It’s the COPA–COPACABANA…Copa-cabana. Okay, I’m not on Copacabana Beach. I am in Rio de Janeiro. This is an area in Brazil that is famous for Carnaval and also the beaches, the beautiful men, women, and everybody on the beaches. And I have finally made it here. The Tall Black Nomad has planted his flag.
Today, I came to Rio de Janeiro from Porto Iguazu. Today was such a long day of traveling. I started off in foz de Iguacu. I woke up very early up this morning. It was around 7 30. And again, today was another long traveling day. It was interrupted with a tour of the Parque de Iguazau, which is the national park here in Brazil for the Iguazu Falls. The park is huge. You have to take a bus to get to so many different places in there. Then—you’re driving for a few minutes—sometimes 20 minutes to get from place to place in the park. It’s a national park. It obviously houses the biggest waterfalls or waterfalls in terms of the area covered, I think it is, in the world.
They also have the most waterfalls that contribute into it. There’s, I’ll share a picture of it. Well, I’ll share the picture in the album. There are so many different waterfalls that feed into it. And depending on where you are, you could see different from the other side, the Argentina side, you didn’t see as much of the splendor as you do from this side, actually. I had got the recommendation not to see it, but also to go to the park and to, you know, see some of the surrounding stuff.
But coming to this side of it and seeing it, it makes a big difference. I understand why people might suggest coming on this side to see it. When you look at the waterfalls, when you look at some of the majesty and the splendor of it, it’s amazing. The weather isn’t the best. Again, it’s a little cloudy, but I’m gonna make, I made the best of it today. I walked all around.
It was nice and warm, not too hot, not too cold. By the falls, there’s always this chill because the mist from the waters and the…always a buzz sound because the waterfalls are just so loud. They create a constant humming for you.
If you go to the park, there’s lots of stuff to see in terms of the wild animals that might be there. There were leopards, there were, I think, signs for meerkats or whatever the animals there are.
I can’t tell you exactly the animals. So it was just really cool being there and climbing up all these things, walking through the little mazes, getting down into the falls themselves and to be splattered by the mist of the water. It’s not Niagara Falls, no, but it was something to behold.
So if you ever come to Argentina and if you ever come to Brazil, it’s really nice. And the park is called Parque Nacional do Iguazú.
It’s right on the edge. And I, I’m not sure if it’s one of the seven wonders of the world, but it’s one of the things that I really wanted to see as a part of seeing Argentina and also coming here in Brazil to see it. So it was really cool being able to experience that this morning and taking a walk. I finished up maybe at like 12. By 12, I had seen so many things, and I was already tired, but it was time for me to come to Rio. So I got on an airplane, I found my way to Rio de Janeiro. I didn’t arrive until much later to much later than I would have hoped, but you know, you make it, you do what you do.
You got to do what you got to do. The apartment I’m staying in is sick, but I’m on not on Copacabana Beach. I’m on Leblon, it’s a beach that’s adjacent to Copacabana, but a little bit more chill. It seems like a little more relaxed, not as much stuff going on.
I’m two blocks away from the beach, enough space to walk to the beach. Trust me. Because when I was coming, I looked over, and I was like: “Oh, that’s the beach”. I don’t even need to bring anything out of the house. My keys, I can leave my phone in the house. I’m so close to the beach. The apartment is really nice. It’s actually a two bedroom. It has a washing machine.
It has all the amenities of an apartment—because it’s an actual apartment from Airbnb. So I’m going to take the time out to just luxuriate and relax and enjoy being in somebody’s space again and being able to experience life as they have it and enjoying this nomad journey. But today’s been such a long day.
I’m signing off. I’m ready for bed. I just wanted to really record some of the feelings and some of the stuff that I saw today and note how it was amazing being in Iguazu Falls and seeing and feeling the power and the majesty of these waterfalls. It really is quite an experience to behold. Even being around and on the different sides, seeing again—the difference between the Tres Fronteras side or the Tres Fronteras here in Iguazu, but seeing that space, it was really cool to be able to experience it, seeing what I had seen on the other side and then coming over to this side. It’s a vibe.
But signing off, and I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
-Tall Black Nomad