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Published: September 20th 2009
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In Paraty, we also went on a, ahem, half hour bike ride, which again turned into an unexpected strenuous activity. I seem to have found myself on an adventure holiday all of a sudden where ´half hour bike ride´actually means an hour and a half uphill struggle where if you stopped for a break you got chased by (potentially rabid) dogs! Still, I survived to tell the tale so no harm done. And anyway it wasn´t about the bike ride it was about the waterfall which people surf down. It was so dangerous, even to slide down, as at the bottom is basically a rock pool. It was fun to watch though and quiet and tranquill to sit for a while after the ride up there.
Accidentally ended up in Sao Paulo because we missed our connecting bus. I thought it was nice to see the comparison to Rio as Sao Paulo is a lot more businessy. We did some sight seeing, saw a building based on the Empire State building, the Cathedral Metropolitana, which this time was just as pretty inside as it was outside, unlike Rio, and we crossed the river into a very grotty part of the
city and quickly decided to cross back! After we´d got a bit sick of sightseeing we got the Metro into town and went to a very weird art museum called MASP, which was free! This was a good thing as we were running out of Brazilian Real and didn´t want to be left with lots if we took some out at the bank! The museum was in a very strange looking building on stilts, with a lot of wasted space underneath.
Iguassu Falls were magnificent. I went to the Argentinian side first because you get to see more and get right up close to them, which also means you get extremely wet, especially because there was 40% more water going through than usual because it had rained. This also gave the water a reddy colour from the mud which it didn´t normally have. There are three different trails to go and see the falls from different views, above and below and the other side which they call Devil´s Throat, and you can see why. It is really aggressive and tormentueous. I could have stood and watched for ages, its mesmerising as well as absolutely massive. Later on in the
day we got on a boat to go a view the falls up close.... I got soaked through. We were all pretty wet but my trousers were sopping wet and cold - the sun failed to show up on this particular day. It was worth it though.
The next day we booked a tour to go to Itaipu Dam, a huge hydroelectric Dam built by Paraguay and Brazil, which involved flooding about 700 sq km of forest, indigenous villlages and destroying a waterfall that rivalled Iguassu. It was quite interesting but it took ages to get into and out of Paraguay because of traffic. We had some fun barterring for a camera for Tracey though. Next we went to an all you can eat restaurant and did eat all I could, I was so hungry I could have eaten half a cow (well almost, and Tracey would have shared it with me). In the afternoon we went to visit the Brazilian side of the falls which give you a great panaroramic view as well as up close to a few parts including Devil´s Throat again. I have so many photos, and that´s not even counting all of Tracey and
Franki´s.
We got a very uncomfortable night bus to Resistencia in North East Argentina. Had an explore and a nap and a play on the park we stumbled upon. We all went on the swings and Tracey and I went on the slide and I somehow managed to end up face down in the dust being laughed at by lots of protesting Argentinians - they are very into their protests here, have seen at least 7. I wasn´t hurt though but it did warrant going to buy a huge ice cream!
On the Monday we went to Corrientes and had much greater success finding the tourist office there than we did in Resistencia where they seem to have hidden it out of town for some reason. We managed to find out lots of interesting things about Corrientes the city and the province including that 61% of the province is cows and that Marlboro tobacco is all grown there.
We are now in Salta, in North West Argentina. It is a lovely town and we have been sightseeing up a hill where you can see all of Salta from the top, really quite impressive. Met an Aussie guy
at the top who stopped to talk to us because we were speaking English. Tracey and I have decided to have some Spanish lessons because not many people speak English and it is difficult and unfair to rely on Franki at all times, plus its exhausing for her having to translate everything! Yesterday we went horseriding, which is very painful today in a variety of places on Tracey, Franki and I from bottoms and backs to bruises and muscle ache. We are also starting to worry about the Inca Trail which is now only a month away as we are really unfit and have been eating lots of Argentinian steaks, which delicious as they are, are probably not doing good things to our insides.
Tomorrow we go to Bolivia and we are going on a tour of hot springs, salt flats and other interesting things. It is going to be cold though. Really cold. I am not looking forward to that particular part but its got to be done - you only live once!
Missing you all. Lots of love, Jen xx
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