Foz du Iguacu, Brazil

I started my day again today with the breakfast buffet and a mimosa. Paulo came by at 8:00 to take us around the Brazilian side of the falls. One of the advantages of staying in the Belmond is that guests get early entrance into the park – rather like staying in a Disney resort, but a whole lot better.

The Brazilian side of the falls is not quite so overwhelming as the Argentinean side, but still very spectacular. You do get a much better view of the falls, but you do not feel so up close and personal. There was another couple looking at the falls and otherwise we almost had the falls to ourselves. The only intrusion was a man with a leaf blower who seemed to be following our every move and drowned out the thundering sound of the falls and the melodic sound of the birds. Paulo had seen a toucan that morning, but alas we did not see one, but we did see to parrots fly overhead.

For the most part there was very little spray, and we didn’t have to worry about our cameras getting wet. However, when you get to the lower viewpoint for the Devil’s Throat you get totally soaked. Luckily Paulo had brought along some rain ponchos for us, and we were able to leave our cameras and backpack with him as we ventured into the spray.

There are numerous steps down when you walk the trail to see the falls, but there is a scenic lift that takes you back up again at the end of the trail. Brilliant!

The day had started off bright and sunny, but an hour later when we got to the view of the Devil’s Throat from below it started to get overcast, and when we got out of the lift and looked back at the falls the sky was black, with flashes of lighting. Paulo had parked his car by the lift, and gave us a ride back to the hotel. As soon as we got in to the lobby it began to rain heavily. We had booked a boat ride for later in the morning, but because the rain was so heavy we decided to postpone it and go on the tour later in the day. Paulo had reassured us that in summer it never rains for more than3 hours at a time, so the afternoon would be perfect.

He was wrong. It poured all day long. Now rain is not something foreign to Brian and I when we are on holiday. We go to Africa in the dry season and it rains the whole time. We travel to drought stricken areas that have not had rain in years, and all of a sudden they are having problems with floods. We were in Europe in July last year and it rained constantly except for the day we left. So it came as no surprise that despite Paulo’s prediction, 4 hours later there was no sign that the rain was going to stop. The result was that we never got to do the boat ride, sad, but an excuse for coming back here again.