Iguazu falls - Brazilian side

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Yet another leisurely breakfast at the hostel and on the bus by 9.30 am.

A short drive for Cooking Group 4 to buy ingredients for lunch for today and tomorrow and tomorrows dinner. (Sorry apostrophes all missing as cant find one on this foreign keyboard!!) Whilst they were doing their shopping Ivan accompanied us to a private Medical Centre as the Falda Medical Centre advised that Jo takes a further sample to check the position 3 days post antibiotics. All very straightforward and cheap.....

We stopped off at a supermarket with a good wine selection on the way back to the bus as Ivan wanted two bottles of wine recommended by Kevin from the Estancia which we treated him to as it is his birthday tomorrow and as a thank you for being our translator and coming with us. As Kevin was a wine buff and we trusted his judgement (from the wine tasting at the Estancia) we also bought a bottle of Trumpeter Malbec to drink with our meal this evening (a buffet at the hostel).

We drove across the Argentinian-Brazilian border - all very straightforward with no luggage checks, just a quick stamp to everyones passport and into Brazil. We drove to a money exchange where we exchanged our Argentinian pesos for Brazilian reals and drove onto a campsite out in the middle of absolute nowhere. We upgraded from a tent to an airconditioned room with private facilities for an extra 30 GBP per night between us.

Cook group 4 prepared lunch and straight after, we took the free shuttle bus 2 and a half kilometres to the main road and a public bus to the Iguazu National Park (Brazilian side!) Following a further bus ride some way into the park, we followed a very short trail to the Falls. Interesting to see from the other side of the river and probably a wider perspective of the total size and area of the falls but from our viewpoint, the Argentinian trails and walks were more interesting and generally closer although others in our group disagreed and thought the Brazilian side was better.

Sat in the cafe with a no calorie cherry drink (which we certainly wont choose again as I dont think it has ever seen a cherry. Think fizzy Benylin!!!!) and a Nestle ice cream. Horribly expensive but what can one expect at a major tourist attraction?

We met two British people on the bus out staying at a hostel reasonably close by to us so we shared a taxi back rather than wait for the free bus which runs very infrequently.

Dinner was a ´Brazilian Buffet' approximate cost 9GBP - a couple of salads, refried beans with rice and a piece of minute steak - quite tasty but not good value for money but maybe that's just Brazilian prices (found the apostrophe today!!).

The habitual fancy dress came out for 'party night' as did the interminable bottles of beer for the young ones and we slipped away to bed around 10.15 pm.

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