The Iguaçu/Iguazu Falls are the widest of the three monster waterfalls of the world and this time on our second visit they were full of water. Back in the summer of 2006, when we were last here, many of the secondary falls just had a trickle of water flowing.

The Garganta del Diablo was so full of water and mist that you could not see the bottom of the falls. On the walkways on the Brazilian side the spray from the falls was like being in the middle of a tropical storm. Indeed on our last day we had the double experience of a fully blown storm together with the spray from the falls.  Here water was every where so much so that even if you did not want to drink the water it was simply rolling off you face and into you mouth.

Crossing over to the Argentinian side for a day trip, we were reminded that the Argentinians are very much like the British of South America, with the border crossing being much more formal than Brazil, but also highly efficient and polite, something the folks back home sometimes forget.

The name of Iguaçu Falls is based on the legend that a snake god M’Boi who planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a rage, M’Boi sliced the river, creating the waterfalls, which at their most spectacular are called Garganta del Diablo (The Devils Throat) and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall and death. However that is not the end of the story, for while the lovers fell to their death, the rainbows that are always on display show the two lovers joined together in the after life.

On the Parana River is the Itaipu Dam, which we flew over on our approach to Foz Airport. The dam, which is an economic success story in providing massive amounts of electricity to both Brazil and Paraguay, did flood and totally absorb another set of waterfalls on the Parana River. Seeing both sets of falls in the same location must have been a amazing site, a bit like having Niagara and Victoria Falls right next to each other.

Foz do Iguaçu is on the border of three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Not only are there differences of language but also a number of other things that flourish in and around border communities, for example Brazil does not allow casinos, but Argentina does, so on all the roads in Foz are billboards advertising Argentinian casinos. Paraguay, and in particular Ciudad del Este, has adopted the free market capitalism in a big way and has become a mecca of shopping malls attracting both Brazilians and Argentinians with a whole array of cheap tax free goods. We decided to give Ciudad del Este a miss this time as the idea of multiple duty free malls do not fit inspire us to visit it, but Paraguay may well be an interesting visit later on in our journey.

The other major site in Foz is the Parque das Aves, which contains a large number of rescued birds, that would not survive in the wild, and also contains a breeding program.  Particularly impressive it the big walk in aviary with many macaws including the magnificent azure blue hyacinth macaw.

Date: 26/01/2018 to 29/01/2018