The first of the Big Falls

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Salto, north Uraguay. That's where Juan Manuel dropped us off to wait for our bus to one of the biggest waterfalls on the planet. Iguazu. And Salto was where we had to say our goodbyes to a man who had made us laugh and been patient and improved our horse riding skills and just generally been an excellent host. I think all of us will miss Juan Manuel and will try to make our way back at some point in the future.

And none of us were looking forward to the bus ride we had coming up. As much as we were all excited about the falls, none of us really wanted to have to sit through the overnight bus ride that we had to take to get there. At least in the mean time whilst we waited we got to have a little bit more fun that any other time whilst waiting for the entire trip. We went to the "hot springs". But they weren't really what I imagined when I heard the term hot springs thrown around. I was imagining something a little more... rustic than the reality. The reality was a series of pools, with slides and waterfalls and some were defintely heated... It was in all pretty good.

My only complaint was that there were enough towels available for us all to get one from the pools meaning most of us had to use our travel towels. Mmmmmm... chlorine. Now that's a smell I'll wanna relive again and again and again.

So we swam and relaxed for a few hours and those of us who were big enough kids went on the waterslides. Then we hurriedly tried to get our swimmers and towels dry before we needed to leave. We all failed and ended up with towels that were rather rank.

The bus ride in itself... not sure there's much to be said about that. The sound was terrible. Either too loud or too soft and only through the overhead speakers, not the headphone jacks. So those who wanted to watch the movie couldn't hear it properly to follow it and those who wanted to sleep couldn't because there was too much noise. They didn't provide blankets or pillows (sometimes they do, but this time... not so much) but somehow in all that I didn't think it was that bad. But that might only because I have spent so much time on buses that are much worse. And still managed to get a few hours sleep in so I wasn't too shattered for the first big day in Iguazu.

Yes I know that's the Spanish and not Portugese spelling, but that's just cos I can easily type the letter z and I don't know how to do one of those little weird c things. And I'm too lazy to figure it out. I'm on holidays after all.

When we did get to Iguazu after our long flight we were there a little early. At about 11 which was just a smidgen too early for the 12 check in. So we only got a few rooms for all of us and we dying for showers. But we got through it and we were off. Taking those of us who were interested to go do the helicopter ride over the falls. We'd been told that the helicopter could take 6 of us, but we found out at the last minute that it could only take 4. Sadly this meant that Jayne and James our British honeymooners (who we'd realised by this stage were really cool with wiked senses of humour) couldn't join us. We were to learn later exactly what the reason was behind the change from a 6 seater to a 4 seater...

Anyways, there were 2 of us who wanted the front seat of the helicopter and in fairness we allowed randomness to decide which of would get it. And I won!! So I got the view straight out the bottom through the glass.... totally awesome. And to approach Iguazu for the first time from the air is something I would have to say is special. We were flying along and all we could see is forest. Then in the distance the first thing we could see was a little bit of white mist. Then the river and slowly so slowly we could see the falls. And then more of the falls and then the rest. They are MASSIVE. Pretty much impossible to take in properly with any one view.

We circled a few times and we saw a whole heap of activity in one particular area of the falls. There was far more boats than expected and there were even a few helicopters in the there hovering around. The pilot turns to me, points and says "accident". Ok... ummmmmm. Not sure what that means. I share it with the other girls on the flight later and we were still a little bit uncertain about what to make of it.

Once we got off the flight (and Jayne and James had done theirs) we were on told that our guide had been told that the company we were supposed to do our boat ride with the following day on the Argentinian side of the falls weren't going to be running boats for at least the next three days so we couldn't go with them.... :-( so if we wanted to do it we needed to do it this afternoon on the Brazilian side. And it was going to cost a little more. Fair enough. That's fine with me. Better to pay a little extra and still get the ride than to miss out completely.

And although we didn't know it at the time, it wasn't that the company on the Argentinian side weren't doing trips at the time. It was that they weren't going to be doing trips again. EVER. They'd had their license revoked. As a direct result of the happenings that day. They had an accident. And not a minor one. They got too close to a waterfall, over turned a boat, injured several people and killed 2 people. Worst of all those two people were Americal tourists. Yeah. Never doing business again.

But we didn't know all this until AFTER we'd done our boat ride. Not that it would have stopped me. One accident in 20 years... I don't like the odds of it happening two times in one day. But it was one of those moments where your mortality is brought home. That accident could have been 24 hours later... One of those tourists who died could have been me. But there are moments like that all the time in all our lives. We just don't always know about them, so I feel no need to let this moment or any of the others effect me.

But that's enough about death and morbidity. I should talk about what Iguazu was like to experience along the paths, walking and by boat... well... one thing that I didn't expect was the butterflies. As my whole knowledge of the area prior was "Iguazu = waterfalls = awesomess" this came a tough of a surprise. Everywhere you looked there were butterflies. There were also little racoon type creatures and they were cute, but in my opinion, the butterflies won. There were blue ones and black and white ones and orange ones and... and... and... too many to mention.

As for the boat ride. Well it was somewhat like a zodiac ride. It was an inflatable motorised boat but it held something like 30 passengers. We went up stream and looked at the falls and got wet.. and then we found a smaller fall... and went in and under and in and under and in and under. It was great. Good thing I left my good camera in a locker. I don't think it would have handled it without my dry bag.... but since it was a little sudden I was a little unprepared. Oh well.

The following day we spent HOURS walking around the Argentinian side and saw the falls from soooo many different angles. From the top. From the devils throat. From halfway down. From right down near the bottom. It was good. And I'm not sure how we would have fit time in for the boat ride.

That night though was an intersting night. It was our first introduction to Brazilian BBQ. So you go in. Pay your price and then waiters bring over giant spits of food. And cut a slice off. Then they'd bring another type of meat and you could get a slice. And again and again. It was awesome. We all went home sooooooo full. Well actually we didn;t exactly go home straight after that. We went for more drinks. Like we needed them.

The last day we had a free day and we had a few different options. We could go to the Bird Park. We could go to Paraguay. We could visit the dam. With my lack of space in my passport, going to Paraguay was out of the question, in fact only Ahmed was intersted in going there since all there was to do was to shop for knock-offs. In the end most people chose the bird park, but Hazelle and I decided to be different. We had seen a sign the first day for rafting so we went back to the falls and went rafting. It wasn't exactly what you'd call white water but it was nice and relaxing and we all had a great time.

When we were done we also went to the bird park and did the whole thing on our own. And there were some very very pretty birds. The Flamingoes and the Macaws were my favourites. Especially the part where they sat Macaw on my shoulder. There is a very unattractive photo of my looking all concerned when it started munching on my sunglasses.

After that we had time to have a quick shower, grab a lightning quick lunch / afternoon tea / dinner and then jump on the next overnight bus which took us to Paraty. This one was definitely better than the last one. It only had 3 seats across in a 2 & 1 configuration. I was lucky enough to have a single seat. That meant that I had a seat that was both a window and an aisle seat. WIN! But other than that, it was still an overnight bus :-( and it was taking me away from Iguazu... and onto the next adventure.

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Photos

I'm flying!
View from the front seat of the helicopter

All the activity
We didn't know what was going on at this poing

An 88
This is a very common type of butterfly known locally as and 88 for obvious reasons

Proof I was there
Had to get at least one photo of me

That's an ANT
We had to put a hand in that shot just for comparison

I told you...
They were EVERYWHERE!