Thursday 28 January

Iguaza Falls to Rio de Janeiro

This morning Lesley had the runs and wasn’t feeling at all well. Possibly a bug picked up in the hotel? No vomiting but certainly felt like it. 

The group went early to look at the falls from the Brazilian side (early to beat the crowds once the park opened at 8.30am), and Lesley went too after having no breakfast. Argentina may have most of the falls but by geeze Brazil has the view!! It is amazing from below, where we are AT the level of the lower falls. We walked out onto a walkway, copping spray of course, to see it all. Just magnificent! Apparently in flood the area is a wall of water. In drought all you see is rock wall! One of our group lost her Panama (Ecuadorian) hat over the edge, which upset her, because the force of the falls creates wind. A shame she didn’t realise and leave the hat behind. Easy to say in hindsight. The early morning sun created rainbows in the spray, which was magic.

After a shower and packing we went to the nearby bird park. It was started from scratch by an English couple some 30-odd years ago. He died and she is running it now on her alone with a huge staff to assist. It is very well set out with wonderful displays. They also rescue birds, and even release some back into the wild. It was very hot here, and the walking around didn’t help Lesley. Below are just some of the residents:

Another plane, this time to Rio de Janeiro. Plane safety isn’t high on their lists of things, because of 12 seats at the emergency exits (just behind us) only one was occupied!! Perhaps they have to pay extra for this?? And on another flight an 8mth old baby sitting next to us in her Mum’s lap yesterday didn’t have a seatbelt at all, unlike in Australia.

Iguacu Falls from the plane

It was wet when we landed, so we didn’t see a lot out of the bus windows. The bus trip from the airport to the hotel took us past “Sambadrome” where the samba school parade competition is held during Carnival (pronounced Carnivarl). A 650m stretch of road with grand stands on either side. Competition is held over 3 nights. Seats cost over $500US a night. This avenue will host the Archery completion and the finish of the Marathon at the 2016 Olympic Games. The business side of the town closes down for the five days of Carnival, which is held in early February. We are seeing the preparations for this, but are going to miss it unfortunately.

The hotel, Copacabana Palace, is old fashioned, and has many photos of celebrities who have stayed here. Stuart’s bag wasn’t delivered to the room along with Lesley’s, so heaven knows where it has got to. It wasn’t left at the airport. Lesley stayed in the room while Stuart went out to dinner with a number of others. One of the others found the bag in their room when they returned from dinner (as Lesley thought would happen) and delivered it to our room. Internet is abysmal and we are lucky if it works.

When Stuart was leaving the restaurant at 10pm, it was still full with family groups arriving.