Location: 25° 20S, 49° 10W
Saturday 02.16.2008

The Maggie B Away Team is now in Curitiba, Brazil, on our homeward leg from our trip to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. Our position is about 25° 20S, 49° 10W. We are all still a bit punchy from a lot of time in our Toyota, but mostly we are stunned by the emotional impact of seeing a huge Wonder of the World. We are all happy to head back to the boat and get her sailing again.

We did achieve our basic goal - the Brazilian Vice Consul issued us our visas (but only 30 days worth) in a morning.

US$140 for Americans, US$80 for Canadians. We are now more or less legal, and now have to get back to Florianopolis and clear the Maggie B in, and then out. Probably another two days of paperwork. We have used up some of our “play time” for going north to Antigua for the Classic Race Week, which will have us adapt our plans a bit.

We had the great fortune to have two days to explore the Iguazu Falls. We spent the first day “up close” on the Argentinean side. While our visas were being processed, we walked many kilometers, climbing high and low around the closer Falls. We were accompanied by thousands and thousands of folks from bus tours. Up, down and around some of the most stunning views on the planet. The volume of the water is astonishing, but the variety of falls is the real romance of the place. When Eleanor Roosevelt saw the Falls, she said “Poor Niagara.” Poor Niagara, indeed. It makes other waterfalls just insignificant.

We have seen a lot of water in the Maggie B’s trip around the world. How to describe the Iguazu Falls? The remorseless power is stunning. A ten meter Southern Ocean wave has some of the same sense of total force. Same for the tides in the Straits of Le Maire. You know that not only you can’t resist, but also that you have to be lucky and skilled not to be hurt.

We had our timing right. We spent four hours in the morning climbing around, then went the 20 kilometers back into town to get our visas, and have a nice long lunch. We returned to the Argentine Falls at about 5 PM, watching the thousands of tourists staggering back to their busses like a defeated army, think France in 1939. We walked and took a lovely little train to the “Devil’s Throat” walkway, where we say the stunning inner falls with almost no one else around.

We went to a bird sanctuary the next day where the delight was to see lots of toucans. We had seen a pair flying free near the Falls, but it was thrilling to see them close. It was astonishing how graceful they were, the beautiful, lightweight bill being perfectly balanced.

Crossing back into Brazil was somewhat complicated. It was slow but uneventful to get out of Argentina. We were then seduced into a very flashy Duty Free Store placed in the “No Man’s Zone” between the countries. Curtis bought a new camera to replace the one that disappeared in Flor. The Captain spotted a huge bargain - Ballentine’s Scotch at US$8.25 a liter bottle. Perhaps not our most favorite brand, but very good and irresistible at the price to get a case of it. We worried about Customs going into Brazil, but there weren’t any. In fact we had to fight to get our passports properly stamped. We certainly didn’t want any more trouble from the Federales!

Somewhat exhausted, we found a beer garden (signs of the German influence) to recuperate. We called the helicopter tours to check on timing and price, reaching them at about 1710. They said they could take us if we could get there in 20 minutes. Could we? We could! We paid the bill, jumped in the car and arrived at the airport to jump on the helicopter as the blades were still turning from the last flight.

Off we went for the ten minute trip around the Falls for a truly stunning view. None of us were scarcely able to breathe for the ten minutes.

We then went and found a nice hotel and took a little break before driving into the Brazilian park to the famous Hotel das Cataratas. We weren’t allowed in until 2000 and had the 15 kilometer road to ourselves, where it is usually full of shuttle busses. The Brazilian side view of the Falls was stunning in the sunset and then illuminated by a half moon.

After a nice dinner buffet, we relaxed in the bar listening to a lovely Brazilian singer with her guitarist. That was marvelously followed by an older English tourist on the piano. We aided and abetted his playing by sending him glasses of Drambuie. After the Englishman was finally dragged off to bed by his wife, Curtis and Thomas led us down to the catwalk in the Devil’s Throat. It was a magical trip. It was about 0200. The moon had set and we only had the light of stars to find our way. The stars were our old friends - the Twins, Orion, Alpha and Beta Centuri, the Southern Cross. But most of the way we had to feel our way down the steps and along the walkways. We got soaked but all had the stunning experience of having the Falls totally to ourselves under the starlight.

Before leaving the Falls to return to Blue Water, we want to especially congratulate Argentina for the great work they have done to keep their area of the Falls healthy. Those who look at the satellite maps of the Iguazu area, will see how the Paraguay side has cut everything down, Brazil has cut a lot, and Argentina has saved most. Hurray for Argentina!

All is well.