A beautiful blue sky dawns early and we met Beatrice out front at 10. We head first thing to the helicopter tour, which is located at the entrance to the park, about 5 miles from the hotel. We line up, and I’m a bit nervous to go. Henry Ford couldn’t run this operation any more efficiently, as we head to the tarmac, allow previous passengers to unload, and then we’re shepherded on:
Luckily enough, we get to sit in the front row:
and take off immediately. I thought it would feel weird, being so used to a runway when I travel by air, but I LOVED it! As we rose above the expanse of forest, my eyes welled up – so amazing to see the earth from this perspective. We head out and towards the river in which the falls live. It’s 800 miles long, with 780 in Brazil, and the last 10, which contain the falls, shared by Brazil and Argentina (the border goes right down the middle). Because the vast majority of the river lies in Brazil, they control the flow of water with 5 dams. After this last 10, the river joins another, in a spot where the borders of Brazil, Argentina AND Paraguay come together. I’ll show you the maker later in this post.
Anyway, you can see the river flowing up to the 1 1/2 mile length of the falls, which are on two levels:
and as we fly directly over, you can see most all of the falls and our hotel on the side of it:
and before we’d like, we’ve headed back and it’s our turn to be shepherded out and the next folks on:
Then we head over to the Argentine side of the park, go for a short walk to stand by/over different falls,
and next we hop on a train that will take us to our next adventure:
a boat ride on the river and up under the falls. We’ve come prepared with waterproof rain jackets and rain pants, and then we top that off with a life preserver. We take our seats in the boat:
and then we’re off. They stop in front of a scenic spot for a photo op:
then tell us to put our cameras in our dry bags, because we’re “going under”. Everyone is squealing and we’re getting pounded. I try to look up to see how far in we are, but every time I do, water goes into my hood and starts streaming down the inside of my coat. So that doesn’t last long. A few more “showers”, then we exit at the boat dock and Beatrice is waiting for us. We drop off our gear, and I remove my raincoat and unzip my water pants to the knees (I’m wearing shorts underneath) so they can flap dry. It’s a beautiful view ascending the stairs and I stop for several photos on the way up:
At the top, we stop at a snack bar for a couple of empanadas, then we’re back in our car and headed for the spot where the 3 countries meet:
to drive through the town of Puerto Alegre, and make the all-important stop at the tourist shop for coconut liquor. We’re then dropped at the hotel, and I take a moment to go take a photo across the road of the falls, because the sky and weather are spectacular:
and then meet mom on the patio for a cocktail, ceviche and fried fish fingers.
Empanadas don’t keep you full very long! I go sit for a bit by the pool:
and then back to the room. No need for dinner tonight, just a mellow evening.