From Cape to cape. Expeditions by land and sea.

[drron]

It is raining heavily when we arrive.No airbridges so down the stairs and have to walk outside to the other end of the terminal.2 Immigration officers.One for Brazilians,one for foreigners.We are 5 and 6 in line but the first 3 haven't filled in their entry cards and the young fellow in front of us gets a short grilling and sent to a more senior officer.I get through quickly but they take their time perusing mrsdrron's passport-same thing happened in and out of Thailand on our last trip.
Our first bag is first out but a 40 minute wait for second bag which is last out.To a taxi and because of the rain we are in and off before the driver answers our question-how much to the Sheraton.He says $200-back to the terminal we say knowing that $US40 is max unless at night which it now is.Back at the terminal the controller says the driver misunderstood and meant 200 reals-pigs a*** he did.Said he would accept $55.Ok so off we went.No drama at the Brazilian Immigration.An expensive 75 minutes in Brazil.The Argentinian official is in a booth and we have to hand over our paperwork.gets drenched but no problems.

It is a long drive to the Sheraton and there is nothing near it.I had booked a basic room but we are upgraded to a Falls View Terrace suite.Great room.Sign on the door was interesting-

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The next morning the view was exhilarating-

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[drron]

So the room-

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Disappointing small bath but a separate shower-

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So a quick unpack and down to dinner.We both ordered a steak.Big mistake-you only have to order one for two people.Also in Argentina order your meat 1 grade higher than usual.If you normally like medium rare order medium-it will come out as you like it.I had the eye fillet,mrsdrron the sirloin-

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With a bottle of Chandon Mendoza SB.

We slept very well so a little late for brekkie and starting our tour of the park.Arrived at the train station at 0920 so had to wait for over an hour to get on a train to the main falls.This little fellow looked cute and certainly held no fear of humans.

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But just after this photo it came up behind a young girl sitting on the edge of a raised garden.It jumped taking a plastic cup out of her hands probably grazing her.There are pictures warning of bites from these coatis and the monkeys.

 

[drron]

A train arrived but unfortunately it was going back to the park entrance.But some less threatening wildlife entertained us-

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Soon we were on our way though it turned out to be a long walk on a boardwalk to finally get close to the major waterfall-Garganta Del Diablo,Devil's throat.

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And that's the Sheraton.

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[drron]

Large catfish patrol the variouis streams-

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The old boardwalk-

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Finally the falls-

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[drron]

The pictures do the talking-

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[drron]

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The Brazilian side-

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[drron]

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[drron]

Time to leave Devil's Throat-

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I have to say when I first saw this up close I was in agreement with Eleanor Roosevelt who exclaimed-"Poor Niagara."
On the way back to the train some more of those photogenic birds-

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At the station more coatis.This time a large female had jumped up and pulled a plasic bag out of the hands of a fellow.Dry biscuits went everywhere-

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[drron]

This created a feeding frenzy.When the biscuits were gone they decided to check us all out-

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Back on the train.We both had an icecream at the station café then mrsdrron went back to the hotel whilst I went on the Upper walk.Others did the Lower walk.

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[drron]

I really enjoyed this top walk with views changing around every corner-

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[drron]

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You can do boat trips from the Argentinian side-

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[drron]

You may have noticed that there was wonderful blue sky in the morning but now very cloudy.No concerns at present apart from the hordes of people taking selfies.New saying-only the selfish take selfies.

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The Belmond hotel on the Brazilian side-

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[drron]

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[drron]

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So the Belmond and the Sheraton from the smaller end of the falls.Our room is the 4th and 5th windows in from the right side on the lower floor.

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You can land on the island in the top right corner of the last pic from the boats from the Argentinian side.You can then walk up to the viewpoint in the middle picture.

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So now I am at the further most point of the Upper track.You can see from the last 2 pics that the rain has started.30 seconds later it was a full blown storm with torrential rain,thunder and lightning with people scattering.Impossible to take more photos.It did however mean on the way back there was quite a lot of wet T shirts.Younger Argentinians seem to do without underwear.

 

[drron]

It was a little frightening with some of the lightning being quite close and the walkway covered in a metal mesh.I arrived back at the room looking like a drowned rat.The rain eased for a minute or two so a photo of the lighthouse in the middle of the jungle-

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Mrsdrron meanwhile had got some good shots from the room of birds over the Falls and the Brazilian walkway-

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Of the 3 falls-Niagara,Victoria and Niagara this is the order I like.Niagara just too commercial.Iguazu seems to have the right balance.Spending 2 nights was certainly sufficient for us but a third night to do things interrupted by weather would be better for most.Though the Brazilian side does have boat tours only the Argentinian side boats get to see the whole falls plus the Island lookout.
Only the Brazilian side has helicopter tours-but they are not allowed into Argentinian airspace.
Although Victoria has a wider curtain in the wet season and on average Niagara has the greatest average water flow it would appear Iguazu in the wet season is the more spectacular.In cubic metres/sec the maximum recorded flow over Iguazu is 45,700,Niagara-8,300 and Victoria-7,100.

 

[OATEK]

I remember my parents being ecstatic after their first walk out to the falls (20 years ago), and I can see why from your pics.

 

[love_the_life]

I remember my parents being ecstatic after their first walk out to the falls 920 years ago), and I can see why from your pics.

Wow, that's aged parents

 

[OATEK]

Wow, that's aged parents

Got me (fixed).

 

[drron]

Approaching sunset-

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At 1930 off to dinner.A bottle of rural Trumpeter SB from Rutinis of Mendoza.Very nice.I had the Subido Missiones-spag with tomato,shellfish and grilled fish which I liked.Mrsdrron the prawn risotto which was excellent.

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Mrsdrron had a crème caramel which was not up to scratch-

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Lots of orchids on display-

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[drron]

Another good sleep and our last view of the falls-

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Checkout took a little while as a trainee doing it.Problem was that it is a little difficult taking the 21% VAT off-foreidners paying by CC get it off plus for breakfasts.I got it off 1 dinner as well a saving of $US160.Fortunately we had 30 minutes until our remis was due so I was glad to help out.

As we began to drive of our driver notices a toucan in the tree.I take out my little camera and take a shot even though the light was wrong and put down the camera on the seat.Then forgot it as we got out at IGR.

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As you can tell I got it back.Realised whilst waiting for checkin.Went to the taxi/remis office.Fortunately the fellow there had a brother working for the same remis company so he rang him.The brother rang our driver who was just minutes away from picking up another couple from the Sheraton to come to the airport.Much relief.
Our flight to AEP was 2 hours late.So a long wait for checkin which opens 30 minutes late.But 3 of the 4 agents took another 15 minutes before checking in a pax.Didn't matter as you are not allowed through security until an hour before your flight.We used up our few pesos with an icecream each.

LA 4028. IGR-AEP. ETD-1135. Pushback-1326. Take off-1334. A322. Seats 8B,C.
ETA-1330. Landed-1505. At gate-1512.
Once again security is a joke.Virtually everyone sets of the red light and once again I got my right knee patted down.All the in to a small gate lounge.Plane has just arrived.We are first in the Preferente line.A family with a young girl in a wheelchair who looks really ill and many kids in the preboard.But the wheelchair girl and family processed first,then Preferente and then kids but we all have to wait in the air bridge which has seen better days-

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Whilst waiting one fellow asks the agent why the plane was late-"That is not for you to know but there weren't enough planes.Apparently Latam has only 12 planes based in Argentina and if a charter-usually cruise ship pax to USH then flights are delayed.Once again overheads fill up quickly.Safety demo only in Spanish.Soon after take off our delightful snack is served-a small packet of broken crackers,a biscuit with a vanilla filling and a choc coated biscuit.No wines.

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Fellow in 8A takes a video of take off and landing but I do manage a shot of a narrow river Plate so I have seen Uruguay plus a shot of northern Buenos Aires-

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