• The falls are made up of 275 separate waterfalls. Many of the falls have enhanced beauty with many ledges along their trajectory
• The falls are the result of a volcanic eruption that created a large crack in the earth. 
• The  Iguassu River, which along with its many tributaries. runs through the crack and over millions of years, has eroded the rock and soil, creating a series of steep cliffs and channels that make up the falls’ cascades.
• The cascades and channels, range in height from 197 to 269 feet.
• The falls are surrounded by lush rainforest vegetation and are home to a plethora of over 2000  species of plants and many animals,  and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I always love finding derivation stories from local lore and the Iguassu Falls has a doozy.  Supposedly,  legends say that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, but she loved another, a mortal man named Tarobá. The lovers fled together by canoe away from the god, but they couldn’t paddle fast enough. The god, enraged and heartbroken, sliced the river creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.

We didn’t get to the Belmont Hotel das Cataratas, which was to be our home for the next few days until dusk, so although the hotel lies directly along the Brazilian part of the falls, my first view was very foggy:

The  Belmont Hotel de Cataratas  offered  lots of eye candy  and places to explore and  is a wonder in  itself.  It is the only hotel within the park on the Brazilian side.  It has three wings with  Portuguese/Colonial style rooms and suites.  The lush gardens are perfect for a roaming photographer like myself  Here is an aerial view – note this is only a portion of the entire falls complex:

-My room had a falls view located in the upper right side of the Garden Wing:

I could only open the windows in mid-day due to mosquitoes – yes they were there but my luck continued and  I didn’t get bit.

I adored the bathroom – all in blue/white Portuguese tiles:

Even the soap was blue:

Every morning  before breakfast I walked through the spacious gardens:

Even made a few friends:

The above is a coati or coatimundi – it is Brazil’s version of a racoon.

This a plush crested jaybird.

Of course the premiere experiences were just about to begin – starting on the Argentinian side – stay tuned!

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