Our last stop: The Iguassu Bird Park

Our last hours in Iguassu were full of discovery and new encounters. We spent the morning at the famous Iguassu Bird park, located just next door to our hotel (which explains a lot of the odd noises that we heard at night). The park is actually part of the Iguassu forest and is dedicated to education, research and conservation. One unique aspect of the park is that they have several open aviaries where one can walk through and, as such, can interact with the birds without having to be separated by a cage or by glass. Of course, there are positive and negative aspects to this open, interactive system. I am happy to report that, unlike in recent years, the macaws did not attack anyone and that we escaped with only one creature bite - A toucan bit Dr. Scott because it wanted to eat his watch. Luckily, no student was silly enough to provoke the toucans. Regretfully, Marissa did receive a "blessing" from a bird flying above. We will resolve this issue by doing a bit of laundry before returning home.

It is also important to point out that birds are not the only residents of the Bird Park. We also saw an iguana, an anaconda, an alligator and more. The butterfly and hummingbird house is currently under renovation so we will have to return to see it because it is sure to be as impressive as the rest of the park!