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Iguassu Falls
We rocked up to Iguassu after a LONG over night bus journey of about 14 hours, however the suite class flat beds made the trip very comfortable (so did the wine that we were served!) We stayed at a hostel called bambu, which was only a 5min walk from the bus station and had everything we needed, however it was quite quiet... that was until the Irish boys rocked up the next day!
The day we arrived we wondered to Triplice fronteira which is were you can stand in Argentina and see Brazil and Paraguay across two joining rivers (the iguassu and parana rivers). Really strange to see the boarders of all three countries in one small place.
The next morning we got up fairly early and headed to Iguassu with map in hand, excited that we were about to see one of the most amazing waterfalls in the world. Upon first entrance to the national park we were greeted by some racoon like animals called Coati - more about them later (but we did spend about 10 mins taking pictures of them) We then got the train to a part of the waterfall called ´devil´s
throat´(the biggest, most powerful of all of the waterfalls at Iguassu) it took a little while to get there and we had to walk over a few metal walk-ways that crossed the Iguassu river to get there. On the way, we saw a black caiman in the water and some massive cat fish. On the walk up to devils troat, i didn´t know what to expect, but when we got there I (trace) was speechless and Tasha had to remind herself to breathe! Wow, we both agreed it was one of the most amazing views we had ever seen. We stayed and took lots of photo´s getting drenched in the process but the sight was truely awe-inspiring and we were glued to the spot. We eventually had to leave devil´s throat as our jeans were soaking wet and we went to the other half of the falls which we heard were beautiful but not as big.
We followed the lower trail to the other falls, of which there are about 275 and we were confronted yet again with another breath taking sight. It is difficult to describe the scale, whenall you can see are waterfalls around you. We have
added some pictures to give you an idea, but a picture will never do this justice.
After trekking the walkways and taking 3000 pictures, we caught the boat over to St Martin´s Island, which gives you a great view of more of the falls. When we got there, we hiked up to the top and en-route saw literally hundreds of black vultures who reside on the island, it was like looking at a scene from the movie, the birds! It felt really eerie. We also saw an armadillo, just minding his own business, hunting for food. We would have got a great photo were it not for about four bloody foriegners clamering for the same photo.
After taking another million photo´s of the falls, we headed down to the speed boats and prepared to get extremely wet! We were warned only 10 minutes before getting into the boat that it went under some of the falls and therefore we were not fully prepared for the siutation. In our wisdom, we chatted up one of workers and managed to blag a poncho between us, we had our waterproof coats, but knew that was not enough. So Trace took off
her bra and when we got into the boat, we both took off our jeans and sat in a see through poncho - we got some very strange looks, but the driver had seen it all befrore! Shame the same can´t be said for the rest of the tourists who looked at us like we had a few screws loose. After the boat ride though, those looks turned into envy - who was laughing now! The boat ride was great fun, and yes we got drenched to the bone. Going under the waterfalls felt like the most powerful shower ever. Hoever the fun started when we had to leave the boat in just knickers and a wet t-shirt, wewere first on and last off the boat understandably! We spent about 15 mins trying to dry off and put skinny jeans back on whilst hiding our modesty from all of the speed boat workers as there were no changing rooms! Oh well, we laughed until our tummies hurt!
To finish the day off, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice Argentinian steak (again - yum) this is where the wine menu was presented on a tablet (Ipad like thingy)
which Tasha buggered up and we had to ask for another one! Two bottles of wine later.......
The next day, we woke up bright and early...... no, in fact Tasha was Saint-Sick and Tracy looked and felt like a pile of poo! So the plans to visit the Brazilian side of the falls fell by the wayside. However we did manage to book a bus tour to Florianopolis (our next stop in Brazil) in the afternoon, we eventually made it over the boarder to Brazil but it was too late to visit the falls. Tracy mis-understood the instructions to get off at Mcdonalds so we ended up having to walk for about 40mins with two heavy rucksacks each! The mood was not light and fluffy and to top it off, we had no Brazilan money so couldn´t even get a sodding cab to our hostel Bambu (again!)
Later that day, we went in search of food to feed the hangover munchies. We ended up in a sushi japanese place - in Brazil!! Go figure! So anyone who says that portuguese is similar to Spanish is a big fat liar! After finally getting to grips with Spanish, the Brazilian´s
speak fucking portuguese! This made ordering a tad tricky and Tasha ended up ordering enough food to feed the 5000! So we decided to take it with us to the Brazilian side of the falls the next day for our lunch! Sensible idea, we both thought....Oh we were soooooo wrong!
We arrived at the park entrance nice and early, having remembered to pack our lunch, which Tash was carrying in take-away containers in a carrier bag. Now, remember those coati´s we refered to earlier, yeah they look cute, but they are relentless and clearly very hungry. The guards told us to keep the bag up high as their sense of smell is very good, so Tash followed his suggestion like a good girl. Whilst Tash was admiring the falls, she was startled to see about 10 coati´s surrounding her all sniffing the air - clearly, they had whiff of our chinese. One of the shit bags (the biggest one I might add - about the size of a large cat) got up on his hind legs to get nearer to the bag so Tash held the bag up even higher above her head - no way were they getting
our goddam lunch! Tash says, its ok, they cant jump so the food will be ok and soon after that she screamed like a baby when the biggest Coati of all jumped up about 3 feet and clung on tight to the bag and DID NOT LET GO! Tracy was in a state of shock, Tash was trying to shake the fucker off the bag but with the weight of the Coati and Tasha trying to shake him off, the bag split and the coati, plus all of the chinese fell to the floor and was then swarmed on by 9 or 10 others. This then attracted loads of tourists who found it hilarious whilst Tash and Trace both stared in disbelief that their well planned lunch was being munched by cretins.... Shit the bed. So we went starving for the rest of the day but eventually found the funny side and laughed our heads off!
The falls were fab again on the Brazilian side but no where near as good as the Argie side... Glad we went though. That night, we headed off to the Atlantic coast to Floranopolis... Sunshine and beach (and no Coatis) awaited us....
scroll down to see all of the photos!
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