Day 11
Iguassu Falls & Parque das Aves

It was a sight-seeing, strictly tourism kind of day. First we saw the bird park, which was pretty huge and awesome. I got face-to-face with a cute little toucan and saw tons of exotic birds. After this we went to tour the Iguacu Falls! We took a bus to a starting point and then gradually walked the rest of the way to the falls until we were basically standing in them on a pier. The views walking up were spectacular but being on that pier surrounded by the falls was really the most breath-taking part. The falls have an average flow of something like 1700 cubic meters per second and they contribute to the flow that powers the Itaipu Dam. Apparently this flow, which seems so immense, is barely enough to fill more than a couple of the penstocks at Itaipu. Next, a few of us got even closer to the falls; we went on a jeep ride through the surrounding forest, where we saw a toucan in its natural habitat! Following this was a short boat trip that took us direcly under the falls, where we sat for a few minutes while tons of water was dumped on us. Thought I was going to lose my contacts!