We set out on our first serious bus journeyheading for the Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, 15 hours. The journey was relatively comfortable as all seats recline and have more leg room than most planes. However the whole journey was like travelling through turbulence or like being driven by Lizzie or Kirsty!! Needless to say, we arrived early.
After locating our hotel we had to wait for the room to be vacated so we could catch-up some sleep before we started investigating the town. There were two places that we identified as worth a visit. The first being the Itaipu Dam which was not an attractive site but an amazing piece of engineering. It is a joint engineering project between Brazil and Paraguay which took 30 years to complete. The site generates enough electricity to supply 90% of Paraguay and 20% of Brazil through hydroelectric-power. The trip itself was only dulled by the promotion video which felt like you were in the middle of an induction day for a new job.
That evening I was on a mission....
Having spent the previous week staying on Ilha Grande and eating fish I was in serious need of "MAN FOOD" and Foz Do Iguazu was not going to disappoint. The hotel owner recommended a local BBQ restaurant as the best one in the town and MY GOD were they right. The restaurant is any man´s dream: a salad bar for the women and an endless supply of meat. The waiters are continuously walking round the restaurant with skewers full of meat. Before you can finish one mouthful of meat the next supply is on it´s way. They even supplied a leaflet with a visual of a cow on it so they could show you which part they were binging next. I left the restaurant fully recovered and feeling like a man again!!
After a good nights sleep we headed to the main attraction the Brazilian Iguassu Waterfalls, with a change of clothes! We had been recommended to take a boat trip on the river to see the waterfalls close up and when I say close up I mean underneath!! It was a truly spectacular experience seeing the power of the water and then feeling the power on our heads. Quite refreshing given the heat. It was also amusing as we were on the boat with several OAP´s from England some of whom had come prepared and other that were not. Those that were prepared were wearing shower caps or the largest swimming costumes that you could ever imagine. The unprepared type were the stuffy old members that you find at your local golf club everyday wandering around as if they own the club. That put an extra smile on my face.
During the afternoon we walked one of the trails and the views were awesome of the 2kms of waterfall. At the end of the trail we were again soaked as you walked out onto a platform right in front of the `Devil´s Throat` the largest of the waterfalls.
To ensure that we had did not missed anything at the falls we decided to leave Brazil and to the Argentinian side. We took a local bus to the border and had to stop at three different check points and wait for the next bus. The locals were allowed straight through. After about 2 hours we finally made it to our budget accommodation. If this is budget then Argentina is going to be great!! We had managed to book ourselves into a beuatiful, simple wooden room with a pool directly outside, located on the edge of the national park; all for 20 pounds per night.
The visit to falls in Argentina was just, if not more, spectacular as most of the individual waterfalls are on the Argentian side so we could get closer to more of them. The best by far was `Devil´s Throat` as we were practically on top of it. The power in the water was incredible and I know the photos will not do it justice.
My initial thoughts about the difference between Brazil and Argentina is that the people are more welcoming and friendly in Argentina and it is much cheaper. There is a strong influence from Europe and already we have drunk spendid coffee, eaten croissants and stayed with a French man!
We are now set for another long bus journey (15 hours) to a small town called Santa Fe.
