Foz do Iguaçu

The song of the water
Doomed ever to roam,
A beautiful exile,
Afar from its home.

-Henry Kendall

It was a strange feeling to wake up on the last full day of our journey. Vince and I had been away from home for nearly a month; long enough that travel had started to feel like my new daily routine. I wondered if it would be strange to finally arrive home in two days as I started to prepare for another hot excursion into the jungle, picking a quick-dry shirt and shorts from my backpack. As I slathered oily sunscreen onto my arms, I thought about finally seeing our families and our cat again, and this idea softened the blow of the trip coming to an end. Yes, I was ready to be home. But first, I was ready for one last adventure. I donned my sun hat and tightened the laces on my hiking shoes, eager to start the day.

Bird song echoed down from the treetops as Vince and I left our room to go wait for a driver to pick us up in front of our hostel. A friendly dog joined us at the front gate and wagged her tail appreciatively as I pet her until our driver arrived to take us to the Brazilian border. This was a short drive, and we were in and out of passport control and meeting our Brazilian guide, Neide, within a half hour of leaving the hostel.

Neide drove us in the direction of Iguaçu National Park while outlining our itinerary for the day, including some optional items that we hadn’t booked yet. I had already expressed interest in visiting the bird park located just outside of the National Park, and Neide said we should stop there first because the birds would be most active in the morning. Soon we arrived at Parque das Aves and Neide saw us to the entrance where she set an approximate time that we should meet her back at the car.

I must confess, I was equally excited to visit Parque das Aves as I was for another trip to Iguaçu Falls. Spending time with hundreds of colorful tropical birds is my kind of start to a day. Vince and I entered the park and started along its one-way loop trail where we found a large enclosure full of scarlet ibises. Not long after that we came upon a group of flamingos, but my attention was almost immediately rent away from them by a disturbance in a nearby tree.

Leaves rustled near the trail, and I was ecstatic to see that the noise came from a couple of toco toucans that had swooped down from the treetops and taken perch on eye-level branches. These birds are common in the area, and seemingly weren’t confined to any aviary within the park, so I think they were wild birds visiting for an easy meal (which they found in the flamingo exhibit). I’ve seen toco toucans in flight from a distance, but seeing them up close was a completely different experience.  They look more like plushies than real, living animals with their fluffy feathers and bright, cartoonish coloring.

Besides the toucans, which were undoubtedly my favorite bird in the park, Parque das Aves also had a lot of really amazing animals including some rare species, like macuco and a pair of alagoas curassow, which are extinct in the wild. In addition to birds, there were several reptiles as well, my favorite being black caimans.

My favorite enclosures by far were the parrot aviary and the macaw nursery.  In the parrot enclosure, we bought seed sticks so we could feed the birds. They flocked around us and devoured all of the seed in a matter of seconds. We had to be cautious not to step on any parrots because several of them gathered at our feet to snatch up any scraps left behind. 

There were thirteen different types of parrot in this enclosure, which was so large and thickly foliaged that it almost felt like we were in the forest and not an aviary. I had a lot of fun trying to spot as many of the colorful parrots as I could, but eventually Vince had to remind me that we needed to keep moving.

The macaw nursery was equally exciting. With almost a hundred macaws inhabiting the aviary, it was a spectacular display of bright feathers and loud squawks. We got to see blue hyacinth macaws for the first time, along with a few other species. Every couple of minutes or so, a few birds would take flight and soar right over our heads, showing off their impressive wing spans.

After leaving the macaw nursery, we really had to start moving faster. We zoomed passed the remaining birds, trying to see as many as we could before going back out to the parking lot to meet Neide. We also took a quick walk through the park’s butterfly house, which showcased some of the butterflies that we would soon see fluttering through the forest.

We made it to the car just on time, and Neide drove us to the nearby entrance of Iguaçu National Park. Since we’d hired her as our guide, we got to skip the entrance lines when we got into the park. We also got to ride in her car instead of the park’s shuttle bus.  Neide drove us to a ticket station for a boat ride under the falls. I grabbed my rain coat out of my day pack, and left my camera in the car, only bringing my GoPro. Anything that came with us on this excursion would have to be waterproof. After helping us order our tickets (this was very helpful because Vince and I know basically no Portuguese), Neide waved goodbye as we boarded a tram and rode off down a two-track into the jungle.

Vince and I hadn’t planned on doing this boat tour at first, but several of the friends we’d been traveling with had been to Iguaçu Falls before, and they were all adamant that it was totally amazing and we simply had to do it. Combine that with Neide’s promise that we would get soaking wet in the falls, and we were convinced. I was already happy with the decision as we enjoyed our ride through the forest. Every so often, the tram would stop and a park guide would tell us interesting facts about the flora and fauna of the area.

After the short ride, we got out of the tram and continued our journey downhill on foot, climbing down a series of staircases that cut through the trees and over small rivers until we reached a platform on the bank of the Iguazú River.

Butterflies of several varieties filled the air at the river’s edge, fluttering around us as we waited to board a raft-style speed boat along with around ten other park visitors. Once everyone was onboard and wearing a life vest, we sped off up the river in the direction of a towering cloud of mist, which we’d been able to see hanging above the forest since before we even arrived at the park.

The ride was a lot of fun even before we came close to the falls.  We went over some rapids, which was exciting, and stopped for a look at a huge section of falls along the way.  These were the same ones that Vince and I had stood on top of when we’d visited the Argentine side of the waterfall the previous day.

Before long we were approaching the Brazilian falls, ready to be pummeled by water. Our captain slowed down and drove directly under a roaring cascade of water. Droplets blurred my vision so that all I could see was a blurry fog of torrent and mist with fleeting glimpses of the jagged cliff that the water poured from. We went under the falls several times, and everyone aboard the raft screamed and cheered every time we looped around for another go.

Just as Neide had promised, we were soaking wet within seconds. Looking back, I’m not sure what possessed me to throw on my rain coat. It was clearly no match for the force of one of the world’s largest waterfalls. But it didn’t matter because the water was a refreshing relief on such a hot day.

By the time we turned back toward the dock, the boat was totally flooded, and sloshing water engulfed our legs for the entire return trip through the rapids. Along the way we saw a family of capybaras.  These are the largest rodent species still alive today, and we managed to count at least nine of them. There were several adults, along tiny adorable babies, and they all hopped across a riverside beach before vanishing into the forest.  This was my first and only time seeing wild capybaras and at that moment, I would have loved to have my Canon on hand. However I was happy not to repeat the experience of when I drowned a camera in Victoria Falls. These cappys would just have to live on in my memory instead of in photographs.

There was only one item left on the itinerary when we met back up at Neide’s car, very damp, but also very happy. She drove us to the beginning of the pathway that runs alongside Iguaçu Falls, then dropped us off saying she would meet back up with us at the end of the trail.

Vince and I set off along the paved trail, with a stunning view of the gorge and Argentine falls at our side. While the trail was less immersive than the ones in Argentina had been, there were far fewer visitors so we weren’t crowded, and the views were just as lovely.

Besides the unbeatable views, the short trail also yielded some amazing wildlife sightings. Small lizards skittered away when we walked too close, and we saw a pair of crested caracaras. This striking looking falcon is found throughout much of Central and South America, and is unique amongst similar birds because it prefers walking over flying, spending much of its time looking for food on the ground.

But the best animal encounter for me came in the form of a band of young coatis. Coatis, or coatimundis, are members of the raccoon family, and in this instance they were very interested in trying to get food from passing tourists.  Of course this is highly discouraged by park authorities as coatis are wild animals.  Human food can have negative impacts on their health, and there is also a risk of being bitten or scratched by a coati.  I didn’t have any food to offer them even if I’d wanted to, but their interest gave me a chance to get some really great photos of the adorable little creatures.

Eventually Vince was able to persuade me to leave the coatis and get back on the trail, and we quickly reached the main attraction.  The circuit ends at a boardwalk that juts out into the river, culminating in a platform where visitors are surrounded by waterfalls on three sides. 

We walked out to the end of the boardwalk, surrounded by water in every direction. Water was cascading from the clifftops, flowing underneath the pathway, and even hanging in the air in the form of mist.  This was the best place to appreciate the different tiers of waterfall, and to spot rainbows in the mist. If I had to choose just one, this would be my favorite view point from either side of Iguazú. It felt nothing short of magical.

Upon leaving the boardwalk we reached the end of the trail, and indeed, the end of our time at Iguaçu Falls. Neide drove us back to Puerto Iguazú where we hopped aboard our evening flight back to Buenos Aires to join the rest of our travel group for a long flight home.

Our month long journey had finally come to an end. In the past few weeks we’d travelled to two different continents, five countries, and one British overseas territory. We had gone from the arid Andes Mountains, down through rainy Patagonia, onward to the bottom of the world at the Antarctic peninsula, and finally landed in a tropical rainforest.  In just three weeks we’d seen vastly different ecosystems, amazing wildlife, and vibrant cities. To sum it all up in a sentence: This was the trip of a lifetime.