Falling for Iguacu

Foz do Iguacu is the Brazilian city on the border of Iguazu Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. The river borders Brazil and Argentina. Paraguay is only a short bus ride away too so, if you were that way inclined, you could easily visit three countries in one day and then stop for lunch!

We had decided on spending 1 day looking at the falls from the Brazilian side and the next day visiting the Argentinean side.

We arrived into Foz early evening and opted for a cab to take us to our first ever hostel. 3 months travelling means cheap accommodation and you can't get much cheaper than staying at a hostel.

The ride there was scary to say the least. This fella didn't just think he was Lewis Hamilton, it seemed he thought he was a stunt man too! He was driving at double the speed limit, literally 2 feet off the bumper of the car in front.

I was in the front and Lauren in the back and when we arrived (& thanked God we were alive) Lauren looked as white as a sheet!

We checked in to our private dorm (which had everything we needed - a bed and a shower) and went to have a caprinhia (traditional Brazilian cocktail) at the bar.

The next morning we walked to our next hostel, checked our bags in and got a bus to the National Park where the falls are. Our bus fare cost us the equivalent of 75p each and was a 30 minute drive! That's great value (spoken in an Alan Hansen voice)!

There's few words that can describe what we saw at the falls. Awesome is a very over-used word these days but this was awesome in the true sense of the word. These pictures hardly do it justice but take a look anyway:

A few of the larger falls had beautiful rainbows running through them:

This little fella is a Quatis. He is also a thief as he snuck up behind me at lunchtime and ran off with part of my lunch!

They look like giant Anteaters and are a constant pest. We saw one slash the bottom of someone's carrier bag with its claw to get the contents to fall on the floor and steal it!

They also had no regard for religion as these Nuns found out:

Day two at the falls was the Argentinean side.

As seasoned travelers (after 10 days lol) we decided to get the bus again and knew we'd have to take our passports and change buses once we arrived in Argentina. However, what we'd omitted in this process was thinking about a change in currency from Brazilian Reals to Argentinean Pesos. 

This meant, after passport control we exited the bus with a friendly local lady who was trying to help us save money by getting off the bus before it reached the bus terminal and showing us where to get the bus to the Argentine National Park. However, she didn't realise we had no pesos so we ended up walking about 10 blocks in 35 degree heat to find an ATM!

We went into a Supermarket to buy some water and then saw the first aisle and remembered the reason that Argentina was high on our list of countries to visit:

Wall to wall Wine!

The buses on this side of the border cost about three times the price which was an outrage (£2.25 each lol) so we teamed up with a Spanish couple and negotiated a taxi for cheaper to take us in to the park.

This side of the falls was even more spectacular as was the wildlife. Stunning butterflies, huge lizards and weird looking guinea pigs were all over the place. We truly were in the rain forest and were loving every minute.

Shame about this lady wearing a lampshade in the background....

As we walked around the falls we bumped into a great couple from Swansea called Laura and Martin. We chatted for hours and had lunch together too. We agreed to meet up during the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival too on Weds.

At the end of the day we got back to our hotel and went out to Buffalo Branco's, Foz's number 1 Brazilian Barbeque restaurant.

Although it was nothing on George's home made Brazilian BBQ, it was still by far our best restaurant meal and they just kept bringing more and more and more steak to our table which was difficult to turn away!

Off to bed and then up early to leave for Buenos Aires tomorrow! Goodbye beautiful Brazil. Ciao!