Out of this world: floating on the Upper Iguassu River before it plunges down

Calm smooth water surrounded by hundreds of powerful "saltos" falls or cascades

 After seeing the Iguassu Falls from the Brazilian side, out of the official trail, venturing into the canyon of the Iguassu River on board one of the boats of  Macuco Safari, seeing the Falls from all angles from the Argentine side, such as the Upper Circuit, the Lower Circuit, Devil's Throat there are still possibilities for surprises at the Iguassu Falls. How? There is a tour called "Paseo Ecológico" formerly called "Floating Iguazú" that offers an opportunity to enjoy the Iguassu River before it plunges into the canyon below. "It's a tour for contemplation," warns the gentleman who sells tickets for the tour.

An Iguassu Falls broad-snouted caiman on a bank: Upper Iguassu River Island

The reason why he warns clients is, as he explains, to prevent anyone buying the ticket from thinking they are getting on an adrenaline-filled tour. No, this is not an adrenaline tour at all. It's the opposite. It is a slow tour to enjoy the silence, the meanders of the Iguaçu River as it snakes through channels around  and along big and small islands, allowing floaters to see huge trees that grow on those islands and sometimes even on rocks. See water birds like neotropic cormorants, snail kites, vultures and even broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) and turtles. 

Beyond the reef-like rocks (in appearence only) and the Falls in between is the pink Belmond Cataratas Hotel 

Between the bow of the rubber boat and the land out there on the horizon lie  the Iguaçu Falls. "The whole route is calm and the water remains calm until the fall," he jokes. Nothing denounces that you are floating on top of the falls. I took the trip on a cloudy but not rainy morning as I collected  data for my next book, still untitled. It will be about the Falls but about what exactly is still a kind of a secret. But nothing prevents me from sharing the photo that follows. It is wonderful to be floating on a rubber boat on calm water, heading for an illusory horizon because you will never get there, not by boat and suddenly you will see the Hotel das Cataratas, now under the Belmond flag, on the Brazilian side  across the Falls, the riover and the man-created border idea.

Mara Rosso, Valentina and Angelina Vandevelde

The day I took the tour in July 2018, I was on board with a family from Cordoba, Argentina. The father Santiago Vandeveld, the mother Mara Rosso and the daughters Valentina and Angelina Vandeveld. Paddling and telling stories was Ruben Arguello, who has worked rowing and paddling the upper and lower Iguaçu / Iguazú River for more than 25 years. The company that offers the tour is Iguazú Jungle. A hug to the family!

Ruben Arguello, 25 years in daily contact with Iguassu Falls' changing moods: you have to read the water and learn when to focus and "unfocus" (blur) your eyes in order to see what is around like when he was telling people to look sideways kind of unfocusing the eyes in order to make out the shape of the head of an Iguassu Falls Turtle barely above water in order to make sure its offspring was OK.  

"It is the head of a turtle. No, not a snake. Unfocus the eyes", Ruben Arguello