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Caroline's World Tour
Well, we've now done both sides of the Falls, and I have to say I think they're both equally stunning! A lot of people say that the Argentine side is the better, and that if you've done Argentina then you don't need to do Brazil, but I disagree. I absolutely think you should do both sides - the Brazilian side gives you a view of the falls as a whole but in Argentina you can get up close and personal to the Falls - and as a result, incredibly wet!!
We went to the Argetine side on Monday, as we wanted to make sure the weather held. And it did, we had a spectacular day (until right at the end....I'll explain in a bit!). It was an awkward journey to get there, we left the hostel and 8.30am and didn't arrive until 11! You have to cross immigration, and the hostel bus made a couple of stops at a supermarket, and a place where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay share a border - separated by a river. All very nice, but I'd rather have gone straight to the Falls! Add to that the fact that the hostel bus looked like it had been dragged from the very depths of a transport museum (I kid you not, little park benches for seats) and we therefore felt we'd have to get out and push everytime we went up a hill! The driver of the bus was absolutely hysterical - all the time in the world for the girls, none for the boys!
But we got there ok, even if it did seem to take forever. And it was definitely worth the journey. The first thing you do when you arrive is go to see the Devil's Throat, which is the curved bit right at the top - pretty impressive! We stood there for ages! We also wandered the Upper and Lower trails, which give you various views of the numerous falls on the Argentine side. You really can get very close to the falls! But it was a bit of a scorchio day, so we thought we'd get a bit closer yet, and decided to go on a boat trip. This is a bit of a Maid of the Mist, only in a speedboat. You go right up to the falls, then down the rapids, and finish with a jeep ride through the jungle. Despite the fact that we had our bikinis on underneath our clothes, we didn't have the sense to take our clothes off and put them in the nice plastic bag they give you for your cameras, so we got absolutely drenched cos the boat goes right under the spray! There was a man at the front of the boat filming the passengers - unfortunately we didn't get to see if but I bet it was hysterical - everyone ducking, like they could escape the water! The boat ride was fun, we even saw a group of water pigs swimming along - Mum you would have loved them, apparently they're the biggest rodents in the world. Nice. The jungle trip would have been good, but it had started to rain by then so we were a bit cold! Plus there was no wildlife to see except even more insects - given the biting ants that have invaded our room and the giant caterpillar that I found in my bed when I got up the other day I've really had my fill of insects!
But despite getting a bit wet (!) it was fantastic, definitely worth it. Even though it was a long day we still had the energy for some drinks in the evening with some of our fellow hostel residents so it can't have been too bad! I would absolutely recommend Iguazu to anyone who's considering coming to Brazil.
On Tuesday we decided to have a day just relaxing, so stayed by the pool for most of it (and managed to get a bit burnt - whoops!). We went into Foz the town for dinner which was quite nice - the food here isn't too great! The town doesn't really have much to offer, but its worth a look.
Yesterday we went to the Itaipú Dam - the world's largest hydro-electric power plant. I'd studied that while I was at Uni, so I was really intrigued to see it. It was a bit of a mission to get there, took us nearly 2 hours on 3 buses and its probably only about 10 miles. And it was good to see, but they just drive you along the top of the dam, and unfortunately we were sat on the wrong side of the bus to see over the dam - might have been ok but any view we would have had was obscured by the rather large backside of the woman sat on the other side - lovely. Still worth seeing, but a bit of an effort!
And today is our last day in Brazil - we're off to Argentina at 4pm. We decided we'd go to the bird park this morning, its really spectacular, you can walk in all the aviaries and see toucans and parrots. Unfortunately, after we'd been there about 10 minutes the heavens absolutely opened - all the sun we've had for the last 4 days instantly disappeared! We'd got our little backpacks with us cos we'd checked out of the hostels, and unfortuately I'd decided to pack all my clothes for the overnight bus in my bag........soaked! We legged it round and hardly saw anything. We waited it out at the end, and were able to go back when it eased off a bit to see the toucans (which were what I wanted to see anyway) but its a real shame cause I think it would have been amazing! So once again, we find ourselves soaked through......seems to be a bit of a habit here in Brazil!
But this is it, this is the end of Brazil! It seems like a long time ago that we started here, so its quite strange to actually be changing country! I'm looking forward to it though, for one thing, it will be nice to understand what people are saying again!
There have been lots of good things about Brazil, loads of things that we have really enjoyed. Our day spent sightseeing in Rio was fantastic, and Paraty was absolutely adorable (although I have to say that in my former life as a claims handler, I would have objected strongly to those ridiculous cobbles - SUCH a liability hazard!). The dolphins at Ilha do Mel were amazing and as for the falls.....nothing more to say but to quote the english version of the tours at ItaÃpú........Splendid!!
Wish us luck for our 18 hour trip to Buenos Aires..........!
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