Day 10

Day 10 everyone. I told you all that dominoes was going to be a hit. A large portion of yesterday’s drive consisted of playing dominoes and UNO because our man Joe found a toy store in Sao Pedro do Ivai. You should expect the rest of our time on the bus to be dedicated to these two. We moved into our beautiful hotel in Foz do Iguacu and had an eventful dinner to say the least. The hotel restaurant was not built for a group of twelve and we had three hours of laughs at their expense. With that said I had a great beef parmesan meal and good times with Ihor, Dr. Abad, JD, and Kon

Today, however, we have much bigger things to do. Get excited for pictures. Today is the ideal day for a tourist in Southern Brazil. First, birds. Parque Das Aves is a bird park very near Iguazu Falls and we enjoyed a couple hours getting to know the Brazilian wildlife. Aside from birds of all shapes and sizes, however, the bird park had plenty of critters and could probably call itself a mini-zoo. Mini monkeys, crocodiles, pythons, anacondas, turtles, iguanas, and fish all made an appearance. At the end of the tour the path opened up into a gift shop, restaurant, and patio area where there was an opportunity to pet a snake and get pictures holding a parrot. I scrambled to look around the gift shop for a few souvenirs for the family, but came up relatively empty. I was excited, however, because before getting in line to grab lunch I had a conversation strictly in Spanish with a native Portuguese speaker for about fifteen minutes. I suppose when you’re both butchering the language it takes a little pressure off of you. I finished lunch while listening to a jack-of-all-trades one man band that could put any street performer to shame and then we were off to the falls.

It probably wouldn’t shock you to hear that these were the best pictures of the trip. Iguazu Falls is a one of a kind tourist attraction named one of the seven natural wonders of the world. My words and all of the pictures will never do it justice. I actually cut the trip a bit short by signing up for a boat ride into the falls. We took a speed boat up the Iguazu River directly into the falls on the Argentinian side and from the front of the boat were even able to stand right under the water. While you couldn’t open your eyes more than a squint at some times, the rainbows on the water were the best you’ll ever see. Despite being soaked to walk around the rest of the day, we had a really unique experience and a great ride.

Now, back at the top we had to quickly do our tour of La Garganta Del Diablo, or the devil’s throat. These are the pictures that you look at 20 years from now. Because the falls are a bit staggered, you get the unreal opportunity to walk out in front of one fall while overlooking a second. Did I mention the Argentinian side is right there as well and an unbelievable sight in its own right? Check out the pictures. The description will never compare.

You might think our day is winding down, but I’m happy to say we’re just getting started. Quickly from the falls we went to the very corner of Southwestern Brazil. Why? Because at this point you can see the intersection of the Parana and Iguazu rivers, but more importantly, the point where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina all meet. In a very cool gesture from the three nations, there are small parks right near the river where each nation has made a pillar bearing its colors. I personally enjoyed a small pyramid monument with the Portuguese words of light, life, and love on each side.

So that pretty well wraps up Da……. Wait what? There’s more? Well we have to go get dinner. We could do something modest, or we could go for the best show in town. High octane South America coming at you left and right with all of the bells and whistles. We quickly got cleaned up and the hotel and took off for the show and buffet. While the buffet would have easily been the highlight of the trip, it was put to shame by the performance. Each nation of South America, and actually part of central America too, performed a song, dance, or acrobatics act (you name it, they had it) of their choice and each was better than the last. Foz do Iguacu is an absolute blast.

That, I believe, puts a bow on the day. Thanks for reading and buenas noches.