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Published: December 21st 2010
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After Leaving Paraty at 11.30 Sunday evening, we arrived at Foz do Iguazu (Brazillian side) at 5.00am on Tuesday morning. Not much to report on both bus journeys apart from they were long and cold! The air-con was brutal and being the novices that we are we did not pack any blankets... or dinner!! We stopped off in Sao Paulo for about 9hrs on Monday, not much to report on there apart from they are heavy on the Christmas decorations - especially the banks! We also walked past a small barber shop where James decided at 8am he needed a haircut! I was laughing as it could have turned out very dodgy but luckily for him the haircut actually turned out ok! All in all Sao Paulo is not really worth a stop and also felt quite rough - best avoided!!
Once finding our way to hostel at Foz (after a 2hr wild goose chase at 5am) we managed to get ourselves some free breakfast (and free lunch since we have taken to pinching ham, cheese and bread rolls) and had a quick rest before setting off for the falls.
There are 2 viewing points for Iguassu Falls, one
on the Brazillian side and one in Argentina. We decided to visit both as our schedule is not too tight and we figured it would be good to see it from both angles.
On the Brazillian side you set off on a nature trail in order to get to the falls (which you can hear thundering in the background). Our first glimpse was very impressive and gave us a panoramic view of part of the falls (I think in total the falls stretch for 3km). Our trail continued, each viewing platform being better than the previous one, until we reached the Garganta del Diablo (the Devil´s Throat) where you could walk straight out over the falls, getting soaked in the process. We thought the views from the Brazillian side were amazing and hoped that the Argentinian side wouldnt disappoint.
The next day we decided to cross the border into Argentina (where we were told everything becomes cheaper which we were relieved about as Brazil is much more expensive than you would think!) After catching a bus and in broken Portuguese/Spanglish we managed to get dropped off at passport control. An hour in no mans land and a couple
of stamps later and we were in Argentina!! Our first border crossing was a success!! Upon arriving at our hostel, which was more like a resort it was so big - and had a pool - we learned that we had to pay upfront in cash and we had no Argentinian money! Back downtown to get some cash then we decided we would walk back to the hostel after being told it was only 20 minutes. An hour later we were still walking on the side of the road, covered in red dust, with James cursing as the BBQ buffet at the hostel was on from 8-9pm and it was already 8.35!! Luckily for us by the time we arrived, after power walking in order to make it, we discovered that Argentina was actually an hour behind Brazil, so in fact we were early!! So that night we had our BBQ which was followed by some free cocktails and a tango show.
On Thursday we visited the falls again. We already thought they were amazing, but the Argentinian side was even better! The pics dont really do it justice! The National Park in Argentina is much bigger so visiting
the falls was an all day affair. Similarly, we began with a nature trail. After about 5 mins we heard a lot of rustling and commotion coming from the long grass next to us and it sounded like something big was on its way, suddenly two massive lizards (about 2ft long and FAT) burst out of the grass chasing each other and nearly ran over our feet giving us a bit of a fright! We saw quite a bit of wildlife that day - Coatis (racoon type things - steal your food!), an armadillo, spiders overhead (neither of us were too pleased about this and I took to running under these a couple of times), countless butterflies, huge frogs and a wild toucan.
On the Argentinian side of the falls you get much closer to them, especially the Garganta del Diablo which was insane! It looked like a huge lake continuously falling off the side of a cliff! We also booked ourselves on to a speedboat ride that took us beneath parts of the falls and gets you absoloutely SOAKED!! But was a lot of fun!!
On our last day at Iguassu we chilled out by our hostel
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Trying to figure out where to go in Sao Paulo at 7am?? pool (not too shabby) before catching the 18hr overnight bus to the capital, Buenos Aires, at 7pm.
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Laura Battle
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MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. BEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAN :) X