At some point in the last few weeks we realised that our intended travel route would land us directly in Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval, arguably the biggest party in the modern world! It seemed a good idea to capitalise on this opportunity so we looked into booking a couple of beds. We were easily deterred. At a minimum of $120 each for a night in a twelve bed dormitory, we decided we aren't really big enough party animals to justify that sort of money. Instead we settled for just being in the country of Brazil for the duration of Carnaval, and are now on a bus to Rio... two days after the official end of the week long festa.

Foz do Iguacu turned out to be a fun place to experience the spirit of this great festival, and it was made even more so by our incredible, enthusiastic, amazingly friendly hostel. Once we had our visas, crossing the border from Argentina was a breeze and from the moment we stepped through the door into Hostel Bambu, we felt at home. This place had such a good vibe that even the local staff would come here to party every night with all their Brazilian mates! We had more than a few strong caipirinhas beside the pool, a good international jam session and the staff cooked us up a couple of deliciously authentic Brazilian barbeques. The only thing missing was the Samba, but we're sure that we'll see enough Samba in the next few weeks anyway.

Despite the cachaca in the caipirinhas making us all a little seedy of a morning, we made time for a couple of outings during our three days there too.

Although it rained pretty heavily, the Parque do Aves was a definite highlight. They had a huge collection of Brazilian and South American tropical birds, many rescued from illegal trafficking and irresponsible pet trades. Many more, several species of which are endangered in the wild, were bred in the park. The enclosures were suitably large, well-kept and imaginative and we were able to get up close with a variety of storks, flamingos, parrots, mawcaws and toucans. A few of the toucans even offered affectionate nibbles as they posed with everyone for photos!

The Parque National de Iguazu on the Argentine side of the falls was so spectacular that we couldn't resist the opportunity to see this natural wonder of the world from the Brazilian side as well. Brazils' version seemed like more of a tourist attraction and less of a national park, but the capuchin monkeys were still entertaining and the views of the falls just as spectacular! We spotted a couple more toucans flying past too, bringing our wild toucan tally to five!

So far, Brazilians are just as friendly and welcoming as we had hoped. The food is deliciously rich and the accents intriguing, albeit difficult to comprehend. We've started doing a few language lessons though, and are working on replacing all the Spanish in our heads with Brazilian Portuguese. We're not sure how much we'll get to practice in the tourist mecha that is Rio, but we'll try!