MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015 - A DAY OF MANY ACTIVITIES & WE DEPART FOR HOME.

With everything packed and the bags in the lobby we checked out of the hotel and were ready to depart this morning when Carlitos came to pick us up.  The weather was perfect so we began our Monday as it had been planned for Sunday.  First on the agenda was a helicopter ride over the falls seeing from the air both sides, the Argentina side of the Iguazu Falls (spelling in Spanish) and the Brazil side of the Iguacu Falls (spelling in Portuguese).

The view from the air includes the Hotel das Cataratas which is the ONLY hotel located inside the park on the Brazil side.  We tried to stay at this hotel even though it is very pricey (almost $400 US dollars) per night but were unable to get a confirmed reservation.  Finally realizing it was a "workers holiday" (May 1 holiday) we decided to try for another hotel again on the Brazil side.  It was certainly adequate and the cost was at least $100 less per night.

Below, as we entered the park "Parque  Nacional Do Iguacu"

The panorama of the falls at first glance.

And the four of us.

Note how small the boats seem on the right middle of the picture. 

Again, the Hotel das Cataratas this time from land--a viewing platform on ground above.

In the interest of seeing more of the falls "up close and personal" we decided to take a boat ride that would go BEHIND the falls.  To get to the launching place, we rode a park train for 10-15 minutes, then walked another 10-15 minutes to the bank of the river/lake.  Here, you can see the red life jackets drying and awaiting users.  Once we chose a life jacket and removed our shoes, we left them along with the purses, cameras (anything that getting wet would damage) with Carlitos.  And, proceeded to the water's edge to board.  From the boat the scenery was nothing that we hadn't been able to see from the shore  higher up.  It seemed the object of the boat ride was to get us wet.  We could have taken a shower with our clothes and rain coats on and saved the boat fare!  Sylvia gripped her rain hood on either side and I used my "free" hand to hold it down in the middle.  Her hair survived without getting wet.

This is the 4 of us, in the boat between trips behind the falls.  Don't we look happy????

 Note on the lower left of this picture you can see one of the safety barriers of the viewing platforms above these falls.

Below, viewing platform and the rainbow.

 Looking toward the Devil's Throat on the Argentina side.

 Note below the rainbows and the many viewing walks.

and a Quatis.

Finally, we felt we had seen everything and departed the park.  Our next and final stop of places we chose to see was a bird park called Parque Das Aves. 

The information about the Parque Das Aves claims that it is the most spectacular bird park in Latin America.  It's a unique place in which you will see incredible birds of the Atlantic Rainforest in their natural habitat, alongside exotic species from around the world, many of them endangered.

50%  of the birds in the park were rescued from mistreatment and trafficking.  43% of the birds in the park were born in the park.

All too soon our allotted time at the bird park ended and we had to began our trip to the airport.  But first, we stopped off at the office of our guide, Carlitos, to finish up some paperwork.  Then, it was on to the airport for our 7:45 p.m. departure.

At the airport Carlitos assisted us with our luggage, with getting through the check-in* and finally walked with us to the location where we began the security check.  We told him goodbye and thanked him for all his many hours of time spent with us, and were soon ready to begin the trip home.  Our 4 hour 25 minute flight from Foz Do Iguazu was to Lima, Peru, arriving at 10:10 p.m.  We had an almost 3 hour layover until our flight from Lima departed at 1:05 a.m.  Five hours 45 minutes later, at 

7:50 a.m. we arrived in Miami, FL.  Once in the airport I wanted to locate the Chili's where we ate the great hamburgers before we departed over two weeks ago.  Alas, it was located in the "international area" and we were now in the "domestic area".  We stopped in a bar and ate breakfast.  Our last flight of the trip departed:  Tommy & Virginia - 2:05 p.m., arriving Birmingham, AL at 3:07 p.m.  Sylvia & Jim - 3:30 p.m., arriving Dallas Ft. Worth, TX at 5:49 p.m.

*One really funny story I wanted to tell, but didn't know how to insert it in this blog so will just put it here.  A few weeks prior to departure from home when we had ordered though our local bank the foreign money we thought we might need, we had found that the Brazil money was 3.5 Real to every US dollar and  3.3 Peruvian Soles to every US dollar.  Since the US dollar is the currency of Ecuador the money there was not an issue.  And, our short time in Argentina we simply use credit cards.  Anyway, we had such a stack of small bills of both the Brazil Real and the Peru Soles that we joked about "looking like drug dealers".  In the Foz Do Iguazu airport, the agent told Virginia that her large suitcase was "overweight" and she had to remove 10 kilos.  This really sounded funny to us as we remember that large amounts of drugs are often referred to in the USA as kilos!