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Published: November 9th 2009
first view
...in the rain!The main form of transport in south america is the road.. So the long distance buses are actually quite something - the bus to Sao Paulo was better than most national express coaches, and the one onward was like business class, minus the champagne, of course! The first part of the trip meant following the coast for a couple of hours, all the while eying up the near cliff like sides of the coast mountains. Eventually the road made a break for it, with lots of hairpins and shear drops. Strangely we didn't seem to drop back down on the other side, probably a good job as we were all feeling sick by now!
Sadly we had no real time in Sampa, and the traffic was so apocalyptic we didn't dare even catch a cab to see the sights for fear of missing the bus on. We arrived in Foz at about 8:30 in the morning to a thunderstorm; a quick trip to the hotel to drop off our bags and we headed to the Brazilean side of the falls.
Even through the rain the first view of a couple of the waterfalls was spectacular. Sadly the rain picked up so
the coati
so innocent! we headed for an early lunch, which just so happened to be the best food i've had yet over here! By the end of feeding time the rain had pretty much stopped, so we walked along the side of the canyon, and almost under some of the smaller cascades; if we weren't wet from the rain we certainly were now! There had also been time for Amanda to get rummaged by a coati, and for us to spot a big lizard and a big spider! The evening brought an impromptu pool party at the hotel, rocking out to Dean's ipod.
Today dawned cloudy again, and we headed for argentina. It seems that so did quite a lot of others as there was quite a wait. Once in the park we walked out over the river - about 1.5 km - so big you'd think it was a lake if the water wasn't rushing past the pontoons to the Devil's Throat, where we got wet.. Back to dry land for lunch, and we were mobbed by butterflies!
After lunch the sun had truly come out, and jumped aboard a safari truck to the river, where we found... a long wait! Keeping
an eye out for tiger ants, and brushing away the other flying creepies, our boat eventually arrived. They gave us some pretty serious waterproof bags, and it turns out we needed them. The ride started out easy enough, then started to get a little more interesting as we went up the rapids, with 6 foot standing waves, before they took us within 20 foot of two of the falls - I thought nothing could stay dry - if the water had been a little hotter it would have been the ultimate in bathroom plumbing, with water coming from every angle possible! The walk back out of the canyon was enough to dry out, and then with the sun behind us the rainbows were really spectacular. The walk back to the minibus was spruced up by the appearance of a wild guinea pig, and then it was out to another all you can eat barbeque for Melisa's birthday.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to brazil and hello to Uruguay, at 5am the next morning! We're going to be home on the ranch for a few days! Out of radio contact, too. For anyone interested in photos, i've just filled my first memory
card - all 4gb of it!
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Dr Astelia
non-member comment
Sounds like the best trip yet - you conjure a convincingly surreal episode full of unusual occurances and many angles of water. The comparrison with my rather mundane existance is somewhat stark. You are going top be impossible to live with if you return! Whats the broad plan for Uruguay?