Iguaçu Falls

---

So my first overnight bus ride (17 hours!) started rather unreassuringly when the guy sat next to me decided to say "you now we run the risk of being hijacked on this route dón´t you?". Sometimes speaking the local lingo is more of a hinderance than a help. Fortunately an hour of hearsay tales wasnt enough to stop me from sleeping, aided by the confort of long-distance buses in Brazil. This is no National Express. There is legroom for even the tallest of people (I had to stretch out a long way to touch the seat in front), the seats recline almost horizontally, and there is a foot rest - essentially you get a chair bed. So I arrived in Foz de Iguaçu uneventfully and without being hijacked.....pheww!

Foz de Iguaçu is a brazilian town at the triple border with Paraguay and Argentina. The only reason anyone would go there is to visit the magnificant Iguaçu falls. The Iguaçu falls consist of 275 falls (!) along the Iguaçu river, surrounded by dense rainforest. The falls are divided between Brazil and Argentina, with Argentina taking the lions share.

I treated myself to a nice hotel close to the Brazilian side of the falls. The first day was spent recuvering from my trip by relaxing at the hotel pool. Life is tough!
The next day I tackled the Brazilian side of the falls. A long walkway winds through the rainforest providing spectacular panoramic views of the falls. You think that you´ve seen all there is to see, take lots of pictures only to walk a few metres further to be amazed again. Despite the falls being in the rainforest, the number of tourist means that all the wildlife is in hiding deep in the forest away from the tourists:-( I just managed to see beautiful butterflies, a lizard and a sleeping bat. Oh, and lots of ugly spiders. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am terrified of these ugly 8 legged creastures with the ability to appear from nowhere very quickly. So I dealt with my phobia by inventing "spider watch" i.e. trying to spy as many of these horrible things as possible, taking photos and moving along quickly. Afterwards I head to a bird sanctuary park, where i got to see lots of the birds and other creatures that are unfortunately endangered due to deforestation.

The following day I headed to the argentinan side of the falls. I went on a guided trip to avoid the hassle of the border formailities and we had a good fun group of people around the same age from a variety of countries. The Argentinian side doesnt offer the panoramic views that you get on the Brazilian side. But it does ket you get very very close to the water. I´ve never been to Niagara, but apparently Iguaçu dwarfs it in comparison. We took a boat ride right up to the bottom of the falls and got drenched! Which was a welcome relief in the heat of the midday sun. Then we took a jeep ride through the rain forest (again only spiders to be spotted!), before hiking to the top of the biggest waterfall, Garganta do diablo (Devils throat). The noise was incredible! Managed to spot a Cayman on the way too, but decided not to get too close! After an exhausting day we headed back to hotel for some well deserved dinner and caipirinhas. Tomorrow I would be heading back over the Argentinian border again to head to Buenos Aires.

---

Photos

Iguazu Falls - Brazilian side
what can I say?

Bat sleeping
dont know how anything can sleep with all that noise!