Wednesday, October 1, 2025

the BRAZIL SIDE OF THE falls and A rio WELCOME

This morning we checked out of the Grand Mercure Iguazú and headed by bus to the Brazil border control. But not before one last check-in on my little doves in their nest to make sure they were still ok after all of that rain!

Had to take a short video of the fish floor in the hotel’s dining room area where breakfast is served.

On the drive, we ultimately crossed a bridge over the Iguazú River, marking the border between Argentina and Brazil. Flor pointed out the view to the left which is where you can see not only these two countries but also Paraguay in the back, all in one view.

On the other side of the river was the Brazil border control office. You have to get a visa in advance, and they are so strict about the photo! My first two got rejected because they couldn’t see my ears enough and then there was a slight shadow, but then third time was a charm, thankfully. The whole process was really fast and seamless, and then we were headed on our way.

After we were officially Brazil visitors, it was a very short drive to the welcome and ticketing center for the Brazil side of the falls, called Foz do Iguaçu in Portuguese. We took a little time looking at the souvenir shops (I think while Flor was grabbing our tickets) and then right outside it was a short walk to an immediately gorgeous view.

There’s really only one path on this side, but it walks along the length of the falls, looking at the Argentina side, until you reach the Devil’s Throat, where we started our tour the day before.

I was so happy that for the most part it wasn’t raining today, giving a better chance to take some good photos.

Along the walk we had a few local wildlife sightings – saw a cute little toucan hopping around in a tree, another one of those giant tiger lizards hanging out by the path, and finally a few coatis, which are the raccoon-like nuisances that we had been warned about with those gory signs. Sol had been surprised that we never saw any yesterday, but they were definitely out and about today.

At the end of the path was a long walkway to the Devil’s Throat, the same iconic part of the falls where we had started our visit the day before. I totally get why it’s worth visiting from both countries’ side — this was a spectacular view!

Some Devil’s Throat clips strung together

At the end of the path was a tall glass elevator that brought you up to the level with the cafeteria/food court area, and more importantly another spectacular view of the falls.

I waited in the long line for the small elevator, and then made my way up. (I do think there’s a walkway with stairs that also takes you up, but I was on vacation. 💁‍♀️)

After taking in the last views of this well-deserved World Wonder, we made our way to the food court area where everyone in our group managed to find each other again.

Any absence of coatis the day before was more than made up for today — they were all over the place, trying to get any sort of food scrap. Such pointy noses!

Spotted this insane fake-looking flower on my walk from the falls to lunch. Flor let me know it’s a passion fruit! You can see the unripe ones below it with those wild little curlicue vines. Not in Kansas anymore, friends.

Lunch itself was uneventful.* I had a pizza that I failed to take a picture of… but it was your basic food court pizza. No complaints, it’s pizza.

We had a good time sitting and catching up, taking in the scenery and the large number of birds who had gathered in the area for the same scavenging reason as the coatis. They definitely had a fondness for fries, and got pretty competitive with each other over them.

*UPDATE: I sent this to the people on my trip, and Mike reminded me that this lunch was indeed eventful as there was a spider in my hair!! I legitimately blocked that out. Textbook case of traumatic amnesia. 🙅🏼‍♀️

Gimme The French Fries, A Bird Species Stand-Off:

After lunch, it was time to bid farewell to Foz do Iguaçu and head to the airport for our flight to Rio. It’s also when we would say goodbye to Sol (and Flor) as we’d be met by a new leader, Lucas, when we landed. Sol was one of the best Flash Pack leaders I’ve had, so it was unfortunate we couldn’t bring her with us!

One good thing about traveling with a bunch of frequent travelers is that between all of us, enough had status that we were able to hang out in the cozy lounge before getting on our flight.

Stunning coati hat

The flight itself was a little over 2 hours, and pretty uneventful. Upon landing we grabbed our luggage and were met by our Brazil guide Lucas, who introduced himself before we hopped into a van to head to dinner.

For our first dinner in Brazil, we were treated to a little boteca (neighborhood bar/restaurant) crawl around Rio, led by Lucas.

Our first stop was the historic Armazém São Thiago, located in the Santa Teresa neighborhood. Opened in 1919, it's one of the oldest bars in Rio de Janeiro and is considered one of the city's best botecos. It’s also affectionately called “Bar de Gomez” after a beloved waiter who worked there for a long time.

Here, we tried Brazilian bolinhos, fried balls stuffed with various foods including the black bean one I tried here. Very tasty!

After this appetizer, we admired some of the street art in the area before getting back on the van to head to our next stop, Boteco Belmonte.

Here at Boteco Belmonte, right by Copacabana Beach, we got a taste of quintessential Brazilian food and drink between (giant) caipirinhas and a selection of empanadas.

Our final stop was at Cervantes Restaurant, right by our hotel on Copacabana. Here we sat at a table outside and tried their famous ham & pineapple sandwich. it was tasty, but I think at this point we were all starting to hit a wall after the early start at the falls and long day of travel.

After a fun culinary introduction to Brazil (I’m not counting the food court pizza at Iguaçu haha), we headed to our nearby hotel, the Grand Mercure Rio de Janeiro Copacabana. We checked in and I pretty much immediately fell asleep. A very full and fulfilling day, and we had another full one coming up tomorrow!