We got up at 5:30 this morning to a beautiful sunrise over Copacabana beach! What a view from the restaurant of our hotel !! Just awesome... The breakfast buffet was unreal with three different areas to consider, hot foods, fruit salads and all sorts of cold foods and off course my must have strong coffee!! Once checked out of the hotel, our car service was waiting for us to go to GIG airport. Our airline this time is GOOL, which is local to South America !!! The flight is about an hour 45 minutes!!
Sunrise over Copacabana beach, Rio de Janero
I love taking pictures from planes high above the ground. The following are few of them on our way to Iguazu. We flew along the east coast of Brazil until Sao Polo then we veered west south west towards Curatiba then Iguazu. The sky was getting cloudier the farther south we went. Near Iguazu the sky was very cloudy with lots of turbulence while landing. From high above Iguazu, one can see the Amazon jungle in all directions; lush green and dense vegetation with lots of exotic animals; Piranas, anacondas and whatever else is crawling down there... I joked with my friend that if we crashed their will be a feast in the jungle!! Once on the ground, it was suffocating heat and humidity! I felt like I was back in July or August in Bama.. We arrived at our hotel around 2 pm and we decided to immediately get busy looking for things to do. Talking to the tourist office at the hotel, she suggested going to the Itaipu dam where the largest hydroelectric power plant was built between Brazil and Paragway! 80% of the power needs of Paragway come from this plant while only 18% of Brazil power needs are supplied by the plant .... In the meantime the rain was coming down in buckets, typical of the jungle weather!!! After this first tour, which was worth it, we went back to the hotel to plan for the next day! We found out that we needed a visa to Argentina which we both don't have but we can buy it on the web so that was the immediate problem to solve...
Leaving Rio with GOOL airline
Flying over southern Brazil near Sao Polo
Near Iguazu
Iguazu falls in a distance
Iguazu falls in a distance with the Amazon jungle everywhere
Itaipu dam near Paraguay
Our day in southern Brazil is over but lots of things happened today, left Rio for Iguazu, visited the Itaipu dam and breafly entered Paraguay ! The hydroelectric power plant was gigantic and the dam was huge... Tomorrow we go to the falls on the Brazilian side, we plan to take a helicopter ride over the falls, a boat ride, that my friend is dreading because we will get soaked and need to change clothes right after the ride.. We will also walk around the Brazilian side and take in all the scenic views... So lots waiting tomorrow...
