Iguassu Falls

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We left Paraty at 10am to get a 6 hour bus to Sao Paulo. We had already, on everyone else’s recommendations, decided not to spend any time there. Expensive, dirty & little to see and do unless you plan on spending lots of money on eating or drinking or doing business in the city. We had no intentions for any of that. We had a wait at Sao Paulo of about 3 hours and managed to get a bus half the price we were expecting to pay just by shopping about a bit in the bus station. Although, it was very clear why it was half price when we boarded it. Ipod was on full blast most of the night as the sound of the wheels nearly falling off and the brakes sounding like they were going to fail was making us a little sick. So we just tried to drown the sound out instead, shut our eyes and pretend it wasn’t happening.

8am and we had arrived near the border of Brazil, Argentina & Paraguay. Perdy with a black eye because she’d been kicked in the face twice in the night by the person behind her. Tired and cranky we did our best to feel enthusiastic about the falls. We found a company at the bus station who would drop us of at the Brazil side of the falls for the day then pick us up and take us over the border to Argentina to our accommodation. Cost us more than if we did it ourselves but a lot less hassle. So with no shower or no rest, we left our bags with the company and head to Foz do Iguazu.

The falls have to be experienced from both sides. The Brazil side, Foz do Iguazu, first to see the panoramic view and then the Argentinian side, Puerto Iguassu, to go on top and underneath them.

The 2 National Parks are an area which consists of a network of 275 waterfalls spanning an area of three kilometres. They sit between Brazil and Argentina and the total area of both national parks combines 250,000 hectares (965.25 sq mi, or 2,500 sq km) of subtropical and declared forest. The waterfalls' great power feeds the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant. Touted as a masterpiece of technology, it is one of the largest in the world, providing nearly forty percent of Brazil's and Argentina's energy needs. It is also one of the finalists for the New Seven Wonders of Nature Award. A title it would definitely deserve.

In addition to walking around the 2 National Parks, you can do a speed boat ride up to the base of 2 of the falls. The thrill from that was close to that of Perdy’s skydive. Hundreds and thousands of tons of water rushing over the sides and crashing around us, it was unbelievable.

Now we already decided that there really is very little we can say about the falls and our experience as it left all 4 of us speechless. So we won’t even try to. Hopefully the pictures & video can do it a bit of justice. This really is something that needs to be seen to believe; the sheer power and beauty of Mother Nature.

Nothing else to say!

Oh but just for the record…. Tony got stung by a wasp, Mark got a chest infection and Nicky kept tripping and bumping into stuff!!!! HA HA HA HA…. Perdy’s curse might finally be lifting!!!! Or just spreading to those around her!

What better way to top off our amazing couple of days, was to celebrate St Patrick’s day in a chessy Argentinian discotheque with a couple of paddy’s and the DJ putting on a 15 minute mix of U2 classics. Priceless.

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Comments

[Sue]

Wow
Having a fab time I see .....