Iguacu falls - Brazilian side

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Probably not worth mentioning this bit as the photos will speak for themselves, but just in case you really need to kill a few minutes of your day;

First full day in Foz and we decided to spend it at theBrazilian side of the falls. Getting to the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu was easy from the main bus station, took about half an hour getting there. There's a bus that takes your through the park and along the way are different hikes and outdoor things you can do which sound pretty cool but are rather expensive. We got off at a couple of stops before the falls and did the Trilha das Cataratas which goes for about a 1km along the cliffs before getting to the falls, which had some amazing views.

None of these compared to the main part of the falls, called Garganta del Diablo. I thought the view was better on the Brazilian side but you get much, much closer on the Argentinian side. There is a boardwalk that goes in front of a smaller set of falls and gives a great view of the main bit. The weather was amazing, not a cloud in the sky which made for great photos. It was pretty hard getting photos with a good backdrop as everyone is fighting for the same space. It was crowded and actually exhausting trying to get photos here. We then took an elevator up to an observation platform which give a good view looking down into the falls and the boardwalk. We'd spent quite a while there but with the crowds it was hard to spend too much time there. So headed back to town in search of something else to do. In the end we discovered the only shopping street, avenida brasil, so went in search of it. There were a few shops but nothing much to it. So in the end found a park and lay in the sun.

May have mentioned this before but again, there is nothing in Foz, I'd recommend staying on the Argentinian side.

The guys we're staying with suggested that we head to Argentina for dinner. It sounded so strange how casually they said we should head to a different country for dinner. They do it quite frequently as its cheaper and more interesting over there. Took about 15 mintues to drive to the border. The bridge that crosses the river which seperates Brazil and Argentina has each countries flag painted up until the middle where they borders meet. Obviously stopped and got yet another photo with a foot in a different country. About 100 meters down the road from where we had stopped a truck had quickly pulled over and there were several guys loading stuff off it and running off into the woods. Very amusing. Apparently everything is cheaper on the Argenitinian side so smuggling is very common. It was fun over in Argentina, we had Empandas and beer for dinner. Empanads are very similar to the pastels that they have in Brazil. Pastels are basically pasties with some combination of meat and cheese inside.

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