Iguacu Falls, Paraguay, Rosario, Montevideo, Punta del Este, Colonia and Buenos Aires!

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Sorry sorry sorry this update has taken so long! But thank you all for the numerous messages informing me how rubbish I am, I feel very loved! Ok here is more of our adventures so far (its a long one) and I´ve made a special effort to make it interactive this time (wohoo) so you can click on links that show you pictures/websites of places we´ve been!

Foz de Iguazu take 1
We arrived here (the Brazilian side of the Iguazu waterfalls) and our hostel was the poshest hostel ever! It was absolutely huge with a pool, outdoor pool table, table football and ping pong, staff, gardeners, maids, cooks etc all with colour coordinated tshirts and our room had bunkbeds as well as our double bed! (No we didnt sleep in them). Our ensuite bathroom was huge with a double shower and we had our own porch! So we spent the first day we got there around the pool in the sunshine and playing pool while drinking strawberry juice from the bar! But then we realised that our camera had broken. Damnit! We obviously started to panic a bit then, especially since we had looked at the prices of electronics in Brazil and everything was way more expensive than in the UK! Our budget definitely didn´t stretch to spending 500GBP on a camera that we could get for half the price at home. But we were at the place where we needed the camera most - the waterfalls! I didn´t cry but I almost did.

Paraguay (Cuidad del Este)
So we went to reception to ask the staff what to do and the guy suggested that we go to Paraguay. It wasn´t as crazy a suggestion as it sounds because Foz de iguacu is right on the border of both Argentina and Paraguay and the bus we hoppe on to Cuidad del Este just over the Paraguay border only took about 20mins and cost under a pound each! It was also quite cool because we got to go to another country we hadnt actually planned on going to. And Im glad we did because it turned out that Cuidad del Este was the biggest shopping area in the whole of Latin America and it was sooooo much cheaper than Brazil. Paraguay was really different to Brazil because it was so much poorer and more hectic - lots of market stalls and people trying to get you to buy things. We wandered into a few electric shops and found the cheapest one and I picked up a samsung and memory card for a fair bit cheaper than in the UK. Heres the camera - it has MP3 and MP4 too!
http://www.samsungcamera.com/uk/product/pro_view.asp?prol_uid=2803&cat_uid=12
I really wanted the pink version but unfortunately they didn´t have it 😞 We then hopped back on the bus to Brazil feeling much better. Customs was nonexistent so unfortunately we didn´t get a Paraguay stamp.

Foz de Iguazu take 2
The second day in Foz we went to see the waterfalls. Ive posted a picture of on the travelblog site (www.travelblog.org/bloggers/benandem if you can manage to find it! The waterfalls were absolutely amazing - you cant even really imagine what theyre like because theyre so huge and there are so many of them. If you cant find the picture I put up then this will give you an idea! (http://www.mermu.net/ithought/images/Iguazu%20Falls-Brazil2.JPG) The weather was clear blue skies too and because of all the water there were rainbows so it looked a bit like an advert for herbal essences (minus the naked girls washing their hair in the waterfalls) but a million times more idyllic. The whole area around the waterfalls is a national park where they have loads of wildlife so there were butterflies, occasionally huge spides (eek), 4-5 foot long lizards and racoony type things called coati mundi (picture! http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/morgan3/COATI.jpg) and they just wandered around really close to you. The coati mundi were so cute,especially the baby ones and they would come up and sniff you - I had to restrain myself from stroking them (they bite!)

The waterfalls were so impressive that we decided to have a look from halfway down... There was a company that did rappelling (abseiling without using your feet to walk down - you just sit there!) down the rock face so that you could be lowered down infront of the waterfalls and see all of them all at once (they pretty much surround you). Because we were there near the park closing time they let us both do it for the price of one! Well I couldnt resist a bargain so off we went down the canyon with our harnesses and helmets on! It was really cool and gave an even better view than the footpath did. My achievement though was that we had to climb up 350 steps to get back to the top and I managed it! Even with my gammy knee. Very impressive I thought.

Puerto Iguacu
We hopped accross the border to Argentina after missing the bus and catching a lift with a random Japonese girl and businesssman from Buenos Aires (don´t ask). The Argentina side of the falls were evn better than Brazil because there were so many and they were much bigger. We went on a boat trip which takes you right up to one of the big ones (we have a dvd of it!) and you get absolutely soaked through but you get to see it really close up. There is also a huge big waterfall called devil´s throat and you cango to top and look down to where all the water goes. Theres a permanent rainbow through it because of the sun and water and the water is so white and bright that you can barely see even with sunglasses on. You cant see anywhere near the bottom of the waterfall either because the water is falling so fast that it splashes up realy far. Its probably the most impressive thing ive ever seen! We also went on a boat ride on the river and ben had a swim though only a quick one because the current was really strong. I managed to get sunburnt on one side of my face and not the other which was really attractive!

Rosario
Next stop was Rosario with loads of old impressive buildings that would cost an absolute fortune if they were anywhere in England but obviously were built when everywhere was much richer and are now a bit abandoned and crumbly. But still pretty impressive. The hostel was a bit on the lower end of the cleanliness scale which stressed me out a little bit but it was ok. One problem though was the lack of air conditioning because it was HOT. And by hot I mean humidity in the 90s and temperatures reaching 40 degrees C. Really hot. One day we went to a shopping centre just to stay cool (well maybe to look around a bit...). Though the shopping centre itself was pretty impressive with lots of designer shops and it stayed open til 2am. Rosario is also Che Guevara´s birth place so we went to see his house (we saw the street but which house it was we´re not actually sure - nobody we talked to could find it either!) and a park with a mural dedicated to him. He also has a bus stop there dedicated to him! Rosario also had beaches on the river so we spent a great day sunbathing on the beach though it was so hot that I couldn´t walk on the sand without my shoes on because my feet got burnt.

Montevideo
I knew absolutely nothing about Montevideo before we went. Its in Uruguay. Which is next to Argentina. Not somewhere in Eastern Europe like I thought it was. OOOps. Geography never was my strong point. We stayed in possibly the best hotel I have ever stayed in in my life. It only cost us 10USD each per night but it was right in the city centre. All the decor was really ornate and over the top and it would have been really grand and impressive about 50 years ago but in 2008 it just looked like something out of a horror movie it was so funny! Everything was so retro with clashing patterns and colours (for example our bathroom had a pink toilet, sink and bidet and our bedroom was a lovely shade of dark green. I can´t quite describe how funny it was so click here to have a look! http://www.arapey.com.uy/sp/habitaciones.htm its brilliant! The city itself was REALLY laid back. Everybody was just wandering around with flasks and special mugs which they drank a kind of tea (mate) out of all day long. There were loads of places to eat and drink out on the streets and loads of parks, theatres and an old town with tiny cobbled streets and fountains and live music all night. Uruguay is also renowned for its desserts and theres a reason why - they were absolutely amazing. They dared to put more calories i one slice of cake than I have ever seen but that didn´t stop me having 4 slices in 5 days. Oh dear. I wish I could bring some back (especially for you Dad you would be in heaven).

Punta del Este
Punta del Este is South America´s premier beach resort and its where all the rich Argentinians go to spend their summer. And you can tell. They have a Versace Home shop which I didn´t even know existed and if you eat the bread with your meal in a restaurant they charge you GBP2.50 a head for it. Oh and they have a HUGE casino with about 100 steps leading up to it thats open 24 hours a day. The beach was really really nice and very clean and even though the weather wasn´t great (lots of wind and a bit of rain!) we made a point of sitting on the beach both days! And we also went to the Casino! We got GBP5.00 worth of chips (so daring I know) and played roulette! And we actually came away having made a profit of a whole GBP2.50! I was so excited that we´d won. Good old lucky numbers 9 and 19.

Colonia
Our last stop in Uruguay was Colonia which is just a one hour boat ride from Buenos Aires. Its really really pretty and cute...everywhere is cobbled streets, all the buildings have big tall windows with shutters, there are a few old ruins, a harbour and every street has a square with a fountain and/or a park. And everbody there has either a bichon frise or a puppy of some variety! Colonia even has free had public toilets which look like they belonged in a five star hotel. we also found a brilliant resaurant which did ravioli with sauce, a dessert and a drink for GBP3.00. Bargain!

Buenos Aires
Today is our last day in Buenos Aires and we have been so busy! I´d happily spend at least another week here its a really cool city. First of all we have been having Spanish lessons mon-fri for 4 hours a day. I wouldn´t say we are anywhere close to fluent but at least we know a bit more than we did before. It was harder than I thought because they speak Spanish so differently over here than in Spain...even to the extent that they have a different "ýou" form and a different way of pronouncing loads of letters. That was a bit confusing at first but were just about getting used to it. Buenos Aires is just huge. It has so many really big buildings and statues and the roads are all 4 lanes wide and there are syscrapers everywhere. And pretty much anywhere you stand in the city you can see a McDonalds if not two which was really crazy! We have been to look at all the main Plazas and went to the San Telmo market where they had a street parade at night. I also went on a little shopping spree and bought a few really nice tops for only about GBP8.00 each and last night we were playing pool and having some drinks and ten somehow ended up in a poker game which went on til 3am! (don´t worry we were playing with chips not real money). We also went to see a tango show at a famous old cafe http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/ and even Ben quite liked it. The dancing did look really cool (they make it look so easy) and there was a live band and a guy singing and we had some wine! I also went to 2 tango dancing lessons! But it was all a bit slow and prancy so I didn´t do anymore!

Perhaps most exciting though is that yesterday we went to see Boca Juniors play mexican team Atlas at the Boca Juniors stadium and it was absolutely brilliant. The atmosphere was fantastic with everybody cheering and singing all the time and standing on the railings, climbing up the fences around the pitch and throwing streamers and confetti onto the pitch even when the game had started! We decided to play it safe and go in the more expensive seated area because the standing area was infamous for being really crazy and quite unsafe. From our seats we got to see everybody going mental without actually being caught in the middle of it (the male to female ratio was about 20:1 - argh!) We were really lucky because we got to see a really good game because Boca won 3-0 (Palacio scored 2 and Palermo 1), Ben´s hero Riquelme was playing, somebody got a red card and the stadium was jam packed with fans there was not an inch of space!

And today we went to Temaiken zoo (www.temaiken.com) an hour out of Buenos Aires which was probably the best one I´ve ever been to because it was really well done with big enclosures and loads of interactive things including a walk through aquarium (with sharks argh!), a 360degrees cinema and walk through underground bit with armadillos and skunks and spiders (which i didnt look at). We also saw vampire bats which were relly big and strange but cool, and meercats which were so cute and didn´t look unlike Rufus! They also had pumas which I really wanted to stroke because they just looked like huge domestic cats, 4 cheetas and a white Bengal tiger which was gorgeous. Off to a bar now and out in Buenos Aires then tomorrow we go to Puerto Madryn on a 19 hour bus journey!!! A looong time but last time we went on one we got 2 meals, drinks, blanket and pillow and champagne all for free!

lots of love

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