Tramping tales for the period 30 October - 3 November 2014 (BRAZIL)

Brazil 

After our aircraft had wound its way between the masses of towering cumulus clouds that dominated the east coast of South America, our first sight was the sprawling city of Sao Paulo, the largest metropolis in the southern hemisphere with over 11 million inhabitants and we were struck by the veritable sea of densely packed residential areas and the huge number of high rise buildings as we descended. Nine hours in the air under our belt and a long wait ahead of us before leaving at midnight for Foz du Iguacu, we knew full well it was going to be a long day.

Not unexpectedly the first word we learnt in Spanish was “sanitarios”, meaning restrooms, and there discovered that in South America one does not flush toilet paper down the loo, but place it in a bin instead! Something off-putting initially for us gringos but with the passage of time we became quite accustomed to. The minimal amount of seating in the airport rather strange, especially with a six hour wait ahead of us. Patiently sitting outside Gate 17D for what seemed like an eternity we eventually resorted to eating the liquorice ALL SORTS Sacky had given us as a present!

Landing in  Foz du Iguacu in the early hours, we were greatly relieved to find a driver  waiting to take us to the Harbour Hotel Colonial (we’d booked this over the internet months beforehand); relieved to find the hotel not too far we staggered into the foyer, obtained  change  to tip the driver and porter; and tumbled into bed … Our plan had been to catch up on sleep the first day  but people jabbering outside had us awake by 7.00 after only 4 hours of fitful sleep.  It was time to visit the legendary Iguacu Falls. The National Park entrance not much more than a few kilometres away not that we knew that as we caught a bus outside our hotel.

Entry fees paid, a NP bus took us through the park and dropped us off at the entrance to the Waterfall Trail - 2km along the edge of the canyon-like Iguacu River providing fresh views of the falls around every corner.  

With over 275 discrete cataracts (depending on the flow / river level) varying height between 60 - 82m, spread out along a crest of 2.7km and each pouring water into the muddy river below, the Iguacu Falls are an incredible sight. Not as high as the Victoria Falls, nor with an average flow as large as that coming over the Niagara, but with its boardwalk that takes visitors out into the spray zone above what is known as the Devil’s Throat we found the falls and its surrounds had been very well planned and developed. And just imagine our delight upon finding not just one, but several, real live COATIS (quitis) with their long wobbly noses and striped tails, terrorising the public stealing food from unsuspecting kids; inspecting rubbish bins (George’s backpack included); leaping upon restaurant tables and causing people to flee in all directions! They reminded us of large banded mongooses behaving like baboons!   

      

Apart from all the butterflies that never fail to attract – we saw plenty of goannas; numerous vulture-like birds, black in colour, circling above the falls; large black weavers (with red rumps) making coarse pendulous nests from palm leaves; and perhaps most intriguing of all – tiny, fast flying swifts diving through the seemingly impenetrable mass of water pouring over the falls, to reach their nests (or roosts) behind the veil of water. Faced with the prospect of being swept away, we wondered how chicks survive their first flight when the time comes to leave the nest.

One thing that we found disappointing at the Iguacu Falls was the dearth of information about its geological and hydrological characteristics, or about the plant and animal life that frequent its surrounds. Nor were the primary cataracts of the falls named in spite of the viewpoints created opposite each of them. Nor were there any field guides for sale. 

    

Not far from the entrance to the National Park lay the Parque das Aves, a bird park set in the midst of a rainforest that is widely regarded as the most spectacular bird park in Latin America. Established in 1994 by a South African, Dennis Croucamp; it offers sanctuary to over 140 species of birds, 50% of which were rescued from mistreatment and trafficking.  Parrots and parakeets galore, multi coloured toucans, macaws, curassows and southern screamers, to name just a few, were all contributing to the cacophony of calls that made the forest literally ring with sound. Together with brilliant red ibis, flamingos, cranes, owls, king vultures and Harpy eagles (the most powerful birds of prey in the world), not to mention the large selection of reptiles (such as boa constrictors, caimans, iguanas and anacondas); monkeys (like marmosets) and butterflies in a well-stocked butterfly house, all made our visit to the park an exceptional experience.

Consequently, in spite of our jet lagged state we had an extraordinarily busy and enjoyable day, and considered it to be a great start to our South American adventure. Footsore and tired we walked back to our hotel, had an early supper and headed for bed.

As ex Kariba residents and George’s long standing interest in large dams and hydro-electricity had us take a day trip to Itaipu Dam, second only to the Three Gorges Dam in China. The dam, with a crest length 8km (made of concrete, rock and earth fill) lay 30 kms away on the Parana River and at one stage during its construction over the period 1975 - 1983, at a cost of $18 billion, there were 40 000 workers on site.

Itaipu dam 

Aboard a double decker bus we were driven around the site, with a number of stops at locations overlooking the spillway; the main wall (with its 10m diameter penstocks each delivering 160 tons of water per second to the 20 turbines below, generating 14 000 MW of power); and the lake shore. At one point we were in Paraguay for a short while.  

We subsequently found out that like most large dams there was a lot of controversy over the construction of Itaipu dam. Upstream of the dam was not only 700 sq km of forest, native settlements and the homes of 8 000 people, but also a waterfall, the Guila Falls, even more spectacular than the Iguacu Falls with twice the flow rate of the Niagara. Apparently months before the Guila Falls were destined to be inundated thousands of tourists flocked to see them for the last time and the footbridge that served to take visitors out to the falls collapsed, killing 80 people! Inundation took 14 days and on 27 Oct. 1982 the Guila Falls disappeared from sight for ever. Typical of engineers in those days the director of the Itaipu Dam project is said to have claimed they were not destroying the falls, just substituting the spectacle they represented with a spillway!    

    

Shortly after our visit to the Itaipu Dam it began pouring with rain and at one stage we feared our planned excursion to “Argentina by Night” may not materialise. However, at 5.00pm, together with three other couples far younger than ourselves, and a driver called William to see to all the formalities at the border, we set off to visit what was claimed to be the “Best Duty Free Shop in the World”! Although humming with activity and very pricey, had it not been for the beautiful rainbow and sunset that developed outside, for us the shopping experience was a huge let down.  The others, shopped out, wished to do something else and the only person with a smattering of English was delegated to try and explain the rest of the groups wish to visit an ‘isybar’. Always willing to go with the flow we nodded to whatever…. Turned out to be an Ice Bar where we donned fur-lined coats and mittens in readiness for the next allotted half hour within an icy walled room full of ice sculptures and an ice bar laden with colourful cocktails in glasses made of ice. We swallowed down two vodka laced chocolate cocktails to fend off the cold and Lea’s feet clad in slip-slops froze as did her nose! 

      

From back to front – Lea and George; Rafael and Joelma; Tiago and Renata; Cleverson and Vanessa

The Ice Bar experience set the tone for the rest of the evening and welded our group together. The young ones taking care of us oldies over dinner together  at  Te Amare Maitena restaurant where we enjoyed a huge three course meal washed down by numerous jugs  of “cervejo” which made for a noisy and happy trip back to our hotel.

       

Our flight out of Foz du Iguacu to Lima (in Peru) at 9.00 pm on our third day in Brazil gave us another  opportunity to revisit the Iguacu Falls and  spend time with the coatis before relaxing beside the pool at the hotel with a glass of local draught beer (Chopp). We arrived in Lima well after midnight relieved by the knowledge our hotel (the Costa da Sol Ramada) was right outside the entrance to the airport. However, our luggage took some time to locate as it had been set aside for onward delivery to Guayaquil in Ecuador, our next stop!