Will we ever make it to Iguassu Falls????

 Thursday, February 29

So alarm for 5:30 am, a quick breakfast, and then we headed back to the airport with all our luggage to try to catch our 9:30 am flight. It was rush hour but traffic was moving pretty quickly.  Especially the motorcyclists using the dotted line as their lane.

It's pretty weird when you recognize everyone in line at a foreign airport.  We ran into a couple we met last night, they were the first to get the voucher.  But after getting their voucher, they stopped for a bite to eat, and by the time they got to Intercity, the hotel was full.  They had to be taxied to another hotel, and didn't check in until 2 am.  Yikes!

The pilot did not look stressed as we boarded, maybe we would make it this time???

We made it!  Everyone on the plane cheered.

We booked a 2 day package so we were picked up at the airport. The company changed the order of our itinerary so that we ended up doing the Brazil side today instead of tomorrow.

Note: the English spelling is Iguassu, the Spanish (Argentinian) is Iguazú , and the Portugese (Brazilian) is Iguaçu.  

Some interesting facts about Iguassu Falls:

• They are taller than Niagara Falls and wider than Victoria Falls

• There are normally about 275 individual waterfalls, but it varies between 150-300 by season

• The name Iguazu comes from the native Guarani for ‘big water’ 

• The flow over the falls is strongest between November to March, increasing from 60,000 cubic feet per second to 450,000 cubic feet per second.

• The falls have been in movies such as Black Panther, Indiana Jones, and The Mission.

• They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Day one of our tour was a half-day tour to the Brazilian side of the waterfalls, which is the smaller side. The Argentinian side has 70-80% of the falls, making the view from the Brazilian side better.

Maurizio was a great guide today.  Just twice he didn't go with us, we suspect because both places got us wet LOL.  His excuse was that his ticket didn't allow him, but we didn't believe it for a second.

So here are a few pictures of the Falls from the one trail that is on the Brazilian side:

After lunch, we decided to take the boat tour.  It began with a "jungle cruise" (we saw a deer ha ha, although they did play up the local jaguars quite a bit).  Then a funicular took us down to a dock and onto a zodiac style boat.

The rain was so strong, it felt like sleet in our faces.  Then he stopped a nice safe distance from the Falls and lured us into a false sense of security. 

Before we knew it, he was zooming in and out of the different Falls.  The rain ponchos did NOT help.  But it was a blast. Here is a short video clip we took:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79iLjWxIqZs

Then the sun came out and there was a nice rainbow.  

To leave Brazil, we needed to park the car and go in to get our passports stamped.  Then the Argentinian side had a drive through checkpoint.  Maurizio dropped us off at our hotel.  Here we spread out all the damp clothes from our suitcases. Yesterday when we left the airport (for the first time), it was pouring rain, and that's when we figure some of our clothes got wet.

We took a short walk down to the obelisk, which signifies the spot where 3 countries meet:  Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.  

We're Calling it an Adventure!!!

 Wednesday, February 28

I can't believe our last blog was 4 years ago! Stupid Covid. So here we go!

So we've had quite a bit of flight stress in the last few days.  Our flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, was a "direct flight" with a stop in Brazil.  We would be required to exit the plane and reboard.  Then a few days ago we heard about a possible one day strike at the airport in Buenos Aires ON THE DAY THAT WE LAND (the 28th).  On the 29th we were supposed to fly out of Buenos Aires for a 2 day trip to Iguassu Falls.  But this wouldn't happen if we didn't get to Buenos Aires in the first place.

So Tuesday morning Frankie called Air Canada and asked if we could just disembark in Brazil instead of Buenos Aires on the 28th.  She received a hard NO!!!  

Two hours later we found out that the flight to Buenos Aires was cancelled.  Not really surprised.  Air Canada kept us on the same first flight and generously changed our connecting flight to Buenos Aires to the 29th.  So a 24 hour layover 😔.

Another phone call to Air Canada.  A different person this time.  She said it made perfect sense for us to get off in Brazil.  She made it happen! But it means that when we landed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, we  had to make our own way to Iguassu Falls.

Why why why do all the flights have to be Red Eyes????

Our plane left Toronto at 10:40 pm. Already way past our bedtime. It should have been easy to sleep, right???? Ha ha ha.

So the flight actually left Toronto late because a ton of people had to get new boarding passes for the flight. It arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at 10:30.  Since Anton was born in Brazil (even though he left at the age of 2), he was not allowed to enter Brazil with a Canadian passport.  He went through a long process to obtain his Brazilian passport.  After all this effort, we are thinking that another trip to Brazil in the future may be in order!

We had to pick up our luggage, exit through the perfume section (ugh!) and find our way to LATAM airlines to book our own flight to Iguassu.  We got there just a few minutes too late for the noon flight, so the soonest flight we could get was 5:30 pm.  

We spent a boring afternoon in the Sao Paulo airport, but we did find an Olive Garden for lunch!

Finally time for our flight to Iguassu!  They even gave us emergency exit seats.

There was a nice view of Sao Paulo as we left:

It was a 2 hour flight.  We got to Iguassu and the pilot announced that there was a thunder and lightning storm, so he would have to circle for awhile.  Then he said it was all clear and we were going to land.  Um, it's taking a LONG time to land....Does the plane normally accelerate on landing?????

So we had a nice view of Sao Paulo as the plane turned around and returned to the airport in Sao Paulo.

SIGH!!!

LATAM did provide vouchers for a hotel and meals and taxi.  But the internet wouldn't work on either of our phones and we don't speak Portuguese, which made getting the vouchers almost impossible.  

And the hotel they provided proved to be a half hour away.  There was a long lineup of LATAM people, so it took us half an hour to check in.

Needless to say, we are zonked!!!

The rescheduled flight to Iguassu is at 9:30 am tomorrow.  It seems like a distant dream.

Good night!