resistencia to the falls

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Hi all
After arriving in Resistencia, we spent our time relaxing and made use of the nice hotel as we weren’t sure what accommodation was ahead. After a few days of relaxation we were ready for our last long distance bus journey to Puerto Iguaçu (Argentina), we took the bus at 0700 and arrived in Puerto Iguaçu at 1700! Although the bus was comfortable as usual. When we arrived we had to work out how we were going to get to our final destination of foz do Iguassu (Brazil)! We decided on a taxi which stopped at both border points, jumped the queue and only cost fifteen quid! Well worth it. We then arrived at our hostel, which was lively (but not too much). It even had a pool, pool table, bar and a playstation 3! The next day (29th July) we went to visit the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu falls, stunning views of the vast falls, although the amount of vapor coming from the ridiculously powerful falls meant we went away soaking wet! Also there were a lot of people who were not suitably dressed (i.e. suede shoes, jeans etc) and it was funny to watch them walk past unknowingly!

The next day we checked out of our hostel around midday and we were dropped off at the Brazilian border, where we were to take a bus to the Argentinean side of the falls. after being accosted for the longest ever tourist survey Craig asked how long it would take to walk to the Argentinean border (to get our entry stamp) however he was told that although it was only two miles, it was ´not safe to walk in this area´! Not sure what was meant by that but we imagined armed bandits waiting in the trees ready to pounce! So we decided to wait the fifteen minutes for the bus. after arriving in Puerto Iguaçu we found our hostel with no problems and checked in. we were a little weary on our walk from the bus station to the hostel as numerous reviews we had read about the hostel suggested that the local area was awash with crazy dogs hungry for human flesh and one even suggested (quote) to carry a rock with you at all times!! Although there were quite a few dogs around (as is par for the course - in South America dogs roam the streets freely in numbers) we remain intact; seemingly more likely to get licked to death than bitten.

After arriving in Puerto Iguaçu the rains came and didn’t really stop for about three days! This meant we decided to delay our trip to the falls for a day and spent most of it inside out of the torrential rain! The next day we had to go to the falls as we had no more days left! It was now or never, although it had rained heavily all night during the day it never rained once! Although it was pretty chilly and very overcast this actually added to the atmosphere of the falls. the falls were just as good from the argentine side and we got even closer to the water, including the walk way (fairly newly constructed due to the last one being washed away!) which lead to the devils throat; although it is hard to put this magnificent piece of nature in to words if you picture someone pulling the plug in the middle of an ocean (and the subsequent waterfalls it would produce) you will have a rough idea of how it looks!. This time we left soaked through to the skin and freezing cold, but totally worth it. It didn’t take too long to dry out once we were on the bus home and in the evening we went out for a lovely meal (and some lovely wine too!!) with live music so good we even bought his cd, although not really sure why as its all in Spanish - except one song!!

Today we will be leaving Argentina for good and flying into our final destination where it all began Rio. We went into the offices of the company with whom we will be flying (Aeolians argentines) just to check if we needed to print off some tickets and the man tried to sell us two more at a cost of 340 gbp! This made us very happy though as we had already bought our tickets online for 135 gbp - bargain. We will blog for the last time in Rio, so until then goodbye.

Craig and Carly
xxx

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