and Mrs. Claus with a bunch of presents.  The light wasn't great, but I couldn't resist a picture.

Our final destination was the pool, a lovely spot with comfy loungers and pool side service.

I absolutely loved the little parrots at the top of the stirrers.

After a while though, it was time to get cleaned up and ready for dinner at the hotel's buffet restaurant with our group.  The hotel was beautifully decorated for Christmas, so we wanted to get some pictures with the girls before dinner.

They insisted on taking one with us too.

By the end though, they were getting a little punchy.

The dinner was delicious, but the girls were beat, so they asked to head back to the room without us.  We weren't far behind though.  We tried to get a couple more pictures of the tower and the van, but the light was not our friend.  Still, you can see Santa and Mrs. Claus in there.

We got back to the room to find two children, sound asleep.

It was a long, but wonderful first day in Iguazu.