Monday, February 12, 2018- Cruise Day 20; Traveling to Iguazu Falls

Monday, February 12, 2018- Cruise Day 20; Traveling to Iguazu Falls

We got up and had breakfast in the dining room and made it to our last Trivia quiz for the foreseeable future since we are leaving the ship for our 5 day overland excursion to Iguazu Falls. We teamed up with Gary & Angela, Steve, and Dan, scoring 14/20.  There was a 2 way tie for first with 16/20 with a tie breaker of how many Grammy Awards does Stevie Wonder have as a solo performing artist.  The answer was 19.

We finished packing our carry on suitcases and back packs and then had lunch at the Horizon Court.  The temperature outside was still oppressively hot, over 93 degress by noon so we weren’t in any mood to do any more wandering around Rio before our excursion.  

The Iguazu Falls excursion was limited to 16 participants, and was sold out.  We met in the Explorer’s Lounge where we received our passports, and then were escorted to the airport by our tour guide from our Best of Rio Tour, Celeste.  She recognized us immediately and seemed genuinely happy to see some familiar faces.  She made it very easy to navigate our way through the airport check in process and even onto the plane with priority boarding.  This seems like a very easy and trouble-free way to do a complex excursion so far.  They had free WiFi at the airport that actually worked, so we were able to upload pictures and get our emails updated.

The flight from Rio to Iguazu was on a GOL airways 737-900.  There was no inflight entertainment, but it was a short 2 hour flight.  They served soda from 2 liter bottles into plastic cups with a piece of ice to cool off the room temperature soda.  The plane was full of passengers heading to Iguazu Falls for the holidays.  What was most unusual about the flight was the rousing applause, cheers and whistling that broke out once the plane touched down in Iguazu.  It was a very smooth flight, but maybe it was a first flight for many of the Brazilians on board, or they were just very happy to be starting their holidays.  We disembarked the plane down manual stairs at both the front and rear of the plane onto the tarmac- something we haven’t done since Cabo San Lucas airport many years ago. When we stepped off the plane, we were pleasantly surprised to find the air a cool and refresing 78 degrees.  The sky was partly cloudy and the local guide said this was very unusual weather for this time of year, which is usually very hot and humid.

After collecting our luggage, which was swept up by a porter and taken to our tour bus, we boarded the bus and drove to the Brazil/Argentina border, where there was terrible traffic, so it took an hour to get through the border.  Exacerbating the mess was a group of pedestrians who intentionally blocked a lane of traffic for about a half mile leading up to the bridge over the river forming the border between Brazil and Argentina.  They seemed to be enjoying blocking traffic. We just hoped they were getting eaten alive by the borochudos.  

There is a crazy time zone change at the Brazil/Argentina border, so each time we cross the border, we have to reset our watches and clocks.  

We finally arrived at the Mellia hotel, which until 4 months ago was called the Sheraton Iguazu.  It was well after dark.  We went straight to the dining room and had a nice dinner featuring Argentinian sirloin steak over risotto, which was very delicious.  There was a nice flan for dessert, of course.  Our room has two full sized beds.  There are warnings not to leave the balcony doors open because there are kapuchin monkeys who will raid your room’s mini bar and poop all over the place.  I guess we’ll be leaving the sliding doors closed and enjoy the view from inside our air conditioned room.

Tomorrow, we cross back into Brazil to tour the Brazilian side of the falls.  Boy, a day of traveling just leaves us feeling beat, so its hot showers and bedtime for us.