05.01.2008
Visiting the Brazilian side with US citizens Crossing the border to get a view from the Brazilian side is normally no big deal: you line up at the immigration, get a stamp and move on. But since all the children, Anna, Helene and Raphael as well as Rebecca were traveling with their US passport, this excursion turned into an expensive challenge. In the aftermath of 9/11, the US government requested visas for Brazilians entering the US, so President Lula retaliated by making it a requirement for US citizens entering Brazil. Now paying USA 150 for spending one afternoon in Brazil seems a bit dear, so most nationals requiring a visa enter Brazil illegally. Somehow the taxi drivers have worked out a system with immigration officers at the border and obviously the system works well. But Joel & Rebecca decided against it and bought a regular visa, which made this a very expensive day and had them line up exactly eight times that day! We kept teasing them about not loosing their golden passports. The Brazilian side of the waterfalls is completely different: you do not have the close view from the waterfalls, but on the other hand you get a much better panorama and hence a much better idea of the overall dimension and layout of the falls. It is consequently a good complement to the Argentinean side. Gilles family invited him to see the falls from high above, from a helicopter. It was his first time in a helicopter and an even more amazing view of the waterfalls, a great experience. Something both sides have in common is lots of cheeky and begging coatis. Those look like foxes with a very long snout, that you find either on the ground or in trees, looking for any kind of fruits. The afternoon, we spent in the “Parque das Aves”, a park with lots of exotic birds, mainly from the region and the Amazonian rain forest. All in all, the 3.5 days we stayed in Iguazu were not too much for this absolutely spectacular place. Apart from the heat, which was at times suffocating, it was a great experience for all of us. |