Brazilian Iguazu with Lydia

Date Of Entry: May 12th 2016

Date of Writing: August 16th 2016

It’s come, my last guaranteed day in Iguazu falls ever. At this point it was the last one planned for the foreseeable future, (that’s changed now that I’m living in Brazil) and despite my excellent company I can’t help but feel a little sad. It’s mad sadder as Lydia and I say goodbye to David in the morning who is off to the Argentinean side for a second day while we head to the bus station and get on a bus bound for Brazil with our big backpacks in tow. We’ll be heading straight to the airport from the falls for our early evening flight to Rio, a city I’m very excited to see. But first my final goodbye to Iguazu.

We get to the falls and head into the gift shop to rent lockers for our bags. I believe it was around 20 reals for one big locker which held both our backpacks easily, then we pay our roughly 50 real entry fee and board the bus to take us to the falls. We climb off and even 21 visits in I remain awestruck by the sight of so much falling water buried deep in the jungle.

As we continue along the lone trail on the Brazilian side with access to the falls I start to think about how we’ve had bad luck with wildlife, no toucans, no monkeys, just lots of adorable Coati’s on the Argentinean side. As my eyes try to keep on eye on the branches above our heads sure enough we find a family of cappuchin’s feeding and playing int the sky above us. They are beyond cute though the grey light and the mist all around us from the falls makes photos surprisingly difficult considering how close to us they are.

We watch the monkeys for a while before moving on to what will always remain the main attraction of this place, the incredible falls and lots more impressive viewpoints as we descend into the narrow u shaped canyon that serves to create the devils throat. The argentinean side has more to do undoubtedly and a vaster variety of viewpoints, but the end of the Brazilian trail is easily as impressive as any single place on the Argentinean side. If you are coming to Iguazu don’t skip either side unless you have absolutely no other choice.

As we reach the bottom of the trail the mostly cloudy sky starts to give us more and more glimpses of blue and we reach one of my photos points though the wind brings us a lot of mist and so the photos don’t turn out quite as well as they have on other days.

Still once we get out onto the huge boardwalk built under one waterfall and on top of another one the photos start to improve and we wander through this soaked yet magical place and rainbows start to bloom in the dark yet blue sky. I’m proud of the photo below and a few more from today, and it is a great pleasure to have a person to use as a photo prop again.

As we go further and further out into the madness I continue to snap lots of photos whenever the winds shift allowing me to get my camera out somewhat safely. After all I lost a very good camera here back in december and I’ve no plans of sacrificing my new one to the falls, no matter how amazing they are.

As we reach the end of the boardwalk we decide it’s time for some selfies because I mean all the cool kids are doing it. Seriously though the place is so impressive yet so wet that sometimes selfies make the most sense, asking other’s always means more time for the camera to be exposed to the dangerous mists.

Lydia is soaked and getting ready to leave but I call her back to the very far edge having spotted another rainbow, this one much clearer than the last as the skies are turning steadily bluer as if asking us not to leave. I only wish I could give into them, but I’ve committed to travelling with Lydia until she leaves the continent, and to be fair that’s pretty awesome too. Below are more Iguazu shots I’m proud of and I can’t express how glad I am that we got some good weather on our last day. Lydia had been ready to leave just before this last rainbow came out, thank goodness I’m a ridiculous human being who never wants to leave a waterfall behind.

Eventually though we do head back out of the madness of the extended boardwalk and towards one of the last lower viewpoints which feels strange so close to a building but also so close to the falls. Still it’s a great spot for some distance photos today since the falls aren’t crowded like they were in December and I snap photos of Lydia before we take the elevator up to what will be our final viewpoint of Iguazu. (At this point I think it may be my last sight of this mythical incredible place for years.)

Up above the falls the sun keeps emerging as we spend a good long time neither of us wanting to say a final goodbye to the falls. We snap too many pictures, keep talking and keep checking our watches to make sure we won’t be late for our flight. Thankfully the airport is very close to the falls and the bus back to Foz do Iguacu stops there making our trip very easy. Eventually though we have to do it, I’m close to crying but eventually turn my back on this paradise thinking its goodbye for a long time, but now, now that I’m leaving here in Sao Paulo I know I’l make it back sometime in the next twelve months.