Iguazu falls in brazil tour

Iguazu Falls

Taller than Niagara Falls, twice as wide with 275 cascades spread in a horsehoe shape over nearly two miles of the Iguazu River, Iguazú Falls are the result of a volcanic eruption which left yet another large crack in the earth. During the rainy season of November - March, the rate of flow of water going over the falls may reach 450,000 cubic feet (12,750 cubic m) per second.

These matter of fact details do nothing to describe the grandeur of the falls, the tremendous amount of water (an average of 553 cubic feet per second) thundering down 269 feet, the tropical location and the sheer beauty that led Eleanor Roosevelt to sayPoor Niagara. Four times the width of Niagara Falls, Iguazu Falls are divided by various islands into separate waterfalls. One of the best known is Devil's Throat, or Gargantua del Diablo with its perpetual spray high over the falls. Other notable falls are the San Martin, Bossetti, and Bernabe Mendez.

Iguazu Falls ArtToday.com

Iguazú Falls, called Foz do Iguaçu in Portuguese, and Cataratas del Iguazú in Spanish, lie on the Argentina - Brazil border and are a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

Getting there is an easy matter. Check flights from your area to locations in either Brazil or Argentina for connections to the falls. You can also browse for hotels and car rentals.

Browse through the Iguazu Falls Photo Gallery for an idea of the might and grandeur of the falls.

Iguazu Falls from Riverboat Peter and Jackie Main

The falls are part of a singular practically virgin jungle ecosystem protected by Argentine and Brazilian national parks on either side of the cascades. Two thirds of the falls are on the Argentinian side of the river where you can also tour Iguazú National Park where there are jungle trails and bird hikes. Plan a full day in the park to fully enjoy the wildlife flora and fauna.

It is possible to see the falls and surrounding area in a lightning trip but it is better to plan at least two days. The view from the Brazilian side is the most panoramic and there are helicopter rides out over the falls from Foz do Iguaçu. You may also take boat rides out to the falls. The light is best in the morning for photographs.

Best seen from the Brazilian side is the spectacular Devil's Throat, garganta del diablo, where fourteen falls drop 350 feet with such force that there is always a 100 foot cloud of spray overhead. Watch for the rainbow! For a close up view, walk through the subtropical forest of National Iguaçu Park to the base of Salto Floriano and take the elevator to the top of the falls. or walk out over the falls at Salto Union. From the Argentine side you can take a series of catwalks over the water rushing into Devil's Gorge. Protective rain suits are provided. There are some areas where it is possible to swim in the spray of the cascades. Ask locally for instructions but be aware that you might have a resulting problem with cuticle parasites.

Rainbows over Iguazu Falls Peter and Jackie Main

The best times to see Iguazu Falls are in the spring and fall. Summer is intensely tropically hot and humid, and in winter the water level is considerably lower. There are hotels on both sides of the river and many tour agencies provide sightseeing opportunities around the area. Browse through this list of hotels on the Brazilian side of the falls, or these on the Argentine side.

Downstream from the falls where the Parana and Iguazu rivers meet, so do the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Each country has created a landmark in their national colors on a spot in each of their countries where you can see all three.

The name of the falls comes from the Guaraní word for "great water." The first Spanish explorer to see the falls (did you see the film The Mission?) was Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541 but the vast power of the falls was not fully utilized until the construction of the huge Itaipu hydroelectric power plant built jointly by Paraguay and Brazil. Completed in 1991 the dam is open to tours and provides 12,600,000 KW of power satisfying almost 40% of Brazil and Argentine power needs. The dam one of the largest in the world is touted by both countries as a masterpiece of technology.

source: http://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/southamerica/a/IguazuFalls.htm

50-car pileup shuts down Route 110

A massive pileup on Route 110 in the area of Indian Wells Road caused the road to be closed down for an investigation and clean-up, according to WTNH.com. About 50 cars were involved in the Sunday afternoon accident.

WTNH reported that 46 people suffered minor injuries in the accident and six were transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, citing police officers.

Shelton EMS set up a temporary shelter for the involved in the crash, the report said.

The road was reopened at around 6 p.m.

source: http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/12/13/50car-pileup-shuts-down-Rt/1260746355.html

300 stuck temporarily on Disney World monorail

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) - A power failure stranded about 300 passengers for a couple hours aboard three monorail trains at Walt Disney World. Bo Jones of the Reedy Creek Fire Department says no one was injured when the monorail system lost power around 1 a.m. Sunday.

Jones says firefighters used ladders to assist some visitors aboard one train "more out of customer service than as an emergency situation." Other passengers disembarked later when the trains were towed to nearby stations.

The 15-mile monorail service was restored by the time the parks opened later Sunday morning.

An electrical short disrupted the monorail service in September.

source:http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f305/OakwoodAcres/WeddingStuff/disneyworld.jpg
http://www.kvoa.com/news/300-stuck-temporarily-on-disney-world-monorail/

Chevrolet Volt: A sneak peek at GM's plug-in hybrid

It accelerates with a big husky twist of its electric motor. Actually, you can even chirp the front tires if you push the go-button hard enough -- very unlike a golf cart. It corners confidently and brakes crisply and, if it's no Ferrari, it certainly won't embarrass itself on the 110 Freeway, otherwise known as the Pasadena Grand Prix.

It's comfortable, practical and -- graded on the curve of five-seat family hatchbacks -- reasonably attractive. Think German-made-dishwasher pretty.

But the question remains: Will the Chevrolet Volt -- General Motors' radical electric vehicle with a range-extending gas generator on board, due in November 2010 -- really work? Will it help GM leapfrog Toyota -- currently experiencing its own woes -- as a grandmaster of green-car technology? Will it help win back legions of disaffected customers? Will it wow EV enthusiasts in Southern California, who still haven't forgiven GM for building the Hummer H2 or forgotten the murder of its charismatic little electric car of the 1990s, the EV1?

The high-tech, Earth-friendly Volt could provide a bridgehead for GM in California, where the company's sales have plummeted about 50% from September 2008.

And by the way, while the Volt is saving GM, will it save gasoline?

"Absolutely," says Andrew Farah, the Volt's chief engineer. "It's going to work and work better than people realize. . . . I'm proud as hell of this thing."

The Volt is a series hybrid EV that is propelled by a 120-kilowatt (160-horsepower) electric motor. Drawing on energy stored in its 16-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, the Volt has an all-electric range of about 40 miles. If the battery is depleted, a 1.4-liter four-cylinder generator kicks in to supply electricity to the traction motor.

The advantage of this design is that if drivers don't exceed 40 miles of driving daily (and most don't), and if they plug in at night, they won't use any gas at all. If they need to go farther, they can, burning gasoline.

The Volt splits the difference between the greenness of an EV and the freedom of a gas-powered car. It will be the first such car to come to market.

GM hasn't announced pricing, but it's widely speculated the car will sell for under $40,000. Buyers will get a $7,500 tax credit on the car, for a net cost of $32,500 or less. That would still make the Volt thousands more expensive than a Toyota Prius or Honda Insight hybrid.

It would be hard to overstate the importance of the Volt to the image of GM -- not least because GM, battered by bankruptcy and a lingering reputation as the Darth Vader of fuel economy, has been trumpeting the car in advertising for well over a year. That strategy carries its own risks.

"GM likely feels the massive pre-intro hype for the Volt is probably more valuable than any post-intro disappointment it may yield," said Karl Brauer, editor of Edmunds.com, the consumer auto research website. "The company is well into its second year of cashing in on the car's promise of near-zero emissions and 200-plus mpg. Will there be a year plus of scolding by the press if the car ultimately bombs? No, a few weeks at most."

Behind the wheel

Farah was in Los Angeles this weekend taking a hand-built Volt prototype on a goodwill tour of sorts, visiting Jay Leno's garage and car enthusiast events. The tour included a stop at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, when journalists had a chance to drive the car for themselves.

I spent 45 minutes behind the wheel, weaving through a four-tenths-mile course marked off by cones in one of the parking lots. This was one of the first opportunities for anyone outside of GM engineering to test the car.

The Volt -- a four-door sedan with a hatchback, about the same size as a Toyota Prius -- is filled with cheery, next-generation textures: the Mac computer-like finish on the touch-sensitive center console; a bright, animated information panel with readouts for battery life and fuel consumption.

Dan Neil drives a Volt prototype at Dodger Stadium, in one of the first chances for anyone outside of GM engineering to test the extended-range plug-in hybrid. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / November 29, 2009)

As with all electric cars, the sensation of hard acceleration feels slightly empty since there's no accompanying pitch of a snarling internal-combustion engine. The absence of engine noise tends to amplify other sounds, such as the squealing of the special low-rolling-resistance tires.

The Volt has a sport mode that boosts battery/motor output by 27 horsepower. In sport mode, the Volt acceleration feels well within the reported 8 seconds to 60 mph, perhaps a little better.

The critical moment arrives when the Volt exhausts its supply of onboard electrons and the range-extending gas generator kicks in. During my test drive, this moment came and went without much of a mechanical inflection. The output of the electric motor, and therefore the performance, remains the same. The engine noise is distant and muted.

If the car encounters a steep uphill grade, or the driver really floors it, the gas generator does rev up to keep up with the electrical demand, sounding much like a conventional car. The engine noise is still too noticeable, according to Farah. The complex power management software will be evolving until the day the car goes to market.

Still, even in this rough prototype, the Volt vibe is spacious, comfortable and lively. The whole car seems lit from within by the ambitions of its builders.

The job ahead

The Volt will not be an easy sell. Because it is, in Farah's words, a "discontinuous product" -- which is to say, unlike anything else on the market -- the public is still unsure how the Volt works or how it differs from a hybrid or a pure electric vehicle. "People hear what their brain tells them they already know."

For example: Unlike electric cars like Nissan’s Leaf, due late next year, the Volt has essentially unlimited range, since it can run on gasoline.

And yet, many fret that the Volt will leave them stranded with a dead battery. So-called range anxiety is one of the big obstacles facing battery-electric vehicles in the U.S. "One message we're trying to get out is that there's life after 40 [miles]," Farah said.

Another challenge: Not everyone will have a place to plug the car in. Apartment dwellers need not apply.

The Volt's technical approach has won fans in the environmental community.

"Combining battery electric drive with an internal combustion range extender is an elegant solution that provides enough electric-only range for most people, while offering unlimited hybrid range when required," said Ron Cogan, publisher of Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com.

However, some in the industry are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"It's a new kind of technology and an unknown quantity," says Michael Omotoso, director of powertrain forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates.

"The fact that there's an engine on board might give people confidence in the car's range," he said. "On the other hand, people might say, 'Wait a minute. I want an electric car. If I wanted something with an engine on board, why wouldn't I just buy a hybrid like a Prius or the Honda Insight?' "

To complicate matters, the federal government isn't quite sure how to calculate fuel economy for the Volt and other range-extended EVs (such as the proposed Fisker Karma). In August, GM announced that the Volt got 230 miles per gallon in city driving -- which is accurate by the numbers but not really representative of real-world driving.

Farah said GM and the government are working toward a mileage methodology. "We want a clear, understandable and communicable number," he said.

Based on a national average of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, GM estimates it will cost about 80 cents per day to fully charge the Volt. In electric mode, that works out to about two cents per mile. A comparable gas-powered car would cost about 12 cents per mile to operate, according to GM's figures.

In any event, GM figures the Volt will average more than 100 miles per gallon for most consumers. "I drove it for over 200 miles one weekend and used two-tenths of a gallon of gas," Farah said.

source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-neil30-2009nov30,0,7229671,full.column

Japan Airlines receives new offer

American Airlines and private equity firm TPG have offered $1.1bn (£659m) of investment to struggling carrier Japan Airlines (JAL).

It said the offer was "far superior" to the $1bn offered by rival Delta.

Both carriers are keen for a stake in the Asia Pacific market. JAL has said it will make a decision on the bids by the end of the year.

The Japanese carrier has been struggling with competition, rising fuel prices and huge debts.

Japan's government has bailed it out four times since 2001. The airline lost $1.5bn in the six months to September.

American Airlines and rival Delta are keen for a foothold in Asia

Aviation consultant Mark Kiefer said: "There's a lot at stake here, especially given the importance of the Japanese market and the Asian market to all of these carriers."

American Airlines said its deal would provide $700m in extra revenue and that together they would receive anti-trust immunity.

However, Delta's lawyer Jeffrey Shane responded by saying: "A JAL-Delta alliance would post no threat to competition."

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo said Japan Airlines still had plenty of problems to overcome - including massive debts. It is trying to get its staff to accept a 40% cut in their pensions.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8392243.stm

Toyota recalls Tundra pickups on rusted-frame concern

Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 110,000 Toyota Tundra pickups for the 2000 to 2003 model years after reports that rusted frames in cold weather may cause spare tires under the truck bed to break loose and fall onto the road.

Corrosion of the rear cross-member, which supports the spare tire, also eventually may affect the rear brake line and lengthen vehicle stopping distances, increasing the risk of a crash, Toyota said in a statement Tuesday.

Toyota will contact owners of vehicles in 20 cold-weather states that have high road salt use--including New York, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania--the statement said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received about 300 complaints, including reports of three injuries but no deaths.

Toyota will contact owners of 2000-2003 Tundra vehicles in 20 cold-weather states that have high road salt use--including New York, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

NHTSA on Tuesday urged owners of the recalled Tundras to remove the spare tires before bringing the vehicles to the dealer for repair.

Last month, Toyota announced a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to replace a floor mat that could cause the accelerator to stick.

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20091124/CARNEWS/911249989

Airlines Fined for Stranding Passengers for Six Hours

There is some good news for travelers and a warning to air carriers heading into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend: The government is getting tough with airlines that strand passengers on airport tarmacs.

The U.S. Department of Transportation fined three airlines a total of $175,000 for their role in the stranding 49 passengers -- and two children held on laps -- overnight in a plane at Rochester, Minn. on Aug. 8 saying that the passengers were forced to spend an "unreasonable period of time" on the airplane.

This is the first-ever fine against an airline for such an incident.

"I hope that this sends a signal to the rest of the airline industry that we expect airlines to respect the rights of air travelers," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, said in a statement.

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Continental Express flight 2816 was flying from Houston to Minneapolis when thunderstorms forced it to divert to Rochester International Airport. It landed there at 12:30 a.m. but the airport was closed for the night.

Mesaba Airlines employees -- the only airline employees at the airport at the time -- refused to open the terminal for the stranded passengers. The passengers were trapped aboard the aircraft until approximately 6:15 a.m. when they were finally allowed into the terminal.

Passengers inside the tiny jet had to deal with crying babies, little food or water and a smelly toilet even though they were just 50 yards from the terminal.

The captain of the flight repeatedly pleaded to allow the passengers to deplane and enter the terminal but was told they could not enter the terminal because there were no Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners on duty at that hour, despite the fact that TSA rules would have allowed the passengers to enter the airport as long as they remained in a secure area.

The government's actions come as Congress weighs passengers' rights legislation that would place a three-hour cap on how long airlines can keep passengers waiting on tarmacs before they allow them to deplane or return to a gate. The measure would give a flight's captain the authority to extend the wait an additional half hour if it appears that clearance to takeoff is near.

Continental Airlines and its regional airline partner ExpressJet, which operated the flight for Continental, were each fined $50,000. Mesaba, now part of Delta Airlines, was fined $75,000.

"A conclusion that there was some wrongdoing or negligence is more important to me than the amount of the fine," Link Christin, a passenger on the stranded jet that day, told The Associated Press.

Continental said in a statement that it agreed to the government's consent order "to avoid costly litigation."

Continental Express jets line up outside a terminal at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. There is some great news for travelers heading to the airports this Thanksgiving weekend: the government is getting tough with some airlines that stranded passengers for hours on a tarmac in August.

It said that ExpressJet "worked throughout the night to safely deplane the customers at the earliest possible time" and blamed the Mesaba ground crew for failing "to provide reasonable assistance and accurate information." It also pointed out that it's fine was less than the one leveled on Mesaba.

John Spanjers, president of Mesaba, the Delta subsidiary however said in a statement that his airline believes it "operated in good faith."

"Mesaba continues to feel it operated in good faith by providing voluntary ground handling assistance to ExpressJet during this delay," Spanjers said in a statement. "However, customer service is paramount, and we are reevaluating our policies and procedures for the courtesy handling of other airlines' flights to do our part to mitigate this type of delay."

ExpressJet spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas told the Associated Press that the airline can avoid paying half the fines if it spends the same amount of money on additional training for their employees on how to handle extended tarmac delays.

Besides the fine, Continental also provided a full refund to each passenger and "offered each passenger additional compensation to tangibly acknowledge their time and discomfort," the DOT said.

There were 568 flights delayed on runways by three or more hours this year through Sept. 30, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, has opposed the so-called passenger bill of rights saying it could cause more problems than it fixes by leading to an increase in canceled flights.

Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, co-authors of the passengers' rights bill, said in a joint statement that they were pleased by the department's action, but legislation is still necessary to establish standards for airlines' treatment of their customers and to hold airlines accountable for meeting those standards.

The bill also includes requirements for the airlines to provide water, food, adequate restrooms and a comfortable cabin temperature and ventilation in the event of a long delay.

Continental and ExpressJet, in separate orders, were found to have violated the prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices in air transportation because ExpressJet failed to carry out a provision of Continental's customer service commitment requiring that, if a ground delay is approaching three hours, its operations center will determine if departure is expected within a reasonable time, and if not the carrier will take action as soon as possible to deplane passengers.

ExpressJet also failed to take timely actions required by its procedures, including notifying senior ExpressJet officials and providing appropriate Continental officials with notice of the delay. Continental was found to have engaged in an unfair and deceptive practice since, the DOT said, as the carrier marketing the flight 2816, Continental ultimately is responsible to its passengers on that flight.

Source: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Travel/BusinessTraveler/airlines-fined-stranding-passengers-travel-nightmare/story?id=9168606