The Iguazu Falls sit right on the borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina and we had booked a 2 day trip to see the falls from both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides.We were met at reception by our guide and as we jumped in the minibus it started to rain. The rain got heavier and heavier as we got nearer the falls and basically didn't stop all day! The falls were truly spectacular with the Devil's Throat (the huge mouth of the falls) being a particular highlight. Part of the tour package was a speedboat ride along the river and then underneath one of the falls (there are 270 odd individual cascades that make up the overall area!) which was great fun but managed to soak any parts of our clothes that we'd struggled to keep dry all day.The rain was probably the heaviest I've ever encountered and hindered the day to some degree but despite this we managed to make the most of things and take in all the main sights and attractions of the falls. Once we'd dried out we headed out into town and found a lovely restaurant which wouldn't have been out of place in central London. A few glasses of red wine to the good we retired with fingers crossed for better weather the next day.

We woke to bright sunshine and took the short trip over into Brazil for our second day exploring the falls. We had been told the Brazilian side was the most impressive and we weren't disappointed. The panoramic views of the whole falls and the ability to get close to some of the bigger cascades along with lots of wildlife and amazing butterflies as we wandered along the paths through the park were truly breathtaking and became an immediate highlight of the whole trip. Once back into Argentina we decided to skip the local bird park and head back to Brazil the next day to take in the Itaipu Dam which is recognized as one of the modern wonders of the world. Having booked a hostel the night before, we took a local bus in the morning and, after a 1 hour delay at the Brazilian border, jumped off at the urban bus terminal. This proved to be a mistake as we didn't realize there were two terminals in Foz de Iguazu and we should be at the international terminal!I rather foolishly expected our new Brazilian friends to understand my poor Spanish despite knowing full well that Portugeuse was the national language so getting directions to our hostel was quite a challenge. It was hardly the most friendly or salubrious of areas either so we were keen to escape as soon as we could. Not a great introduction to Brazil but thankfully after much gesturing, finger pointing and a 20 minute taxi ride we managed to locate our hostel and settle in.

The original plan to visit Paraguay to see the dam was immediately blown out of the water as our hosts advised us that we could do the same trip from Brazil. Expecting to leave quickly, we'd only got a 1 day visa for Brazil so cue a 3 hour return trip to the border to extend our visa! All good experience though and we got to enjoy the local public transport once again. Back at the hostel we'd been joined by a German couple who were more interested in drinking than chatting so we left them to it and headed out to the bar area where we met some other new arrivals and enjoyed a few beers in the sunshine which was a nice end to a rather fraught day! On returning to our dorm room and we were both rather surprised to find the guy laying totally naked on his bunk fast asleep. Sarah certainly enjoyed the view and we both ended up giggling like a couple of school children……how immature! The next day we joined forces with Danielle (an English girl from the hostel) for our trip to the Itaipu Dam and had a great day exploring the dam on a guided tour. It was an absolutely immense structure and fully lived up to it's billing as a man-made wonder of the world. We also met up with Kevin and Vania who were staying at our hostel. Kevin was an elderly English gent who lived in Rio with Vania his very attractive mid-thirties Brazilian wife! Despite them being a truly odd couple, they were very friendly and invited us to stay at their apartment when we got to Rio. The friendliness of people you meet when you're travelling never ceases to impress!

Besides the falls and the dam, Foz de Iguazu was fairly quiet (and a little rough around the edges!) as a town so we decided to head south to the coast and a little island recommended in Lonely Planet called Ihla du Mel that same evening on the night bus. It was late afternoon and after a little searching we found a restaurant which was open and enjoyed a meal with Danielle and on the walk back I made an impulse buy and bought my first ever pair of flip-flops! Not bad at 38 years old I think you'd agree!