As others have said, thank you for taking the time to share your travels and pictures. I spent the last couple days reading the thread from start to finish, just amazing the places you have seen and the way you have done it. I appreciate it and look forward to more! Enjoy São Paulo if your connection allows for it, as well as Iguazu.

a co-worker's husband has relatives in puerto iguazu and she's stayed with them. says the falls are spectacular to see when pumping water

Welcome to the thread, zendout!

Got here about sunset, so couldn't see the falls too good. Here's what I've got.



Also this hotel is some serious 5-star stuff. Way out of my comfort range. (Please excuse the mess).



The tour will go at 9:30 tomorrow. I said that I'd be up if she wanted to go earlier, but she didn't seem to excited about that, so that's what we'll do.

Funny story from the Sao Paulo airport. As we're in line waiting to board, I got to chatting with the guys behind me (49ers fans, I had on some Packers stuff). At some point during the conversation, it came out that I went to Drake.

The wife of the couple from MSP which is on the same tour as me said, "You went to Drake?"

Turns out, they both graduated from Drake, but a few years earlier than me. What a small world.

Up about 5 this morning, caught sunrise at the falls. It's quite a sight, maybe close to a kilometer. More of a waterfall complex than a waterfall.

A couple pictures at random from earlier. Today's activity is the Argentine (across from these) side.

That is some serious water falling.
Keep on keeping on!

Yep. Being a poker player, I calculated the odds of survival if one fell in. Turns out, it's zero.

OK, I have time for a quick post now, about some days ago. I expect that most of these will be photo dumps, as I was overloaded with information about what we were seeing.

Sena came by with the bus guy, got me and two (maybe 3) other couples, went to another hotel, and got a family from Poland, and off we went to the boat. Here's my room.



Bathroom's behind that door. Nice room, just enough place for me, my stuff, and a place to lie down.

Up the Rio Negro we went. Learned later that this bridge is the only one across (7-800 km, Alex thought).



We had intros of the other tourists and the staff while chugging along.

We went on a launch. Here's Tucano from the water.



My room's other side, first level forward.

While out, we saw some birds



and ran into a rain shower.



Others were talking about how hard it rained. I didn't think it was that, but a steady, rain for about 15-20 minutes. Actually felt kinda good.

Saw some dolphins, but they were always too quick for me to record. More birds and scenery.







Gonna go see sunset over the falls now.

what an opportunity
hope you get a chance to pause for at least a second and soak it all in

and that cabin looks perfect to me

Well, ****. While we were out today, my tour guide said she thought that she had a case of dengue fever. When on the Argentine side, she just waited at the trailhead; when at a bird sanctuary, she went off to see the nurse while I was doing that.

When we got back to the hotel, she said she could come tomorrow if I wanted for that day's activity. I said no, that I wanted her to get better, I can walk the cataract trails just fine--they're across the street. Then she said she'd see me the day after tomorrow at 12:30 to go to the airport.

Bumped into the MSP couple at sunset, they mentioned something about going to the airport tomorrow. Went up and checked my itinerary, sure enough, I'm supposed to fly to Rio tomorrow.

Called the tour company's emergency number, which is a third party. They took my info, and after a fairly long hold, got someone named Jen from the tour company on. I explained the situation, that I just needed a ride to the airport tomorrow, but my guide had gotten dates confused. Also said I really wanted to have this resolved before bedtime so I could sleep. She said she'd be back with me before the hour is out to either confirm new plans, or let me know a status.

Talked to the MSP couple, got their pick-up time, so I will be there, then, and hopefully can finagle a ride with them if I don't hear. Worst case, I figure out a cab to the airport.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Most days on the the boat, there would be an early-morning wake-up, followed by a launch for those who wanted to go. Back for breakfast, then a morning activity. Lunch about 12:30, a few hours, an activity in the afternoon, dinner, then a nighttime launch. Pretty full days.

The mornings were really calm. We'd go down a side channel looking for stuff like this.



and seeing scenery.



Here's what the bridge looked like



Surprised to see the depth locator was gauged in feet, not meters.

Here's us getting off the launch for a hike. Had on a long sleeved shirt and long nylon pants (so as to avoid insect bites), with my raincoat tied around my waist just in case.



This was a pretty tough hike. About 3 km, I was told. The surface was damp dirt, covered with leaves, so quite slick. Lots of up and down hills, and there's no breeze back in there. Also, theere were vines in the undergrowth constantly tripping us up. I now really understand the phrase, "hot as balls".

But we saw some interesting stuff, and learned a bit about how indigenous people live in the forest. Everyone was glad when we got back to Tucano. We had solar-heated (so tepid) showers, which felt really good after that.

The afternoon activity was pretty cool,



Yep, piranha fishing. That's Alex, one of the guides, going to help get it off the line. A simple setup: cane pole, line, hook, chunk of what appeared to be beef.



That's the one I caught. They actually cooked them up at dinner; I don't care for fish, but the others said it was quite good.

This hawk was at one of the spots we tried.



And another bird



Also river traffic. Not so much to be disturbing, just a few per day.



There's no roads out there, goods shipped by river or flown.

Tried to get some moonrise shots, this was as good as it got



Decent sunset that night

Next early morning launch



We came across a family of otters. Just like in the nature show, one slid down the bank and crashed into the water.



and Toucan Sam!



We did a walk instead of a hike for the late morning activity. Much more level ground, easier adventure. Unfortunately, the picture of the giant ants didn't turn out. Osmar was showing us why natives wouldn't camp at this place, because they'd notice the ant hill thing by the bottom of the tree.

Then he rubbed the back of his machete up and down against the tree (kinda reminded me of when Mike Rowe went worm grunting on Dirty Jobs0, and ants poured out of there. They must've been around an inch long, monsters! He said if they bit you, you're sick and in terrible pain for a day.

Oh yeah, here's what a launch looks like.



Afternoon boat ride was nice.





Monkeys!









and a good sunset

Got some texts from Jen at the tour company, sounds like she's got it straightened out and Maria (tour guide) will be here to walk down the falls in the AM, then go to the airport.

So it was all sorted out last night, Maria will be at the hotel at 9, well go for a walk along the falls then to the airport.

About 9:30, the MSP couple was going for their morning tour. Told me to text if I had problems. A few minutes later, I texted the tour company rep from last night that I hadn't seen Maria.

She didn't see it for about an hour, and worked from NH. Hanging out at the lobby, waiting to hear. About 11:10, I texted the MSP couple, asking them to ask their driver if he minded me going along (their tour wasn't too far away).

While waiting, saw the driver from yesterday. He happened to be bringing a couple from the Argentina side to Brazil. Nice guy, good to see him again.

Maria shows up about 11, we get rolling. She didn't offer, the morning activity but I said, "let's just go to the airport." I text MSP couple to tell them to thank their driver for his consideration, but my ride finally showed.

Of course, we're out of wifi range, and I'm in airplane mode, since I don't have an international plan. Switch off airplane mode, no signal anyway. Sigh.

When we get to the park gate, I get a signal and a message from Verizon, "Welcome to Argentina". The river is the border, so I must've picked up their signal. Anyway, that let the text to the MSP couple get through. Hope they got it ok and didn't come back to the hotel unnecessarily.

Of course, I forgot to go back in airplane mode, so a few miles inland, I got another message from Verizon saying, "Welcome to Brazil".

So two $10 international connection fees to send a single message. Oh well, hardly the end of the world.

So here I am in IGU with !2:15 to kill. On the plus side, I'm seat 2D on the two hour flight to Rio. They tagged my checked bad as "priority", whatever that means. Maybe I'll get a free beer on the plane or something.

It's all good. Pretty minor stress, all things considered. Also, a lot of it has to go on me for not remembering my travel dates, and correcting Maria in the first place (yesterday) that, "no, I'm leaving tomorrow." Ultimately, no harm done.

Until the plane crashes into the Atlantic, that is. But that's another story.

Next morning, another launch.



I think that's a sloth.



In the afternoon, we stopped at a family's house not too far from Manaus and got a tour. They were trying to save turtles, and had two big (~50 gal?) containers, one for the little ones



And one for the adults



Here's their house. Notice the angle of the satellite dish.



They also had a small area where they grew casava roots, and we talked a bit about the process of turning them into food. At the end, they had a few handmade trinkets for sale. Didn't need anything, but bought a hand carved thing with a pen in it to try to support them some. Gave them more than asking, hope it helps.

Back past Manaus. Here's the bridge up close.



There didn't seem to be much traffic on it, nor much in the way of city on the other side.

Having told the captain that I'm experienced from sailing with Bob and Christina, he said, "Why don't you take it in>"



One thing I noticed as we passed the port was these floating gas stations. Never seen that anywhere else in the world.



Some cool old building



and the welcome sign.



We continued downstream til we got to the Amazon for real.



It's strange, the waters don't mix too well. IIRC, Alex said that it's 20km downstream til they are really indistinct. Tthe flow of the Amazon is 6.8 km/hr, Rio Negro is 2.5 (or something). Not captured here, but it seemed like there was a little bore tide, where the Amazon's waters ran up and over Rio Negro's by a few centimeters when they collided.



Anyway, we drove around enough for the tourists to say "I've been on the Amazon", and headed back to Manaus.

On the way, we took the final launch up a little creek where people lived on or near the river.



Most of them were shacks, but a few looked like they were more well-maintained, like a little lake house up north. Most all of them had dogs, which would come out on the porch and bark as we passed.

Osmar said they build them up on the banks, then use big ropes to lower them down into the water.

They have scarecrows too



and a sloth.

After that, it was back to Manaus. Had a nice cocktail hour, where the guides made everyone caiprinhas (the national drink of Brazil).

Next morning, up, breakfast, on the bus to the airport. Said goodbyes (ate logo) and thanks (multo obrigado) to everyone, and off we went.

Two of the couples were on our first flight to Sao Paolo, and they had the inside info that people over 60 got to go in a special line (mobility issues, pregnant women, the "those that need extra time" idea from the states).

While not quite there, I figured it was close enough, as my tourmates were in that line. A couple of flights later, we were in Iguazu, got a ride to the hotel, and started that part of the adventure.

Next few reports will be photo dumps of the waterfalls (if any look decent ofc).

Nice!

And just enough of a snafu to graze your comfort zone!

Yep, not too bad, considering. Always a bit stressful in the moment, but I'm getting better at not spamming.

Plane's here. It's a "walk out other tarmac " deal, been a while for me.

So if that boat had capsized, you would have been eaten by piranha fish?

Well, probably not all the way.

Brag: walked some of Copacabana beach tonight and had a couple beers at beach bars
Beat: It's raining
Variance: It's not a cold rain

Oh yeah. On the flight from Iguazu to Rio, I was in 2D. A couple got on later and the attendant ask if I could move up to let them sit together. Of course.

So, I ended up in 1A. First time for me. Only way I'll ever get a lower seat now is if W0X0F takes me for a ride.

Both seats were in "premium economy", which on LATAM means they block off the middle seat. Didn't seem to be bigger.

And I got a sandwich and bottle of water. Plus my bag was ~5th on the conveyor belt.

Upgraded to United's Economy Plus for $137 from Rio to Houston tomorrow. We'll see what that brings me. At least, 14 rows closer to the front.

Went on a walk along the beach, maybe 1km each way. Nice to get my toes in the Atlantic again.

Now downstairs to meet for today's tour to the big statue and Sugarloaf Mountain.

Never seen a city beach. Copacabana and Bondi must be the two most famous beaches in the world.

was there any tour longer than three hours?
if so, did it make you merry and giggle again?

Ipanema is the most famous one in my mind. Copacabana, South Beach Miami all leap immediately to mind, I'm sure there are others.

Don't forget Wisconsin Point, where I grew up.

Red, the tours I'm about to get to were more-or-less all day things. On the boat, each activity was 1-2 hours. Not sure I would've gotten the connection at the time--good one!

One both the jungle hike and walk, the guides pretended like they were disoriented. I've got a pretty good general sense of direction and grew up fishing out in the countryside, so I kinda knew the launch was over there (sweeps hand broadly). Could've gotten us back to the river, but not right to the landing site, in an emergency.
.

When last we left off, we'd gotten off the boat and were flying to Foz do Iguacu.

We arrived about sunset. My phone is a better camera than my camera. One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to use it right and quit carrying all that gear.



Happened to wake up about 5 the next morning, out the the falls about 5:30. Still pretty dark when I set out. Walking down the drive, saw two lights on the front lawn coming right for me (South Park reference I can''t be bothered to look up here) as I walked down the driveway.

Turns out, it was a little roomba-like things mowing the grass. May have to look further into that.

Moon setting in one direction, sun rising in the other, it was pretty good. My pictures don't do it justice.



It was a little cool, so I wore my raincoat. Glad I did.

















Sun coming up







As mentioned earlier, it's like nothing I've seen. Niagara puny compared. Victoria Falls probably has more water, but it's kind of one big waterfall; this is really a complex of waterfalls, about 1km long I was told.

Later that morning, the guide and a new driver came back for us to see the Argentine side. Immigration pretty easy. Guide took my passport, filled out a form. Driver gave it to the border control person with their IDs to show they were tour guides. A few minutes looking it over, and off we went. No stamp in my passport, kinda disappointed in that.

The way the cataract is set, the views look more down the canyon.







The Argentine side seemed to be more over, around, near the waterfalls than Brazil, which pretty much (with the one exception) ran along the edge. Of course, most all of the waterfalls are on the Argentine side, so they have more to work with.







As mentioned earlier, Maria said she wasn't feeling well, and asked if I could walk the paths alone. Sure, I have plenty of experience with trails. Fortunately, didn't have an attack of vertigo or something.











Some monkeys along the way, but not too clear



Then we ran back to Brazil. Similar thing, although the driver had to stop and pay someone some money.

Here's the border. Out in the background, where the water is a little darker, is where Paraguay is.



During that part of the tour, Maria said that I had an activity for the Parque das Aves (bird park) for tomorrow, but would I like to do it today? It was early afternoon, I said sure. Not much of a bird person (Ricky & Morty reference here), figured I'd buzz through it.

Upon arrival, she got the ticket and gave me a sticker for my shirt which apparently tied me to her. She then asked if she could bail out to the nurse while I was touring, and we'd meet at the cafe near the entrance. Sure, good hope you get good news.

It was kind of interesting. A series of huge metal cages--meters high, long and wide--with a group of birds in there (say, raptors). You entered and exited through kind of an "airlock" system. The inner door wouldn't open until the outer was closed, and vice versa.



Also some of Howard's friends made an appearance.





Here you get an idea of the cage, along with some brightly-colored birds.



They had some non-avian stuff too, like caimans



and a boa constrictor



Parakeet area was super loud



Them and macaws were more what I was expecting.



Parrotheads! Fins up!



This one was pretty interesting, using his beak for stability whlie climbing up the mesh. One foot and beak on, move the other foot, up he went.







Random bird of paradise flower



That thing back there is a cassowary. Looked like he wanted to gut me. Tree in the wrong spot for a good picture.



and a toucan



On the way back to the park & hotel, Maria said she was feeling pretty bad (turns out chicken soup is a home remedy there too). As mentioned earlier, this is when the miscommunication started. When we parted, she said she could come by for tomorrow's walk along the cataract; I said not to, get better; the path is right there, I've been down it. Then she said she's see me the day after at 12:30 for the airport ride, and it didn't click with me that tomorrow was leave day. Oops.

Anyway, did walk down the path again.

Saw some iguanas and geckos





As well as more falls, of course



Oh yeah, here's the joint. Another whole wing out of frame to the right.

My phone continues to be a better camera. It was about this time that I bumped into the MSP couple, and they said something like, "maybe we'll see you at the airport," which set off my phone calls/texting to try to get the correct communication established.

When I went to bed, I was advised that Maria we be there at 9 for the falls walk, then we'd go to the airport at 12:30.

As noted, the next morning was a flurry of texting to other people, starting about 10, when Maria hadn't shown yet. I think it was close to 11 when she and the driver got there, so straight to the airport.

I don't mind, would rather have a low-stress airport experience than having to rush through. As mentioned, somehow was in the priority line. At one point a woman walked up, tyring to butt in line. An older guy a ways in front of me was kind of in the middle. I couldn't hear them (and wouldn't have understood if I could). From the gestures, it was clear that she was late, the guy pointed to the back of the line, and gave the palms up shrug like, "well, be more organized." Ultimately, though, he let her go.

Was able to see the falls from takeoff, but my phone wasn't as good with the plane bumping around.



Got to Rio, found the guide. Copacabana Palace is operated by the same hotel group as previous. Learned today these guys also run the Orient Express. Another five-start joint.



and that's an ok view, despite the rain





That night, walked down the beach a little bit in the rain, grabbed a Mixto Quente (grilled ham and cheese) from a street vendor. Went to a couple of the beach bars for a beer, but ultimately decided rain no fun. I think this was Sunday night, so caught the Lions scoring twice early. Learned their unfortunate fate later.