Somebody left the water running...

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What an incredible way to from be introduced to a country. It's not only the size of Iguazu Falls which astonishes you it is the power and relentlessness. It's difficult to imagine without seeing it. The water is idly drifting down the Iguazu River and then it is suddenly thrown down one of the 275 individual waterfalls.

We arrived in to Sao Paulo from London yesterday and had to wait seven hours for our connecting flight to Foz do Iguacu. Considering we have an 18 hour bus journey from Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) to Buenos Aires tomorrow evening we were quite relieved to be flying from Sao Paulo to the falls. So a mere 22 hours after leaving the UK we arrived at our hostel, Paudimar Campestre, on the outskirts of Foz do Iguacu.

Paudimar is a fantastic hostel; even though I'm pretty sure McFly just came on the stereo it really does feel natural and relaxed, just how I imagine Brazil to be (except maybe Rio!). There's plenty of caterpillars also - we're building up to the amazonian bull sharks slowly!

We had a night at the hostel and set out for the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls this morning. A kilometre walk to the bus stop and a twenty minute bus ride and we were at the visitor centre. From there it was another 10 minutes on a bus to the start of a walk along the side of a cliff, from which you can get the best panoramic views of the waterfalls.

As we walked along the side of the cliff the views kept getting progressively better. There was also quite a diverse range of wildlife, from butterflies to huge lizards a metre long. I kept thinking we had the perfect view, but it became clear the money shot was from the man-made walkway on to the falls themselves. We got incredibly wet there as we had the bottom of one waterfall on our left and the top of another on our right.

The only negative point was the amount of tourists, but in Brazilian summer this was to be expected. We both felt a little spent on the bus back to the hostel; we've just come from 5 degrees in the UK and it's about 30 here. The kilometre walk back from the bus stop felt a lot longer!

Have put up some photos of the falls though they don't really do it justice. See what you think. Right, on to the Argentinian side of the falls tomorrow and then the bus to Buenos Aires. Sweet.

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Photos

View of Falls from plane
The view of Iguazu Falls as we landed at Foz do Iguacu.

Bus stop to Hostel
Carina at the bus stop to the hostel.

1x Big Lizard
This guy was at least a metre long - the other one was even bigger but he scuttled off!

Comments

[Zoe]

Iguazu
Glad you both got there safe and sound. Your right though Chris the photos just cant do it justice it's much more impressive when you are actually there. Enjoy the bus ride, I hope you remembered to book the upgrade, well worth it! Have fun and look forward to the next installment Z xxx

[jennifer]

Well not exactly your Knightsbridge bus stop............. See you have the bus timetable in your hand - excellent! M x