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Friday, August 25'th
Private-driver is ready at 7 to take
me to the airport. My
TAM-flight leaves for Foz de Iguassu
at 8.30, with a stop over in Rio de Janairo. Vi land in Foz at 1 pm. It's a
short taxi-ride from the airport to my hotel San
Martin Hotel & Resort. It's just beside the entrance to the brazilian
part of the nationalpark with the waterfalls. We'll get back to that, because
today it's to late
But there's time for a local birdpark
just beside the hotel. Plenty of beautiful and colourful birds. Parrots,
Toucans - you name it. Very nice place
Small video from the birdpark |
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The hotel is a kind of resort-place.
It's far from any city, so you have to stay and eat at the hotel, which
I would prefer not to. But only chance for dinner is the restaurant or
the bar at the hotel this night. I get a bad sandwich in the bar, before
I retire for my room with a nice TV. |
Saturday, August 26'th
Shitty day!! Thunder and rain from
the morning. Impossible to get outside. Keeps on until 3 so no sightseeing
today, just watching TV at the room. Premier League and golf from USA.
Dinner at the restaurant at the
hotel. 30 Reials for an all you can eat buffet - so I try to eat as much as
possible. Only thing disturbing, is the guy playing the hammond-organ in the
corner of the restaurant. I'd rather prefer the guitar-guy in Salvador.
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Sunday, August 27'th Better weather today - only cloudy
from the morning, no rain.
The entrance to the brazilian part
of Parque Nacional do Iguacu is just 100 m. from the hotel. The fee is 20 Reials,
and then I'm ready for the colourful bus in the park. It takes the tourists
about 5 km, before it reaches the reason for being here - the waterfalls. Out of
the bus, and a nice walk downhill along Rio Iguacu. The only thing going up is
an anteater with it's nose buried into the ground taking notice of no one. I
continue towards Garganta do Diablo the most powerful of the falls. There's a
bridge out into the river here, so you can get closer to the falls and have a
great view.
Eventhough the waterlevel is very
low, it's a gigantic sight.
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The trip up and down takes a few
hours, so I still have plenty of time. So after a cup of chocolate, I take the
whole trip once more. The sky has cleared, so there's a chance for better
pictures this time.
Small video from the waterfalls
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After this I return for the hotel.
There's not many guests at the hotel. But there's plenty of employees. At the
bar at the swimmingpool there are three waiters waiting to serve the one person
out there, and when I go to dinner at the restaurant, there are 4 waiters to
help me. One with the wine-card (water please !), one for taking out the chair,
one who wants to know which room I'm staying in - and the fourth one just
hanging around. Thank God - the hammond-guy has the night off.
This day finishes with a beer in the
bar - strangely - the coffee in this place is awful - weird, when we are
actually in Brazil. |
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Monday, August 28'th
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Going abroad today. To Missiones,
Argentina - to take a look at the falls from the other side.
Leaving the hotel at 8 in a minibus.
It breaks down at the border, so we have to wait for another one. So it's almost
10 before we reach the entrance to the argentinian part of the falls.
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I take a walk along Passeios
Supereiores - upper walk. It's a short one along the top of the waterfalls.
Then on to Passeios Inferiores -
lower walk. It's a little longer, and you look up onto the waterfalls. You meet
a lot of anteater on the way and a lot of colourful birds. Wonder if I can take
an anteater with me back home. Could be useful for cleaning my apartment.
Last part is a small tivoli-train
going to a bridge made of iron. This bridge leads very close to the Garganta do
Diablo. At the end of the bridge there's a plaform, and here you a very close.
It's not windy today, but anyway you get soaked out here. This is real natures
drama, so you spend some time just watching the thing.
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Both the nature and the waterfalls
on the argentinian side is much more beautiful than in Brazil.
At 4 we return. This time in a
smaller bus and a car. On the way back we make a small break at a viewpoint,
where the rivers of Iguacu and Paraná meet. You are standing in Argentina, and
can see Brazil on the other side of Iguacu and Paraguay on the other side of
Paraná.
Back to the hotel, dinner at the
restaurant and a beer in the bar.
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Tuesday, August 29'th
I have a small problem - almost out
of cash. It's like playing the lotto using the ATM's down here, and the last two
times I have played I haven't won. So there's not much room for tips for the
good people at San Martin Hotel & Resort.
I'm leaving Iguassu today. But it's
late in the afternoon, so I have to spend the day in some way. I so so by
getting up late, and hanging out by the pool, reading and trying to solve som
Sudoku's. At 4.30 I'm taken to the airport - and there's an ATM working, so I'm
back on track again.
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At 5.30 TAM takes me to Rio de
Janeiro airport. Here I'm picked up by an older gentleman taking me to Buzios
in a minibus. Buzios is an old fishing-village 180 km from Rio. It's a terrible
ride out there, the rain is pouring down, making it hard to see anything. The
trip takes 3 hours before we reach
Pousada
San Germain. I get a room - with 4 beds. And I'm only here for 3 nights, so
I won't have the chance to use them all.
To
Buzios
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