Sweet Mother of God

The first official day of the tour kicks off at 1930 at a meeting. Isn't that how things usually kick off?

We meet Santi, our tour guide. He is Argentinian and seems like a nice enough guy.
There are four Canadians, three Germans, and six Britons. Everyone is in their late twenties and up, ensuring we don't have party people. I like this. Santi informs us we have to be on the bus to the airport at 0300 in the morning to get to the airport and be on a flight at 0430. I do not like this.

We had Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance, and his troupe staying in the suite above ours. As a result, I had approximately two and a half hours sleep. This will not go well for the rest of the world.

The flight is mercifully short and sweet. We are going to Foz do Iguaçu!
(For the record, I can understand why we had a flight at ass in the morning, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.)

Once in Foz do Iguaçu, we head over the border to the Brazilian side of the falls. 
Now, I know it will be shocking, but it was raining in a rain forest. Please, unclench your pearls.

Iguassu Falls is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It is amazing. There are 275 individual falls and each of them will take your breath away. 

We get drenched, both from the rain - in a rain forest, of all places! - and from the spray from the falls.

We heard many different kinds of birds in the rain forest - where, if you can believe it, it was raining - but did not see many. What we did see, however, was a toucan!

He wasn't wearing a name tag and didn't stick around long enough for me to ask if he was Sam.

Iguassu Falls

The falls are loud and unbelievable. Really there isn't a way to describe them. You can feel and hear their power. Awe inspiring. 

If anyone had bumped me at this point, I would have thrown them over the edge to go get James.

After a day of walking, we head back to our hotel in Puerto Iguazú, Brazil

Santi suggests we go for a traditional Brazilian barbecue for dinner, followed by a samba show. Great! Yes! Let's do this!

Well.

We thought we'd be going to some restaurant and having a nice meal with some samba dancers after. Partially right.

We get in the bus and drive for about half an hour, outside of Puerto Iguazú. We are now in a residential area. Okay, sure, some restaurants are in a residential area.

Nope.

We're at someone's house. Oh.

They have a wonderful back yard! It has a pool and a sheltered patio area with an awesome outdoor kitchen. This is apparently not their first rodeo.

Meat.

The barbecue is excellent. There are salads and drinks and meat. Lots of meat. 

The YOLO group (another tour group from the same company on a different tour, much younger) has joined us. There are about 50 people at the backyard barbecue. My kind of party!

 

And then, samba.

We were all in the patio area when out of nowhere the music changed and two women came in. They were very talented samba dancers.

They pulled up Ed and Tim from our group to dance with them, after both men had consumed several Caipirinha, Brazil's national drink. This is made from gasoline sugar cane alcohol, limes, their juice and sugar. Quite good and a great way to get messed up in a hurry.

We went back to our hotel for a wake up call at a decent hour.

It did not matter because there was a group of drunken gap year kids who were on our floor and partied in the halls. I was exhausted and had murderous intentions, I can admit.

Next: Argentinian falls!