I had planned to leave the hotel at 8am but after counselling from the concierge regarding traffic issues in Rio, our departure time was amended to 6.30am! Good move because as suggested, the traffic was horrendous and it took nearly 90 minutes to make the relatively short journey.
Traffic jams are legendary here and you have to have the patience of not one but at least three Saints and also possess the all round vision and spacial awareness of a Barn Owl! Traffic comes at you from all directions. In fact the worse thing is the constant beeping of motorcyclists who weave through the lines of cars at a ridiculous rate of knots missing your car by millimetres. In São Paulo, many of them don't miss and current statistics show a motorcyclist being killed every hour, every day of the year. He's bloody well fed up of it now but never seems to learn! It is a serious problem though.
I observed Breno's driving very closely over the two days with him and he demonstrated more of a sixth sense on the roads, in fact almost mystical awareness of everything around him. His anticipation was incredible and it's a pity that more of us can't demonstrate this trait. Perhaps we all need to live in Rio for 36 years!!
We made it to the airport but that's when disaster struck!! I couldn't find my IPhone and through the wonders of modern technology, my iPad gave up the news that it was still at our hotel in the city centre!! No chance of retrieving it before getting our intended flight but we needed to speak to the hotel to track it down. Standby flights are a very stressful situation but add the loss of your mobile and it creates the potential for melt down on a grand scale. In my case it was a huge line of expletives whilst in Linda's, it was an inability to remember her own mobile number in order that the hotel could call us back!! I won't bore you with further details other than to say it was discovered, will be repatriated by Sarah's friend Ellie back to the UK overnight and be back in my sweaty palms on Sunday. Phew!
So all that remained to repair this dreadful start to the day was to get on the TAM flight to Iguazu. Success. There were a couple of seats to accommodate us and so here I now sit in the Wish Golf Resort and Hotel updating my latest Blog and with a big smile on my face after our first viewing of the Cataratas do Iguazu - the Iguazu falls in English.
I have used the word wow a few times in the first three postings but quite frankly, its use to describe what we witnessed today would provide a terrible understatement of this wonder of nature. They are mind blowing and this despite April being the month of lowest water flow - just half of what it is in October. I could post a hundred pictures but none would do true justice to the spectacle.
The falls are located where the Iguazu river tumbles over the Parana Plateau. Depending on flow rate, there can be anything from 150-300 waterfalls ranging in height between 60 and 82 metres and at least 50% of the water is funnelled through the Devil's Throat, the dividing line between Brazil and Argentina. There is a walkway that takes you right to the edge overlooking the Devil's Throat. It's very scary as you look into the abyss below. A visit to this point also means you won't be returning home with dry clothes.
We have visited Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls and now Iguazu and on first visit, I feel that the latter takes the gold medal by a whisker.
Tomorrow, Argentina beckons and with no mention of Las Malvinas from me! I want to get home to see my family and my IPhone!
A Busy Airport
Quite a Lot of Water
Perched Over the Devil's Throat
An Incredible Sight.
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