Beaches, waterfalls and racoons

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I sit and write this with a hangover. And not any hangover, i drank enough cheap Argentinian vodka last night to fuel a whole bloody nuclear war and the fumes seeping out of my skin right now, a good 12 hours after the night ended (yes, it was a 4am finish, nice) could fuel a small car, so excuse the spelling mistakes.

I think last time i wrote we were on Ilha do Mel. Not much to say about that one...no one was there, it rained, none of the restaurants were open, showers were cold and we only had enough money to buy 2 cheeseburgers over 2 days, and they were rank.
But...from Ilha do Mel onwards, we had the best time in Brazil, an absolutely aweosme final 10 days. We basically traversed the coast by luxury coach to a surfy town called Florianopolis on Ila Santa Catarina, an oasis of beaches, surf, restaurants and old colonial buildings. We stayed in the best hostel we have stayed in yet, a placed called Tucano House. My love for this place was cemented as soon as we walked in and i saw a sign saying 'THAI GREEN CURRY for dinner tonight, sign up at reception'. YES YES YES YES!!! No more cheesy pizza!!! It was amazing, so so so good. Food aside, we met some great people, some not so great people, walked for miles and miles each day, went to some amazing beaches and visited a cute little turtle sanctuary. Turtles are awesome, they are like floating old men, and make the funniest grunting noises. Nat said they sound like me when i sleep, nice.
Florianopolis is also home to some kick ass big sand dunes that surround this huge lake, it was quite incredible just walking around this crazy beautiful landscape taking heaps of pics.
After 4 days in Florianopolis, lots of e mailing and getting washing done we jumped on a 14 hour bus, north, overnight to Iguazu Falls, the waterfalls that border Argentina and Brazil. It was the first of many bus journeys we have done over the last week, and they have single handedly broken me! Now, dont get me wrong, i like a good bus journey. I pod, crisps, book, fully reclining seat, all good you would think. Nah, not me. Whilst Nat can sleep anywhere and through anything, i simply cannot, even if i am drugged with cheap sleeping pills we bought in Hong Kong earlier in the year. For some reason, me and long bus journeys do not get on, never have, never will. The longest journey by bus i had done prior to this one was a 26 hour journey with my school from Cornwall to the south of France when i was 15. Back then, long bus journies was fun. Time went much faster back then...back then you had things to do.....I led the charge amongst my mates pulling moonies out of the back window at coaches of old ladies on their way to factory outlets for the day (if it was you Nan, sorry), i spent hours singing Ocean Colour scene songs, I spent hours in fits of laughter changing the words of certain songs to be less than complimentary about the teachers sat at the front of the bus and then consequently spent hours sat next to the said teacher at the front of the bus as punishment. But at least time went quickly!!!!! Geeeez, not on buses around South America. Im over it and we have heaps more to do still. Dont get me wrong, ther service is amazing, they feed you, water you, give you heaps of space, but there is nothing worse than just when you are nodding off some bus waiter dude prods you with a polystyrene tray filled with dried fruit offering you 'breakfast'. Natalie, as lovely as she always is, kindly said 'No Gracias', as you can probably guess, my response was less gracious.
But anyways, its cheap travel and we have saved money travelling overnight so its all thumbs up!
Back to Iguazu Falls, all i can say is they are the best natural wonder i have ever seen in my life and left Natalie and I absolutely gob smacked at their energy, power, beauty, everything! We stayed on the Argentinian side as it is so much cheaper but took a bus back to the Brazilian side so we could see the falls from both sides. The Brazilian side gives you the grand overview and the Argentinian side actually lets you get up close to them. Both sides were amazing, but the Argentinian side is just epic. You actually get so close to the water its scary. They have constructed these amazing walkways that let you walk over the falls and get so close to the 'Devils Throat' which is one of the bigger falls and you get so close to the water you cant actually see anything for the mist the water creates. The combination of the sun and water also creates these perfectly formed rainbows, the most amazing i have ever seen. After so many beaches in Brazil, it was great to actually be blown away by a natural wonder that is so overwhelming. We also saw some incredible wildlife. Racoons, everywhere! Cute little chaps, although i had to run from one that was chasing my bananas, damn thief! We also saw iguanas, huge ones, monkeys, some cool birds with bright blue mohawks and heaps and heaps of butterflies! They were everywhere, and in droves!! I actually though they were leaves being blown around at first (OK, i had just done another bus overnighter) but they were just everywhere, bright yellow, blue, i got some aweosme pics. But the best...we saw a caiman on the banks of the river that lead to the falls. He was quite a big chap, just hanging out there watching all of us idiots with our big cameras and maps. I as surprised how close they lurked to us tasty humans, i've never been that close to such a dangerous animal before, or at least that i've known about! We spent 2 days in the Argentinian town of Puerto Iguazu and then started our journey across the top of Argentina to Salta where we are now. Again, an incredible place, i could go on and on about how amazing northern argentina is but I'll be back to write about this place another day, i'm drying up here and starting to get the sweats again. It also might have had something to do with the 750g steak i ate last night...to myself.....serious!!

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Comments

[Caroline]

monday morning smiles
you are still as hilarious as you were 8 yrs ago! thanks for making me smile on the dreary monday morning x