December 7, 2019: A Walking Tour of Buenos Aires
	December 5, 2019: A Boat Tour of the Parana River Delta
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This is the album page for the third part of our visit to Iguazu Falls. If you wish to return to the page for the second part, you can use the link below:

This page for the third part of our visit to Iguazu Falls will pick up with our visit to the Brazilian side of the falls.

Iguaçu Falls (Brazil)

From the Argentinian park, Silvio drove us through Puerto Iguazu and onto the highway across the Iguazu River and into Brazil (our second visit to that country on this cruise vacation).

As you can see from the map at left, getting over to Brazil involves heading downriver to the one major bridge across the Iguazu. Getting across the border was a little odd. You have to stop twice- once to have the Argentinians check your passport and a second time to have the Brazilians have a look at it.

And while you might think that there would be traffic lanes and kiosks where you could show your passport to the officer on duty, both times Silvio had to park the car and take the two of us inside to have a passport control officer stamp the passports. When we asked him about this, Silvio said that for residents of Brazil and Argentina, all they actually have to do is drive through what amounts to a toll booth without the toll and use their driver's licenses for identification. But Silvio drives a vehicle with special tour guide plates on it, so he's expected to stop and bring his charges inside.

But getting across the border took only as long as it took to park, walk fifty feet inside, go up to a window and slide our passports across the counter to have them stamped. I don't recall even seeing the passport clerk scan them with a machine or anything.

The border between the two countries pretty much runs down the middle of the Iguazu River, except here at the at the crossing. I guess it makes it easier that the entire bridge is on Brazilian territory, as the international boundary comes right to the south shore of the river at this point.

So in the picture at right, that Fred took looking out the car window on the way across the river into Brazil, Fred is actually looking downriver, and of course we are already inside Brazil (even though the Brazilian customs station is on the north side of the river).

After stopping at the Brazilian entry station, Silvio continued on to the highway that runs back southeast along the north side of the river and which leads to the entry for the Brazilian National Park. The highway actually ends at the National Park (to get elsewhere in Brazil, you'd turn to the northwest, go through Foz do Iguaçu, and then take the highway into the interior of the country). The next major city- Curitiba- is about 400 miles away to the east, and Sao Paulo is another 400 miles beyond that up the Brazilian coast, with Rio being over 1000 miles from Foz do Iguaçu.

We weren't going that far, of course, and found the entry to the Brazilian National Park just about three miles down the highway.

In the Brazilian Park Entry Building

Iguaçu National Park is in Paraná State, Brazil. It has an area of about a half-million acres, with dimensions of about 25 miles by 20 miles. Iguaçu National Park was created by federal decree in 1939, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The park is managed by Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation.

The park shares with Iguazú National Park in Argentina one of the world's largest waterfalls, extending over some 9,000 feet. It is home to many rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, among them the giant otter and the giant anteater. The clouds of spray produced by the waterfalls are conducive to the growth of lush vegetation.

The area of the park open for visitation (including the concession areas of Cataratas do Iguaçú) is less than one percent of the total area of the park. Of course, the most spectacular feature of the park is the Iguaçú Falls, which form a wide semicircle. The highest one is 240 feet, and the number of waterrfalls ranges from 150 and 300 depending on the Iguaçú river flow. The park also has rich fauna, other waterfalls, the Black Well, the Visitors Center, and the Santos Dumont Statue (commemorating Brazil's "Father of Aviation", who lent his prestige to the efforts to create the national park). The Brazilian park receives some 1.5 million visitors a year.

The way this park works is much different from the Argentinian park. On the Argentinian side, you drive your car to the visitor center, park it, and then see the falls on foot (utilizing the train if you wish). Here on the Brazilian side, there is no train from the visitor center to the falls, so instead you park your car near the visitor center and then take a shuttle bus through the park and down to the falls themselves. It is too far to walk from the visitor center to the falls. Having Silvio guiding us, however, allowed us to bypass the bus. Silvio, as a tour operator, is allowed to bring in his vehicle, so he could drive us right down to the falls, parking in a special lot near the Belmond Hotel (the Brazilian park's "lodge").

At right is an extract from the park brochure that shows how things are laid out here.

There is basically one road through the park, and the shuttle bus stops at a couple of places along it. One is a cafe and refreshment center that is located at the drop off point for the people who are going to take a boat ride on the Iguazu. We stopped there, but just to get a cold drink before we headed down to the hotel and the falls.

The shuttle bus runs from the visitor center down to the Hotel Belmond, where most people get off to walk the path down to the falls. There seems to be an amusement area beyond the hotel, and we think that is where Silvio went to park his car. But he let us off at the hotel, right at the beginning of the path to the falls, and we had a chance to get some pictures before he came back.

At the Belmond Hotel and Falls Overlook

From the time I first started planning our excursion to Iguazu Falls, I was recalling my trip there in July of 1980. I was working for IST then, and we had a class that kept me in Rio for two weeks. I made two side trips during that time- one to Brasilia and one here to Iguazu Falls.

The Belmond Hotel das Cataratas

When I was here then, I flew into the airport on the Brazilian side, and so stayed on that side of the river in the one hotel that is actually inside the Brazilian national park- the Belmond Hotel. I could remember the hotel vaguely, but it wasn't until Silvio dropped us off in front of it that the memories really came back.

The Belmond Hotel das Cataratas is the only hotel in Iguassu National Park; thus, guests have access directly to the Brazilian-side falls, even when the park itself is closed. I remembered this from my stay here; on my first evening here, I arrived late in the day and there were quite a few people at the falls. After a while, all save hotel guests left, and when I actually went out on the boardwalks to look at the falls, there were relatively few people out (only hotel guests, all of us carrying or wearing the bright yellow raingear that the hotel provided).

The two storey Portuguese colonial style building first opened as a hotel in 1958. An additional wing was added in 1971, and yet another one was added two years after I was here. The hotel comprises a main building which houses the reception area, a bar and restaurant with terrace and an outdoor pool area with a casual restaurant. Comparing our views of the hotel today with my memories from 1980, I could easily see that the property was much bigger and much more modern-looking than when I was here.

I might mention that the day I was here forty years ago, it was cold and overcast; but then it was July, and the middle of their winter. Today, we are here in what is spring, and of course our weather was much, much better. Here are a couple more views of the hotel:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

As I said, Silvio went off to park his car while we waited in front of the Belmond taking pictures. I was regaling Fred with my memories of what the inside of the hotel had been like, but also assured him that in the ensuing 40 years, I was sure that much had changed.

The park road ran right in front of the Belmond, and across that road was the beginning of the main trail leading down to the Brazilian falls. There was also an overlook that gave us a different view of the falls, seeing them from an angle not possible from the Argentinian side. I have saved one of Fred's pictures from earlier in the day so I can include it here. From the Upper Falls hike, Fred had used his incredible zoom capability to take a picture of this observation area, perhaps not realizing that we would end up here later in the day.

Here are some of the incredible views that we were able to get from this observation area (it was a popular spot, and everybody stopped here for their first pictures):

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The views from even this easily-accessible overlook were pretty amazing, so before we headed off down the trail to the falls themselves, I made a movie looking around the area. And, for an interesting contrast, I'm also including here a picture I had an obliging tourist take back in 1980:

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Me at This Same Overlook in 1980

Note the waterfall at right in the picture of me, and compare it to the rightmost waterfall in the movie still at left. You can see that even after 40 years, the fall has hardly changed. Compare the two small rivulets at the left side of the second cascade in both pictures; they are identical. I also took a telephoto picture here of the walkway to Devil's Throat that we visited earlier today.

While I was here, I tried a few panoramic shots, but couldn't get the camera to cooperate, so instead I took a series of six separate photographs and stitched them together into the amazing view in the scrollable window below:

When Silvio returned, the three of us headed down the paved walkway towards the Brazilian Falls.

The Walk to the Brazilian Falls

From the overlook, the walkway began sloping downward along the cliff face; at some points, there were stairs going down. We have to descend enough so that when we arrive at the main falls, we will be at their base. All along the walk, we were treated to view of the waterfalls, and occasionally our angle of view would allow us to see small waterfalls that would otherwise have been hidden from view.

Some of the Argentinean Falls

It is hard to describe the majesty of the waterfalls that were over a mile and a half long; there were few places where you could see all of them from one spot, hence the many individual pictures that we took. Of all the movies that we took, Fred's was by far the best:

The Majesty of Iguazu Falls (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

We took so many pictures as we walked down the trail and stopped at the first cantilevered overlook that it was tough to try to reduce them to a manageable number. After getting rid of the duplicates and similar pictures, I was left with these:

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We continued down the walkway and occasional stairs, and on the way passed at least three overlooks- wooden platforms that were cantilevered out from the cliffside. Competiton to take selfies and photos from these overlooks was fierce.

When we got our turn to get down onto the platform, we went right to the edge, and here is a complete view of the falls that are seen in the picture at left. From one of these platforms we got a chance to take our own selfie (marred from the fact that in the sunlight, I set the camera on the wrong resolution).

We took lots of good pictures as we descended towards the largest Brazilian falls, and here are some of them:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Just after we left the platform shown in the picture above, left, Fred got another good view of that same series of falls, and you can see that good picture here. Of course, we also took some movies as we went along and from a couple of these platforms that offered such excellent views. While you may think it overkill to include four of those movies here, each one shows the falls from a different point of view, and of course each of them lets you experience the falls much as we did:

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At the Brazilian Falls

Eventually, as the trail descended, we came into sight of the falls on the Brazilian side of the Iguazu, and it was here that we would experience the falls most intimately (so intimately that we would get fairly damp from the mist and spray). Our first views were of the boardwalk that leads out into the middle of the Brazilian falls:

The last part of the trail that brought us down to the level of the boardwalk that you can see in the above pictures involved a goodly number of stairs, and we came out onto a walk that was just a few feet away from and a few feet above the Iguazu River. At this point, I had my little camera make a panoramic view of what we saw:

We continued walking on the now level path to the point where we could head out onto the boardwalk.

Fred at the Beginning of the Falls Boardwalk

We had already seen from our first views from above that the walkway extended out onto the plateau between the upper Brazilian falls and the lower cascade. It had one observation platform to the right as you walked out, and another platform at the end- right at the top of the second cascade.

It was misting a good bit, but we eschewed the simple plastic ponchos that Silvio offered. We took a few pictures before heading out on the boardwalk:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

The next group of pictures will take us out onto boardwalk and then to the observation platform on our right. That platform offered excellent views in all directions- including right down to the second cascade. The first cascade, which was to our left as we walked out onto the boardwalk, is some 1000 feet wide with a drop of about 200 feet.

The First Cascade of the Brazilian Falls

As we walked out on the first straight portion of the boardwalk, the views of the Brazilian falls to the north (our left) were amazing, and the sound overwhelming. Look at the first movie Fred made below:

The Brazilian Falls (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

In Fred's movie, you'll note that the spray seems to be collecting on his camera lens, as you can see the water spots. One reason we didn't take advantage of the ponchos was that it would have been difficult to keep taking our cameras out to take all the pictures that we wanted.

The Observation Building and the Brazilian Falls

At left is a particularly nice panoramic shot that Fred took. Of all the falls we've seen today, the Brazilian Falls (this particular waterfall may have a name, but if it does I have been unable to discover what it is) seems to be the largest single straight-line waterfall here at Iguazu.

We took lots of pictures of it from the walkway; here are two more of the best of them:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Maybe a hundred feet out the walkway, there was a branch to the right that led to a large platform overlooking the river going over the top of the second cascade, so we headed over there to see what the views were like. Here is a view looking back to the main walkway.

From the side platform, this picture looks back to the main walkway, and you can see the observation building and the main curtain of the Brazilian falls.

In this view, we are looking from the platform out along the main walkway again as it curves over the water and ends at another platform overlooking the second cascade.

The platform we were on was much less crowded than the main walkway, so it was the best place to take a selfie, and the best of the ones we tried is below, left.

Positioned as it was, the platform offered great views downstream. In the picture below, you can see the river heading down to drop over the second level of the cliffs that are the edge of the Parana Plateau, and you can see some of the Argentinean Falls in the distance:

As for movies, there are two more I want to include here. The first was taken from the beginning of the walkway, and pans across the Brazilian Falls and the walkway itself (note how crowded the walkway is). The second movie looks at the Iguazu River as it heads down to tumble over the second cascade.

The Brazilian Falls and Walkway (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

Heading to the Second Cascade (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

I got way in the southwest corner of the platform and made a number of attempts at a really good panorama; here is the best one, spanning the observation building, Brazilian Falls, the entire walkway, the dropoff over the second cascade, more of the falls on the Brazilian side and some on the Argentinean side as well:

From the first platform, we went back to the main walkway to head out to the end of it and the platform overlooking the second cascade. The spray and mist got heavier, and this made it difficult to take pictures and movies without having waterspots all over the images (unless you were looking downstream). But let's take a look at the pictures that turned out.

And here was the nice thing about the fine mist and spray- Fred got a rainbow in his picture looking back at the observation building.

The Brazilian Falls (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

He also took the best movie from out here, even though I had to edit the crowd out at the end and he was getting spray on the lens. You can use the player at right to watch his movie illusrating the power of the falls.

The River Drops Out of Sight

We were right at the edge of the cliff, but sadly not out over it. Even so, views like the one below were pretty amazing:

From out here, there were amazing views downstream; the panoramic view below is a composite of three separate images (as the platform was so crowded I found it hard to move the camera properly so it could do the panorama itself):

Looking Downstream from the Top of the Second Cascade

And here is my panorama of the Brazilian Falls from the end of the platform, this one again a composite of multiple (five, in this case) images:

The Brazilian Falls from the Platform at the End of the Walkway

We'd gotten some good pictures, and experienced the falls from up close, and so we headed back to rejoin Silvio (and keep from getting totally wet).

Views from the Observation Building (Lower Levels)

When we got back from the boardwalk, Fred got a couple more pictures as we walked along the path to the observation building close to the primary cascade of the upper Brazilian falls.

The Brazil-side Falls

The Boardwalk at the Brazilian Falls

The observation building had a number of levels to it. First, there were three levels at the base of the falls, with ramps and stairs connecting them. We stopped first on these levels and their various cantilevered balconies to get pictures of the falls looking up.

I intentionally made the picture at left (a composite of three images, as the observation platform was too close to the falls to get them all in a single shot) as large as possible to serve to impress you with the their size and power. We are looking right along the continuous curtain of water that stretches for almost a thousand feet.

I was quite close to the cliffs when I took the pictures at left, but at right is a view taken from a bit further away from the falls themselves, on one of the ramps between levels.

You can easily see that the two views are quite similar, which is one indicator of how wide the falls are- that moving away from them doesn't change the view that much.

Not far from the falls themselves are the overlook balconies that are part of the observation building (which has shops and restaurants and facilities and that sort of thing). There were three levels, connected by ramps, each of which provided fantastic views of the Brazilian Falls and places where you could just stand and take it all in. Here are a couple of those impressive views:

One of the best pictures I got was this one of Fred next to the falls (actually taken at the second level of the three deck levels). It was great here, being so close to the falls but not having to contend with the spray. And of course, we found places to photograph each other with the falls as a backdrop:

Me and the Brazilian Falls

The Brazilian Falls as Seen from the Third Level

Fred and the Brazilian Falls

I made two panoramic views while we were here on the lower levels of the observation building. The first one shows the falls and most of the "rock shelf" over which the water from the upper falls flows over to the second cliff from which it tumbles the rest of the way down:

As I've said a number of times today, pictures don't do these falls justice; that requires video and, even more importantly, sound. The two of us must have taken six or eight movies from the various observation levels, but I just want to include the two best ones here:

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Not only can you see the falls "up close and personal" from the various lower levels of the observation structure, but you can also look out across the cliff plateau between the upper and lower cascades. (At Devil's Throat, the falls drop from the Parana plateau all the way down to the river level as it flows onward. But here, the water drops only halfway down, then flows across a broad "shelf" and under the boardwalk, and finally drops the rest of the way to the river level. Here are three different views of this imtermediate "shelf":

Finally, here is a closeup panoramic view of the Brazilian falls, with one of the platforms and people on it included for scale:

Views from the Observation Building (Upper Level)

I've mentioned that walking to the observation building from the boardwalk brought us to an area where three levels of observation balconies were connected by ramps. When we were done here, Silvio guided us over to an elevator, and we ascended to the top level of the building (the same level as the Belmond Hotel and the roadway. Here, we found another observation area, where all the views were of the river and falls from above. First, here is one of my panoramic views:

As for the many, many pictures we took, after weeding out the obvious duplicates, I thought that the best way to let you look at the best of the bunch was via a slide show. Below, to the right of the picture of the two of us that Silvio took, is that slide show. As with the other slide shows in this album, click on the little arrows in the lower corners of each picture to go from one to the next.

Now let's take a look at the falls in a couple of good videos. (I do want to comment on Fred's video at left, though. I think he actually meant to take two separate videos, but didn't turn the video off in the middle. Consequently, you will also get an interlude of some of the folks on the observation balcony from some angles you might not expect.)

Fred's Movie of the Brazilian Falls (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

My Movie of the Brazilian Falls (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

And finally, just before we left to rejoin Silvio, a last panoramic view of the Brazilian Falls from above:

You can return to today's index or you can continue with the next section below.

Our Trip to Iguazu Falls Comes to an End

When we'd gotten to the top level of the observation building, Silvio left us to go retrieve his car while we took our pictures. When we were done, we went up the last flights of stairs to the street, waited a few minutes, and then Silvio pulled up and we climbed in for the return trip back to Argentina. As we crossed the bridge between the two countries, I got another picture of the Iguazu River below the falls.

On the way back, we had some discussions with Silvio about what else we might do before our flight at 945PM. There was plenty of time to get some supper (as it would be far too late when we returned to Buenos Aires), and so Silvio suggested some places that we might go to have something to eat.

We put ourselves in Silvio's hands, since he knew the area. It was almost five-thirty when we got back to Puerto Iguazu, but Silvio said that since everyone in Argentina eats their evening meals very late, our only concern would be to find a restaurant that was open already, but he had one in mind- Color Parilla and Pizza in the middle of town.

We got off of the highway past the EXE Cataratas to the airport and headed into town. Just driving along looking at the street scenes was very interesting, and it was only about fifteen minutes before we were parking near the restaurant.

I thought the restaurant was very pleasant. It was on a quiet street, and most of the tables were in the open, although there was inside dining as well. Silvio was right about Argentine preferences for eating times; there was no one else there when we arrived, and only one other person when we left. But Silvio said that the restaurant, where he and his wife like to eat when there happen to be in Puerto Iguazu, gets very, very busy later in the evening.

From the back of the restaurant menu:

"We are a family business formed more than 30 years ago in the city of the Falls. Built on a solid foundation of union, effort and creativity, we managed to position ourselves among the first gastronomic establishments in the city of Puerto Iguazú and the Triple Frontera (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay). Always innovating in the creation of new dishes, we offer a varied menu with more than 60 dishes with the quality that only Color Grill & Pizza can offer."

We ordered a simple dish of empanadas, salad, and french fries, the dish accompanied with two or three different condiments for the empanadas and some interesting breads.

Silvio ran an errand while we ate, and when he returned we got him a cold drink and we sat and chatted while we finished our meal. The afternoon was sunny and very, very pleasant, and this restaurant was definitely a good choice. We took a few candid pictures during our meal, and here are some of them:

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It was about seven when we finished our meal and were ready to leave the restaurant. We walked around the area near the restaurant for a little while, and then decided that we should let Silvio get home to Brazil.

He took us out to the Argentine-side airport where we'd arrived yesterday (a fifteen-minute trip) and we bid him farewell when he dropped us off. We were very complimentary, tipped him generously, and have been effusive in our praise of the day he provided on both the Tours By Locals website and on TripAdvisor. And I have no problem using this space as well to encourage you, should you find yourself heading to Iguazu Falls to definitely check our Silvio or at least his organization. Fred and I agreed that we would not have been able to do all we did on our own, and found Silvio's guidance and knowledge to have been well worth the cost.

Our flight back to Buenos Aires was right on time and we arrived back in the city just before midnight. Getting a taxi back to the apartment was easy, and by twelve-thirty we were coming in the door.

This was probably the best day of the entire cruise vacation. Iguazu Falls is a wondrous place, and I certainly hope that if you haven't been there, you will put it on your bucket list!

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	December 7, 2019: A Walking Tour of Buenos Aires
	December 5, 2019: A Boat Tour of the Parana River Delta
	Return to the Index for 2019