So we went to a wonder of the world...

We left Piratas and made our way to the bus station in Rio. Liam took charge and left me in charge of the bags whilst he searched for our bus tickets. He succeeded in booking our first South American bus journey! We were shocked at the high prices of £80 per ticket for a 24 hour journey to Foz de Iguacu. It possibly could have something to do with the fact you pay about £5 for a 12 hour bus journey in Asia. Ah well, we need to get the buses. Can't compare to Asia forever. So we had an overpriced beef burger, and rushed to our platform. We sat on the bus and were pleasantly surprised with how comfy they were. Full reclining chairs and everything! The luxuries! I still don't think it's worth £80. I expect to be fed strawberries by my very own servant on the bus for that price! After around 10 minutes me and Liam were out for the count, you could tell the Carnivale had really taken it out of us because for a 24 hour bus journey, I would say me and Liam slept about 23.5 hours of the journey. Well, at least we were well rested. The journey flew over. Happy days!

We arrived in Foz and got a taxi to Hostel Manga Rosa in anticipation for a hostel where you don't need to share a bed with bugs. We were greeted by Joe, who showed us to our room. DOUBLE BED! Ahh! We were relived the hostel was quiet and homely. It was a welcome change from manic Piratas. The next day we spent lazing around, we said "we'll go to the Brazilian side of the falls tomorrow, then the Argentinian side the day after." Apparently you have to do both sides to have the 'real experience of the falls.' Joe and his wife Giseli who owned the hostel, cooked us some Brazilian food. It was rice, mince, carrot and potatoes. Sounds basic, but it was really tasty. Giseli and Jo spoke quite good English and were wanting to improve. Being English and lazy when it comes to learning a new language, it always impresses me when others can speak languages well. Inspired me and Liam to make an effort to learn Spanish. Not Portuguese as well were leaving Brazil the next few days. Giseli and Jo explained how the hostel was struggling as people who have enjoyed themselves don't leave good reviews. It's the picky people who tend to leave negative ones. For example, an American couple complained that Jo and Giseli did not speak good English! I mean what a bloody thing to complain about? I wonder if they realised they were in a foreign country. Why didn't they speak Portuguese? k*** . Rant over.

So day two came of our Foz adventure came and we... stayed in bed. We said "shall we stay an extra day and do the falls tomorrow?" At least we had the excuse of "well the Carnivale tired us out!" Lazy b*****s that we are. We uploaded photos on Facebook and Liam popped to the supermarket and made some bloody lovely spaghetti. Busy day.

Day three came and guess what, we stayed in bed! "We'll do the falls tomorrow definitely, well probably!" Today was Valentines day and as Liam and I are very big valentines day cynics "bloody Hallmark, inventing a day to make money." I was very surprised when Liam gave me some heart covered cupcakes and he had made a card. He also had prepared a picnic for us to take to the falls. As we were having a rare bed day we would have the picnic in bed. He's a star that one! The day followed the same pattern as the other days, lazing, eating and being more lazy. The Carnivale tired us out man!

Day four came and guess what, we didn't go to the falls. BUT we had an excuse today, I had severe tooth ache. At first I blamed the cupcakes thinking it was Liam trying to get more bed days out of me. After visiting the Dentist I was informed it was actually my wisdom tooth coming through with no room. Typical. After been given prescribed painkillers and antibiotics I was sent on my merry way. At least it meant I actually left the Hostel. Got a bit of fresh air.

Day five, we finally went to the falls! FINALLY! As we only had one day left before leaving for Buenos Aires we decided to do the Argentinian side of the falls (apparently its better.) We got a lift into town off Giseli and crossed the border via bus to Igaucu. We arrived at the park and headed straight for the 'Devils Drop,' the biggest waterfall. We took the train to the next station then followed the crowds along the trail. We were getting excited as we were getting closer as we could start to hear the falls. More and more people were walking past us soaking from the spray of the falls. I was wearing a thin red dress, obviously very unprepared for the days water themed activities. We finally reached the falls and were both absolutely blown away by them. They were breath taking! A truly incredible sight. The power and the volumes of water was like nothing else. As the wind was blowing we were getting soaked by the spray of the falls. This made it difficult whilst hilarious to take photos. Timing the spray of the world's biggest waterfall so your camera does not get soaked is no easy task let me tell you. Anyways we managed a few, albeit slightly blurry photos. We awed at the falls for almost an hour before deciding we wanted to take part in the boat trip that took you close to the falls on the river. Our justification was that we weren't getting to see the Brazilian side of the falls, we could spend that little bit extra on the Argentinian side. Makes sense right?

So we headed down bought our ticket, worked out about £15 each, then tried to fine the place we needed to be to catch the boat. My my, they do like to make this difficult, they would have a sign for "embarkment" (the place we needed to be,) you would follow the sign, then there would be no other signs and about 4 different routes to follow. We just decided to ask as many people as we could until somebody finally understand. Finally somebody understood and pointed us in the right direction. We made the boat, put on our life jackets, attractive, and sat in our seats. The boat left and we went to the first stop, near a waterfall. This stop was a dry stop so the 'captain' told us this was the stop we could take pictures. Naturally every single person on the boat, including me and Liam took hundreds of photos. We then went to the next stop, and were promptly told to put our cameras away. The boat took us right up to the falls, we were absolutely soaked! I was laughing so much. It was like standing under a power shower. Drenched! It was so fun. They then started to head back, on the way the captain and the crew rescued two birds that were stuck in the water. Naturally I was swooning, amazed that they were helping. They took them back to safety and we started to head back out. This time we literally went right up to the falls, I was scared by how close we were. There was so much power in the falls that I was surprised they could control the boat. It was so fun. I was laughing whilst quite scared at the same time. Liam was the same. The captain was shouting "more, more?" We all started cheering yeaaaah!! They went EVEN closer. It was terrifying. They then turned round and backed into the falls further. Soaked doesn't even begin to cover it. I might as well have dived in the river. After that they started to head back and everyone started clapping. It was really fun. Definitely worth doing, for anyone visiting the falls. After that we decided to head back to Hostel Manga. Three buses later, we were there. We ordered some pizza and chilled out for the rest of the night.

The next day we planned to get a bus to Buenos Aires, this fell through as the buses were full. After rushing to the bus station for a ticket for the next day. I was ready for a day of lazing. No problem with us, as we seem to have mastered having bed days whilst on travels. We ate some lovely food, thanks to our host Jo, and chatted with them about how Global warming isn't real- according to Jo and Giseli. Not sure if I agree. Didn't dwell on it too much though and went to bed ready to leave the next day.

Our final day arrived. We said our goodbyes and left Foz. Our time in Foz was made special by the lovely hosts we had Giseli and Jo.