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Published: November 28th 2007
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Iguazu Falls
The view from the Brazilian side We took an overnight bus from Curitiba to Foz de Iguazu to see the famous Iguazu falls, the widest waterfalls in the world. Describing the falls as spectacular is an understatement to say the least. The sheer power and thundering noise of the falls is overwhelming, you really have to see them to believe them. The falls can be explored from both the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side and everyone recommends seeing both sides to get the complete experience. I couldn't agree more. After arriving in Foz, a bit tired and groggy after the overnight bus journey (Brazilian buses are not quite as good as the Argentinian ones), we spent a couple of hours in Iguazu national park on the Brazilian side. First glimpse of the falls and all tiredness was forgotten- the walk through this park gives a great panoramic view of the falls and I really couldn't imagine the roar of the water getting any louder. But I was wrong! The next day we visited the falls on the Argentinian side, where you get up close and personal. We took a boat trip down the Iguazu river, up really close to the waterfalls (well as close as is
possible I guess). It was cool, everyone gets completely soaked- nice and refreshing in 30+ degrees of heat. This wasn't just a sprinkle of water either, its fair to say it was the most powerful shower we've had in the last three months. While in Foz we also visited a bird farm which was pretty cool- the birds were flying around in huge cages that we could walk into- some were very friendly and inquisitive!
So the falls experienced it was time to move on- time fast running out in South America! A 24 hour bus journey to Rio loomed, but given our time constraints we decided to treat ourselves to a flight. It actually didn't work out that much more expensive and anyway we've been doing pretty good with the bus travel. We arrived in Rio and headed for Copacabana where we had reserved a room in a hostel. My frist impression of one of the most famous beaches in the world was one of disappointment. Am not really sure what I was expecting, it is a city beach after all. It's relatively short (about 4km) and lined with fast food outlets and ugly high rise hotels. Not
a patch on the beaches in Florianapolis.... Anyway we decided to see what we could in Rio before spending a day or two on the beach. Our first trip was into a favella which was cool. We rode up into the favella on the motorbike taxis (scary drivers) as nobody from the outside brings in their own cars. Vast amounts of money are made by the drug dealers in the favella, but the majority of people living there live in extreme poverty. The Rio police don't enter the favellas- these places are pretty much run by the drug managers. We saw quite a few guys walking around with guns which is the norm.
Next stop the Sugar Loaf mountain before going to see the Christ the Redeemer statue on the top of Corcovado mountain. The views from both these mountains are really impressive and the statue is well worth seeing. Both packed with snap happy tourists though!
Having missed out on a soccer match in Argentina, we had changed our flights so we would be in Rio over a weekend in the hope of catching a match there. A great decision! The match was amazing. We went to
see Flamengo vs Santos in the Maracana stadium, one of the largest stadiums in the world. (Capacity is 100,000 since it was all seated last year but before that it held 170,000.) Although the Brazilian league had been decided this match was pretty important as a win for Flamengo would mean qualification for the South American Cup (Champions league equivalent). The stadium was almost full and about 95% were Flamengo supporters- a noisy bunch who still hadnt figured out what the newly installed seats were for- everyone stood on them! We were in the stadium about 2 hours before the match and the atmosphere was electric from then right through until the end of the match. Flamengo won 1-0 in a less than exciting match but the atmosphere more than made up for it.
Enough sightseeing done in Rio it was time for a few lazy days on the beach but we got up the next morning and it was pouring with rain! Aw well- time to move on again soon anyway...............
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