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Day 44: 13/8/12
Breakfast this morning was class! They had a whole station of food- I've never seen anything like it for breakfast! There was fruit, yoghurt, cereal, eggs and lots of other hot food that looked like sausage rolls and casseroles. Then there was a whole section of cakes! Best breakfast spread ever!! I just had some eggs and cereal though!
Met at reception at 9 for the trip to the falls. It was me and 3 other Irish people- Sandra, Linda and Jason - all from Mullingar no less!! It was franc to be able to talk to people in normal English!!
We went to the Brazilian side of the falls today. We had to stop at the entrance first to show tickets. Then the guide drove us inside the park. She let us out at the hotel as there is a trail there leading the whole way to the falls! We could see the falls almost straight away. The further we got down the trail the more we could see. It just kept getting bigger and bigger! The view was amazing!! At the bottom the walkway went right out over the river so you could look straight at the falls. It was really wet and windy with the pressure of the water! My hair is all over the place in all the photos! The sky was a bit overcast though, which was a shame. We had to get an elevator back to the top and while we were waiting for that the sky cleared a bit and we got a rainbow!! The elevator was glass do you could see the falls as you were going up!!
After that we drove back to the hotel- we were back again by 12, so it was quite short! There's another g adventures group here aswell so we decided to join them for a trip to Paraguay in the afternoon.
We went in a minibus- there were 9 of us this time- over the border to Paraguay. It's only about 20mins away. There's a city there so we were let off in a shopping centre. The City seemed crazy from the few minutes we spent there- people everywhere and quite dirty. We had no real interest in shopping- we were just there for the look! Apparently it wasn't that cheap even though it's a log cheaper than Brazil. We walked outside the centre then to go to a shop with handicrafts but got caught in a thunderstorm! It lashed rain!! We had to stand in for a while and the water was just running down the road like a river! My runners got soaked wet!! I didnt buy anything- there was nothing I liked and no postcards!
The border was ridiculous. Theres a river between and Brazilian control and one side and Paraguay control on the other. There's lots of army guys with guns but noone seemed to check anything! We just drove straight through and weren't asked for passports or anything! On the way back a woman opened the bus door and asked what we bought and when she heard souvenirs it was fine! The guide at said the army were there because of problems with drugs- its no wonder! It was way too easy to cross over!
We had a few hours off so just dossed around on The internet and showered- the usual. Then the other group were going for dinner to a show with local music and dance. We had the option of tagging along. The other Irish didn't want to but I went. I was with a Danish girl and two Australian couples- one from Brisbane. They were advising me to go teaching out in the bush and to be a flying teacher!! The buffet had loads of choice- lots of different salads and things to try and a yummy cornbread that was like stuffing! Loads of desserts too. The show was really good. It showed traditional song, dance and music from Paraguay, Mexico, chile, Argentina and brazil. There was a cool gaucho dance- one with fire and one with the balls they swing around to click off the ground. Also cool tango- I don't know how they don't trip up with their legs all criss-crossing all the time! The samba was really good- girls in carnival type costumes dancing around! It was really good fun!! The south American traditional dances are so colourful and so sexy compared to our dances!! Theres a bit of a difference between the tango and four facing four!
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