More Iguassu & Florianapolis

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Iguassu Falls

Well, we weren't so lucky with the weather for our visit to the Brazilian side. Like fools we hoped for the best and headed out in just our T-Shirts, and got absolutely soaked through! Luckily seeing the Brazilian side doesn't require anywhere near as much time as the Argentinian side ... you get more of an overview, whereas on the Arg side you get to go in, around and even under a lot more. We got a great view of Garganta del Diablo from the Brazilian side though ... you can see the shape of the falls .. and the smaller cascades that make it up. That night we headed back to the Argentinian side to grab our bags ... before heading back over the border to Brazil (i know!!!) to catch the bus to Florianopolis.

Florianopolis

I'm amazed we didn't both catch pneumonia on that day ... First of all, we got soaked through at the falls, then had an open air bus ride to chill us through! Next .. the bus to Florianopolis had the aircon cranked right up all night .. and was a cheap and nasty affair (smelt of toilet!) so didnt even give us blankets. Finally, when we got to Florianopolis (we stayed in the little town of Barra da Lagoa) ... dying to get really warm under a fantastically warm shower ... we had to have a practically cold one!! hard life .. hard life ...

Florianopolis is actually the name of a city in the Southern coast of Brazil ... the city is spread across the mainland, and a tiny part of the adjoining Santa Catarina island. We actually stayed on Santa Catarina .. but everyone seems to refer to it as Florianopolis .. or Floripa.
Its a very big holiday destination, especially for Brazilians .. but as we're here slightly out of season, it was pretty quiet and we had a lot of the town to ourselves! On our first day we wandered as far up the beach as we could, before walking back and wishing we'd only walked about half the distance! The next day was full of plans to go hiking to some more beaches on the south of the island ... we knew we were in for a bit of a bus-changing prior to get there but didnt expect it to take so long! 3pm came on a beautiful sunny day, and we were stuck in a sheltered bus station for an hour and half waiting for the final bus .. it never came! so we went back home .. and did a local trail that was actually fantastic .. and gave great views out over Barra da Lagoa and its beach.

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