We made the night bus with about fifteen minutes to spare. Although Earl cut it fine as he went for number two, so some of my great 'where is my passport' delaying tricks were needed, to be fair though I didn't need to delay for long. The bus was an uncomfortable, squashed and restless 16 hour journey to the home of Iguazu Falls - Foz Do Iguacu. Once there we sorted our bus ticket to our next destination which would be Paraguay's Capital city and then made our way to our hostel. Our hostel was once again way out of town. We opted to walk instead of getting the recommended two buses, but during the blistering midday heat and the effects from the walk the previous day my blistered and battered feet had decided to give in, my converse were ripped at the heel, I was finding every divot in the road nearly twisting my ankle at every time and it felt like my feet were going to fall off. We found a bus stop where we tried to wave down a number of taxis but to no avail then the bus recommended to us shown up so we hoped on the packed bus to only get dropped off a couple more stops off down the road. My battered, bruised and blistered feet slowly made the walk to the hostel. It was nice, had a pool table, swimming pool, TV area, but once again people were in short supply, plus it was in the middle of nowhere. We got shown to our five bed dorm where there was one other person staying, a Scottish chick called Siobhan; she was tattooed from head-to-toe and looked like 80s and 90s wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow.

That afternoon was marvellous as my feet took a well-deserved rest chilling by the cold pool. Earl went in for a while as we played water volleyball but then got out as he claimed his body was shutting down due to the cold. Wuss. We absorbed the rest of the sun's rays until we were cast in shadows by the trees where we went inside and I continued my Games of Thrown's viewing. The night didn't get much more exciting to be honest a pasta, meat k*** and tomato sauce concoption was cooked and ate, then despite a very slightly off pool table with no triangle and no chalk for the cue's I managed to batter Earl 5-1 before going to bed and enjoying yet more Game of Throne's.

The next day was the main event, it was time to go and see the 82 meter high Iguazu Falls water feature. The waterfalls border Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, we would be visiting the Brazil side which apparently only has 20% of the falls, but has the best access to the Devil's Throat section. I had heard mixed reports about the waterfalls, Alie, the Californian Emma Watson look alike we met at our first stop in Buenos Aires said she found it kind of disappointing, where as someone else said once you are in front of the water you can't help but smile and t takes your breath away. After a short bus ride away we would find out for ourselves. The park costs just shy of 50BR for entry which included transport, there were also various other activities you could do such as boat rides, safari's and sky dives but all of these were well out of our limited price range, so we made our way to the start of the 1.5km track which offered many views of the falls. There were four things that struck me the first was the sound the falls made, the second was the power of the spray from the falls, we were getting wet even though we were quite a distance from the falling water, thirdly I was astonished with how brown and scummy the water looked and finally I was most impressed with how big the falls were in size, we apparently had 20% of the falls on the Brazilian side but that must of contained at least a dozen separate waterfalls and of course devil's throat. I had to disagree with my friend Allie, in my opinion the falls were far from disappointing and I would even go as far as saying it I probably the best attraction I had visited in Brazil. If you are in South America I definitely advise going to see this member of the Seven Wonders of the World.

We got back in time to enjoy another dip in the pool and soak up more of the 30 degree plus sun. I fancied a large one that night, it was our last night in Brazil; I wanted to go out with a bang. Earl though had other ideas. To be honest I was get tired of Earl, little things were driving me insane, and his inability for stupid fun was annoying. For example I suggested we each cough up a couple a quid each and buy each other a 'present' we had to carry around with us for the remainder of the trip, he scoffed at the idea. On our last night I suggested we play s*** head and the loser has to jump in the pool again scoffed at the idea. I also felt he was becoming pretty selfish and wasn't that forthcoming with funds when I paid something for both of us. Maybe I had been blessed with great travel partners in the past like Tom Basford and Tom Ellis or maybe it was just the fact that Earl and myself had been with each other 24/7 for the past 10 weeks and it was just small annoyances I presume like being in a marriage also my moodiness when I'm tired probably doesn't help anything. Anyway that night I did eventually coax Earl into some fun; we had a couple of games of pool drawing 1-1 giving up because we were both playing disastrously. Up next was s*** head, the loser having to do a bottle cap of our remaining cachaça. I think I got of lightly winning the majority of the games leaving Earl to finish the cachaça, I guess the hours we use to play the game at school were not such a waste. The night ended the same as the previous retiring to bed to watch some more Game of Thrones.

Breakfast was disappointing again; it was also unpleasant being seated right next to the toilet as we heard a Brazilian girl either playing the trumpet in the bathroom of having a cracking poo. We had a whole day left in Brazil before our night bus to our next destination. I was torn there was a zoo in the city or a water park just up the road from where we were staying. Water Parks and zoos are amongst my favourite days out along with Theme parks and a day out at the football so it was a very difficult choice. The key factors played a part though the zoo was free and also Earl wouldn't be confronted with his water phobia there. So we made our way into town to visit the zoo. The zoo wasn't all that good to be honest only just being better than the awful one in South Korea I went to with Anna. The highlight of the zoo was a Leopard in a cage far too small, a boa constrictor, a croc and some monkeys, the rest of the animals were mainly different types of birds which I'm not all too fussed about especially when they are only peacocks and crows. The zoo was small and took us no time at all to walk around so we decided to have an explore around Foz Do Iguacu, our first stop took us to the iver dividing Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. It was hear I said goodby to my converse, they were at an end the hee being pretty much torn apart, it was my own fault, I was that desperate for some converse I purchased the size to small squeezing in them at every opportunity and crippling my feet, eventually over time they gave up on me, splitting at the heel, and being able to see clear daylight through them, so off they went in the river where hopefully a crab or fish would make them their home or they would drift into pastures new. I don't know if it was just because it was a Sunday but the city was dead and we didn't find much apart from one shopping mall where I tried a Giraffas for the first time. Giraffas is a fast food chain in Brazil and I had wanted to try it ever since being told about it by the tour guide on the walking tour of Curitiba. He had said that the food was pretty awful but Brazilians go there because it is quick and easy. Sounded pretty much like any other fast food joint. I ordered a rice and steak based dish with a drink and chips coming to around four quid, and I can agree with the tour guide Giraffas wasn't the most pleasant of food, I would have much preferred a Bob's Burger or Maccy D's but you don't know until you have tried and that was another thing about Brazilian culture I could tick off. We had another schmooze about the ghost streets of the town before going back to the hostel and picking our bags up and heading to the bus terminal where we would spend the last of our Brazilian coins, eat, read and watch Game of Thrones until it was time to depart and with that, that was it, our time in Brazil was up. Two glorious months full of wonderful memories, old friends, new friends, the world cup, the girl with the knockers as big as water melons, Colombians, Mexicans, The Dutch, Roof top parties, Fan Fests, Big Jesus, Cervejas, Caipirinhas, Beaches, Cachaça and muchos much more. There was no doubt Brazil was epic but it was time for a new country so off we set on a 6 hour night bus to the capital of Paraguay.

So until next time take care and stay safe

Adi

xx