Hi everyone,
We have spent the past three days travelling to, and exploring the Iguazu falls - the spectacular waterfalls that form the triple border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (see map below).
We reconvened with Louise and Vanessa in Foz de Iguacu (the border town on the Brazilian side) on Friday , Phil and Sarah having left a whole day earlier to catch the bus, whilst the girls for some strange reason thought that 22 hours on a hot sweaty bus with snoring co-passengers (no names mentioned Mr. Shaw!) might not enhance their holiday experience... we blame too many Glamour magazines and not enough ´South America on a shoestring´ - tch!
We spent the afternoon recovering from our journeys by the hotel pool (this took a wee bit longer for Sarah and Phil, who fell asleep for a good few hours thereby establishing their ´world weary travellers´ credentials even further...) - and then headed out to the local 'Churrascaria' restaurant.
Churrascarias are traditional Brazilian ´all you can eat´ grill and buffets, and we´d heard there was also live music and dancing to help wash down the meat feast at this one.
We filled our plates enthusiastically, creating some combinations of foods that bring new meaning to the word 'fusion´ (chow mein, paraguayan soup with sushi and quails eggs on the side anyone?), picked a fruity red number, and settled in for the evening´s entertainment.
Little did we know but we soon discovered we had managed to pick the most over-the-top touristy show in town, but once we had readjusted our expectations from ´authentic cultural experience´ to ´massive camp-fest´ it was absolutely brilliant! We hadn´t expected to see Paraguayan ballads played on´electric guitar, Brazilian samba girls descending from the ceiling in bikinis, or giant sequin covered ´birds´ on stilts flapping everbodies napkins off the tables, but now we have, we wouldn´t have missed it for the world!
Some of the performers had some genuine talent hiding under all the sequins too - particularly worthy of mention were some amazing Brazilian Capoeira martial arts / dancers, who were extraordinarily agile and did somersaults and flips and things like some of the guys we´d seen on the beach in Salavador (but with much snazzier outfits on), and a Uruguayan lady who twirled balls and firey things around at scarily high speed (excuse the limited dance vocab - we´ll never make the ´Stricty´ panel will we?!)
Plate spinning, bouncing and booty shaking
We also managed yet another audience participation moment, thanks to Louise, who told the compere that we had recently got engaged, the cheeky blighter! We got off fairly lightly, only having to join in with the congo at the end. A mere trifle compared to our ordeal with Mad Freddy of Santiago!
But the star turn of the evening was definitely Vanessa, who got picked out to boogie along with one of the Brazilian chappies, who apparently wanted her to join in with the ahem, traditional, bottom-smacking-with-a wooden-spoon dance. She dug deep and put in an admiral effort shaking her stuff up on the stage to much applause from the audience. Full respect!
Vanessa on stage - you go girl!
The next morning we went to visit the falls on the Brazilian side. We seem to have hit a new run of weather luck and the conditions were perfect for seeing the falls, following a recent rainy spell in the interior of the country, they are really full at the moment, and in the hot sunny weather, rainbows form everwhere in the spray from the falls.
The falls are just immense - apparently four times wider than Niagara, almost 3km in total - and taller too. It is difficult to do justice in words to the sheer scale and awesome force of the water. It is actually really quite overwhelming, and we wandered around oohing and ahhing and taking photos happily for a good few hours.
We got back to the hotel in time for a spot of sunbathing and ping pong before catching a taxi to the border to cross over to the Argentinian side, where we had a hostel booked for the next two nights.
The hostel turned out to be a ´jungle lodge´ - i.e. picturesquely leafy but absolutely full of pesky insects, so the best thing to do seemed to spend as much of the evening as possible safely tucked inside a restaurant introducing Louise and Vanessa to the pleasures of cow-sized steaks and cheaper than water wine. Well we wouldn´t want to let too much blood into our alcohol would we?!
Phil in typical South America pose - ordering food on behalf of the ladies
Next day we went to visit the other side of the falls, which were no less impressive views-wise, and also gave us the opportunity to get up close and personal with the waterfalls on a speed boat trip into the bottom of the falls. We were wished a ´happy shower´ by the tour guide - which was our first warning of how wet we were going to get...
Sploosh
We stripped down as much as we could whilst retaining some semblance of respectability - apart from Phil who left his respectability firmly on the river bank and got down to a funky pants, anorak, and lifejacket ensemble. The photos of this most spectacular outfit have mostly mysteriously disappeared, but below is a taster. If you are easily shocked please look away now....
The boat trip was fantastic - we were sped right into the falls several times, until we´d all had a good pummelling and there was no part left unwetted. Definitely a good way of getting rid of the hangover from the night before, but not a patch on the Chessington World of Adventures log flume. Hmm.
Before...
During...
...and after!
Aside from the falls themselves, the area is also home to lots of wildlife - birds and butterflies particularly, some of which are incredibly colourful, not to mention a good photographic challenge.
All in all it really is the most beautiful, awe-inspiring place to visit, and definitely one of our very top favourites of the trip. The only slight drawback was that we missed out on the Wimbledon men´s final, but thanks to Sarah´s Dad we were kept up to date by text message with an almost game-by-game regularity - we counted 16 text messages which must be some kind of Dad record!
Today we have to pack our soggy clothes and are splitting once again as Louise and Vanessa fly to Buenos Aires, and Phil and Sarah embark on their last epic South American bus journey. After the relative hardship of the standard Brazilian bus, we´ve decided to go first class tonight, where we´ve been led to believe there will be steak, champagne (!) and fully flat beds awaiting*. Blimey.
We´ll write again from B.A. before we fly to New York next Monday to pick up a car and begin our final adventure, driving from coast to coast across the USA, which we are still as excited about as on Day 1!
Until then, lots of love,
Sarah and Phil x x
*Yes we know Louise, that one wasn´t in South America on a shoestring book, but we´re celebrating you being here - hooray!
