Paul and Christine's Journey to Anywhere: Foz do Iguaçu

Monday, December 30, 2013

We flew into Foz do Iguaçu on December 27 and we went to visit Iguaçu Falls the next day.

The Iguaçu Falls from the plane!

Another day, another airport

Iguaçu Falls can be seen from both Brazil and Argentina (the border between the two countries is actually the Iguaçu River). It covers a width of 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) and the height varies between 60 meters (200 feet) and 82 meters (269 feet). About 270 waterfalls make up what is known as Iguaçu Falls and we saw it from the Brazil side first. But before heading to the falls, we stopped at a bird park (Parque das Aves). Are you ready to see some birds?

You might remember we saw grey-crowned cranes in Tanzania

A really pink flamingo!

Here's one that's not as pink

And a baby flamingo

Reflection shot

Green-billed toucan (aka red-breasted toucan)

I don't know what kind of bird this is

Hello Mr. Toucan

Razor billed Curassow

Profile shot

It looks like its beak is cut off

Red-breasted toucan (aka green-billed toucan)

Toco toucan

There were a lot of them

Here's another one with an egret

Don't let their happy faces fool you - one almost flew straight into my head!

Scarlet ibis

So red!

Toucan Sam

He was posing for me, I think

Sticking his tongue out

Anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns hun

These are some pretty big leaves

Tortoise lovin'

These are red-footed tortoises

Caimans (cousins of the alligator) live in Central and South America

Boa constrictor

Scary

Pathways at the park were nice and green

Harpy eagles - the females sometimes hunt for sloths and monkeys

Male Harpy eagles are smaller and hunt for opossums and armadillos

A molting King Vulture

Here's one that isn't molting

Emu (known as ema in Portuguese)

Like ostriches

Pretty peacock

Female peacocks aren't as flamboyant

The Gordon Gecko of birds

This is an ararajuba (aka golden parakeet)

I don't know what it was eating but it looked gross

Ararajuba means small yellow macaw (in Portuguese) and carries the colors of the Brazilian flag

Close up shot

Mama toucan feeding a baby toucan

Toucan feed it!

Hummingbird here

Hummingbird there

Caught it flying

Flapping

Another hummingbird

Butterfly

Butterflies

And yet another type of hummingbird

Hello!

Pretty feathers

I like hummingbirds

Striped owl

Spectacled owl

Macaw!

I thought they were parrots

One almost ran into my head...Macaw!

Blue Macaw!

Lovebirds

It had quite a grip on my arm!

It took about an hour to walk through the bird park and then we headed over to the falls.

It didn't seem like too long of a line upon arriving

But it was - we waited almost 1 hour to get on a bus

A double decker bus!

Our first view of the falls

Hooray!

Now you will see all the photos I took of the falls - I hope you don't get tired of them

Slinky shot

Close up

There were a lot of these large raccoon like animals (South American coati) roaming around

We waited about 15 minutes to get this specific photo

Because everyone had to take their prom pictures there - clearly demonstrated by this couple

Do you know why I like this picture? If your answer has anything to do with the furry animal, you're wrong!

Panoramic

Paul found a new friend on his head

It was just an amazing sight...and a rainbow!

Here's another shot with some boats getting drenched by the waterfall known as Salto Dos Mosqueteros

Looking upstream towards Devil's Throat

We then headed towards the platform to get a closer look at Devil's Throat

Bird

Paul doesn't care about warning signs

Approaching the platform

We're on the platform!

We're starting to get a bit wet at this point

Looking downstream (from where we came)

I think Paul's gotten quite good at taking these photos

Devil's Throat is a large chasm where a large proportion of the water is thrust through. The chasm measures about 82 meters high, 150 meters wide, and 700 meters long.