4 January – Today was a long, frustrating day filled with delays, rescheduling, and chaos. Yesterday we were told we would be departing the ship at five thirty AM to catch a bus to the airport where we would catch a flight to Iguazu Falls, have a lunch at a resort overlooking the falls, tour the falls, and go to our hotel that we would be staying at for check-in and dinner.
We got up at four and readied ourselves for the five thirty transport. Upon approaching the cabin door walking towards the head (that’s what they call the bathroom on a ship) we discovered a slip of paper had been slipped under the door sometime during the night informing us our flight had been cancelled and we were rescheduled for a later flight. We did not need to report for disembarkation and the bus until nine thirty. As we were already up, our baggage was gone, and we were, in no way, going to go back to sleep, we dressed and went up for some breakfast, coffee, and the wait.
We did leave the ship at nine, and because we were four hours away from our flight, they put a guide on the bus and we received another tour of Buenos Aires, by bus this time. Even though we pretty much followed the same route we did on the bikes the day before, the guide was different so we got a different slant on what we were seeing. We finally were delivered to the airport, we did get a one thirty flight to Iguazu Falls, and we did get there … six hours later than we were originally scheduled. Due to the late arrival, we went to the hotel where we were supposed to have lunch and had an early dinner (which was the lunch they had been saving all afternoon). You could see the falls from the hotel so we did see them. We then proceeded to cross the border into Brazil, where we were to stay and tour.
The tour guides did a good job of reshuffling everything but it was a frustrating day. We checked into our hotel, had a relaxing break at the lounge, and went to bed to prepare for an early tour of the falls.
5 January – The hotel was actually located inside of the National Park the Falls are in and the park does not open until ten in the morning. Because of that, we were able to walk out of our hotel and do a private tour of the falls before everyone else showed up.
Iguaza Falls is incredible. We were told we would see both the Argentina side and the Brazil side and that the Brazil side was more scenic. We agree. We walked along the walkways (which we had to ourselves but was packed later in the day) and were able to view and photograph to our hearts content. After the tour, our guides offered us a choice of three things to do. Go for a boat ride up the river to right up to the falls, take a helicopter tour of the falls, or just stay at the hotel and veg out until the afternoon when we would see the Argentina side. Nancy and I opted for the helicopter ride. Wow. Here’s some pictures. Most of them are of the water falls, different angels or views.
Then we did the helicopter ride. It didn’t last real long but was definitely worth the effort. We got to see the Falls from up above and from all angels. The pilot made a number of passes so everyone (there were five of us in the helicopter) got to see the best view.
A bit about the falls from Wikipedia. “Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Together, they make up the largest waterfall system in the world. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River rises near the heart of the city of Curitiba. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil; however, most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the border between Argentina and Brazil.” Now that you know all that, you can imagine how much we enjoyed it. That afternoon we again crossed the border into Argentina and walked through the Argentina National Park for the falls. Less dynamic but very beautiful.
Then, after that we went back to the hotel and prepared for a dinner show at an Argentine Steak restaurant. The dinner was a huge buffet featuring all sort of meats and other foods and deserts. Following dinner the restaurant presented a South and Central America Folk Dance Show. It was both loud and entertaining. The pictures a a bit lacking because of the light, or lack of it, and the fast movements of the dancers.
bottles on top of her head.
Lastly, here are some photos from our hotel;
The show ended our day and we again crossed back into Brazil. Each crossing took 30 to 45 minutes of extra time to process our passports but the day was good. Tomorrow we travel to Rio de Janeiro.
6 January 2023 – Another frustrating day. No fault on Viking or it’s folks. Today, we were supposed to fly from Iguazu to a small airport near downtown Rio de Janeiro, then have lunch, and do some touring. When we were on short final to the airport, the aircraft received a wind sheer warning and went around. Many of the people got quite excited as we were quite low and over water so it looked like we were going to bank right into the ocean. Anyhow, the pilot recovered and entered holding for about forty five minutes before he diverted into the international airport that was a forty five minute ride away from our hotel. Rio was socked in with fog so the bus ride was fairly uninspiring. We went through several parts of town, some not too nice, and finally made it to our hotel. The Hotel Copacabana on Copacabana Beach. Nice.
7 January – *** A SPECIAL DAY*** Today we were scheduled to see the big statue of Christ The Redeemer that stands above Rio de Janeiro and Sugar Loaf Mountain. Again the weather did not cooperate very much and low clouds and fog pretty much kept everything out of site … we still went. We loaded up right after breakfast and headed out to see Christ The Redeemer. Interesting buildings along the way and a great deal of history. A much better part of town than the trip from the airport.
The story about the Carnaval stadium. Carnival, sometimes known as Mardi Gras in other places, is a long standing tradition that features outrageous costumes and rowdy parties. Rio de Janeiro is especially famous for the biggest party. It became such a burden to the city to control they built a massive, half mile long stadium where the only parade allowed is conducted. Thousands of people come very early to get seats in the stadium and the participants line up and parade through the stadium from one end to the other. The parade lasts much of the day. The parties continue in smaller venues and private homes but the city wide party is a thing of the past. The day was wet and windy, but very interesting. Of course it would have been nice without the fog but you cannot do anything about the weather. We did enjoy the day. That night we had a farewell dinner at the hotel. A very nice evening with a great meal. Nancy topped off the evening by sneaking in a cake and Champagne for the group to celebrate my birthday. The perfect ending to a nice day.
8 January – Today is our return home day. our flight did not leave until ten thirty PM so we were given a late checkout from the hotel. Nancy and I took a walk on Copacabana Beach just to say we did, The exercise was good. We had a late lunch with the few people left from our group that had not left yet, then we went to the airport. The trip home was uneventful, we made all our connections and didn’t loose anything. We got home early on the ninth of January.
I apologize for taking sooo long to post this but we have been busy with our move to Australia. Since our return we have packed and shipped our belongings, sold our house and cars, and settled into a small villa that we will regard as our home in America. It has been a very busy month.
Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did. Viking does a great job, we saw many interesting places and things. See you on the next trip. Not sure where or when but there will be more trips for sure.
