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Published: March 6th 2007
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My helicopter
Not a very exciting photo but this was the little machine that got me into the air over the falls so I love it. I'm in Argentina!! Just crossed over so I have another stamp in my passport. It was a fairly easy border crossing, no searching of us or the truck, so it was quite painless really. An update on photos - I have just managed to add ONE photo to the blog about the Pantanal. This is due to the extremely slow internet connection. I promise I will try to get some more on soon.
On the 4th March we had the longest drive day so far to get from Bonito to get to Foz do Iguazu. We left at 5am and arrived at 8ish but because the clocks went forward it was actually 9ish. To say that we were knackered is putting it lightly, especially in the 38 to 40 degree heat! The campsite we were staying in was a bit like a 18-30s club with 2 Budget trucks in (they have an upper age limit of 35 on their tours and so tend to be a bit more alcohol orientated). I mean, I'm only 22 and still up for a party now and again but the point of this trip for me is to see a whole new continent and
The falls from the air
I have literally hundreds of waterfall photos so I will try to limit them to reduce boredom. Here is one from the helicopter. have amazing experiences, not getting bladdered every night, hurmph, moan over!
Foz do Iguazu (literally translated to big waterfall) is the town on the Brazilian side of the waterfalls. Said waterfalls are apparently the biggest in the world although we are seeing them in the drier season so they are lower than normal. They are made up of 275 cataracts, 14 big ones and loads of smaller ones. Yesterday (5th March) we DID the waterfalls from the Brazilian side. The day started for me with..... a helicopter ride!!! Quite a few of us opted for this treat. Flying over the falls was immense. You really got to appreciate how vast they are, it was a spectacular site. It was also my first time in a helicopter so this was fun enough by itself. It zoomed into the air and then it just felt like we were floating along in a tiny bubble until the pilot turned to circle the falls. Each time he did it my stomach lurched into my lungs!
Next on the activities was the trail down towards the falls with plenty of places to stop and admire the amazing views. My ickle group actually did
this trail in reverse and started with the stunning sight of being really close to the biggest falls, at the end of the Devil's gorge. There is a walkway and a platform that takes you really close. The cooling spray was delish given the scorching heat. Walking back on the trail we found ourselves tripping with sweat (yum) but the views more than made up for it.
The day ended with a trip to the Bird Park. This was our chance to get much closer to the birds we had been searching for in the Pantanal. There were some fairly big avaries and they also had some rare species verging on extinction. My personal fave has to be the toucans. They are stunning and very friendly. They happily posed for all our photos, to be honest I think they are show-offs, they know that their bill is the best! I also got to meet a marcaw up close, he sat on my shoulder and tried to eat my hairband. With some of the other girls he took a liking to their sunglasses. Other highlights including a Harpey Eagle (biggest raptor in the world), humming birds, herons and lots of
parrots and marcaws.
Our day ended with a bit of madness from the Oasis crew. So far we have been one of the quieter groups doing the circuit round SA but last night we decided to bid farewell to Brazil with a few caipirinhas. This led to mass pool madness. We were all in at one point doing acrobatics, having shoulder wrestling matches and doing mass/domino diving bombs. After having moaned about the 18-30 crew we turned into them ourselves!!
Right, gotta dash off as we've just stopped for a couple of hours in Puerto Iguazu, the town on the Argentinian side, so that people could change money etc. We are off to the next campsite very soon and I intend to head straight to the pool. I can't really complain about the camping as almost all the campsites have had a pool or been close to water of some form. Tomorrow we are doing the falls from the Argentinian side which aparently allows you to get much closer and there will be a wet boat trip involved.
Love to everyone.
Gemsxx
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Jessie
non-member comment
hi!
HI Gems:) Keep the blogs coming! It's such exciting reading for when i'm sitting here bored and cold in my office. Can't wait to see more pictures of the animals and i hope the mozzie bites aren't too too horrendous. Enjoy those caipirinha's for me! love, jessie