Hello All!

Sorry am so far behind with this, have been in Hell and apparently there are no computers there! (more on that later!)

Tuesday 8th June
We survived the 14 hour bus journey, and although wasn´t the best way to spend that amount of time, it wasn`t completely awful! Managed to sleep and we watched `Surrogates´with Bruce Willis, it was all in Portuguese, but got the feeling that it wouldn´t have made much more sense in English! Stopped for dinner but felt so sick on junk that we ended up having plain pasta and salad!

The bus arrived in Foz do Iguasu a little late and we got straight on a local bus to our hostel. When you get on a local bus, it has a conducter and a little turnstyle, and the lady conductor actually had to get down and ram us through the turnstyles with our rucksacks! Very embarassing!

Our hostel was very cute, quite small with lots of pop art and murials on the wall. Luckily we were able to check in straight away (to our little double room) and immediately crashed and had a few hours sleep!

Woke up about 12, and went for a wander round Foz. Not really that much to see, we got the impression it was merely a base to visit the falls. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so didn´t mind just wandering about. We were starving, but couldn´t face any junk food or cheese/carb based products. Eventually we just picked a little run down place, with a buffet. For about four quid, we were brought a big piece of steak each, cooked in spices and fried onions, fries and were able to help ourselves to the buffet, which to our delight included a variety of salad! Was very good and just what we needed! Walked up a little further to the supermarket, where we bought some ingredients for vegetable soup (following our new found craving for veggies!). We then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the sun, sat in hammocks. We then prepped our soup. This was made more difficult due to the lack of equipment! We had to chop the veg with a serrated butter knife and the whole thing was cooked in a wok! Actually tasted really good!, ate it with nice crispy bread and a small wedge of cake for afters :-) Spent the rest of the night chatting on the deck!

Wednesday 9th June
Good breakfast, fruit (think it was papaya) and toasties! Got the local bus to the National Park. There was group of English students and was strange (and very nice) to sit and listen to English conversation! When we arrived, some Portuguse woman started speaking to us, and before we knew it she has talked us in to buying a plastic poncho each!

Bought our tickets to the park, quick walk through the museum bit, then off on a bus through the park! We got off halfway down to walk up the trail along the edge of the falls. We were yet again walking through jungle type forest, surrounded by birds and really pretty butterflies! There were also these big racoon type of animals, that came right up to you, they were not bothered by people at all! Very random!

The view of the falls was amazing. From the Brazilian side we had the best panaromic view. There was the most stunning rainbow, not only just a full arch, but actually an almost complete circle! Going along the trail, each view was different (Iguaus falls are a series of waterfalls, starting with ´Devils throat´ a massive canyon) and equally breathtaking. Words or pictures do not really do it justice! We reached the start of Devil´s throat, donned our ponchos and headed out over the walkway. It was amazing, you got soaked by the spray and the noise was immense but felt like you were right in the waterfall!

After this we went up an elevator (apparently past a dead massive tropical spider, which luckily Beth didnt see) and up to the panoramic viewing deck. Stopped at the restaurant at the top for a coffee before catching the buses back to Foz. Were both hungry and feeling lazy so stopped at the Pizza Hut accross from the hostel for lunch!


We then picked up our bags and started what we thought would be a simple 20 minute journey to Puerto Iguasu, on the Argentinian side. The driver kicked us off the bus at the Brazilian border, where we had to queue to get out passports exit stamped. We then had to wait at the side at the road whilst two buses drove past, refusing to pcik us up as they were too full! Eventually one stopped, drove us over the bridge where we were all kicked off for the Argentina border and customs. Although we had to queue (with our rucksacks in the heat) we passed through easily. We then got back on the bus, which luckily stopped right outside our hostel.

This is where the hell bit comes in. We walked up to the reception of our hostel, which from the outside looked dirty and half finsihed and we were greeted by a sign which read ´we are by the pool, come in and clap your hands´. We found someone (who spoke no English) and was directed to our dorm, in the corner. First thing we noticed, was not only the damp patches all over the wall, but the smell and the feeling of damp. The door didnt lock, and the bathroom door didnt even close! The covers for the beds weren´t clean and the whole thing was very dirty. Definately the worst hostel so far!

We had to get out of the room, so we headed into town. Puerto Iguasu was lovely, lots going on! We stopped and had a beer before walking through the centre and stopping for dinner at a little Argentinian-cum-Chinese place. Everything is much cheaper in Argentina! Was a really nice evening, until we had to go back to our hostel that is!


Thursday 10th June
We woke up and had a rather odd breakfast of ham, egg, orange and bread. No cake. We walked to the bus station (which was very close) and got the bus to the falls. (To do them properly, you need to do them from both sides!). When we got there, we had to get a little train thing up to the end of the park, and the Devil´s throat walkway. This is very long, going out over the massive river, and you could see the water flowing beneath you feet. This is T`s nightmare, but she did very well and we both made it to the end - which is a platform, over the edge of Devil´s throat. Again words cannot describe and pictures do not represent how incredible this is. The drop is huge, but the falls are so powerfall, you cannot see the bottom, simply clouds of white mist. You get soaked just standing there (ponchos came in handy again!), the wind is blowing you everywhere and the noise is deafening! It actually turned Beth´s legs to jelly!

We walked back along the walkway and got the train back to the middle station, where we had lunch. After this we walked over another walkway, which allowed us to get close to the tops of all the ´little´ waterfalls we had seen from the Brazilian side the previous day. We then went and bought a ticket for the boat trip and headed down the lower trail, thorugh the forest to the base of the falls. As we put on our lifejackets, we noticed that the people getting off the boat were very, very wet! We were then handed these bag protector things, and advised to take our shoes and socks off!

We got on the boat, and it took us to edge of Devils throat where we stopped to take pictures. Although there was quite a bit of spray, we didnt understand how the people had got as wet as they did. The boat then took us round the othersied and we took some more pictures. It was at this point that the driver said ´OK cameras away` before speeding off into the rapids at the base of the falls! There was water everywhere! it was managing to get inside our ponchos and was pouring all over our faces! Every now and again we were able to open our eyes for a few seconds, to see that we were practically inside the waterfall! the rapids were intense and we thought at one point the boat was going to capsize! He then took us back round to Devil´s Throat, where he started to reverse into the waterfall! He didnt though, as the pressure would have blatantly killed us all! We headed back to shore, exhilareted but soaking wet! Tiff actually had a massive puddle on her lap when she stood up! Thank God for the ponchos!

The walk/climb back up to the top was not fun. We were shaken and soaked and the weather was very humid, plus Beth spotted her first jungle spider, but was actually quite calm - a day of overcoming fears! Finally made it back up to the top and got the train, just in time for the bus back to town.

Stopped at the bus station, to buy our tickets for the next day and then wandered over to an internet cafe to find some accomodation. This was a bit difficult as we only found one hostel with no online booking, so Tiff had to call them and book us a room in Spanish! While we were there we bumped into two girls, Kathryne and Ash who were staying at our hostel. We compared notes and they seemed to have a much better room (which on inspection was correct, Kathryne actually gave us a supportive hug when she saw our room!) They tried to persuade us to come to the hostel BBQ, but we made it quite clear that we would be spending as little time as possible there, especially as our room had not been cleaned, the bin was overflowing and we had no toilet paper. Instead we went out for a lovely meal, with a hot tray brought to the table with a variety of meat - pork, beef, chicken, sasuage and black pudding (no chicken heart!) Also had dessert - fruit salad and creme caramel! All very good! We bought a bottle of beer and drank it back at the hostel, chatted to K and A for a bit who gave us some tips for other parts of Argentina.

The hostel has really got us down, Tiff especially who misses routine, and her Monica-from-Friends levels of cleanliness. Most of the places have been amazing but just knowing your going back an awful room, where your clothes are so damp they actually feel wet when you put them on really tramples morale! We got an early night and consoled ourselves in the fact that we were leaving the next day!

Am not going to say too much about today, think you have enough to read and will save it for another time, suffice to say, our 10hr bus to Corrientes was fine (although we were stopped and our ID inspected three times by the National Guard) and have arrived safe and sound at our hostel which is BEAUTIFUL, but more on that next time......

Much love, a much happier,
B&T xxxx
ps - are trying to load some pictures, but comp here is awful! So there may be some (if any) of the falls to whet your appetite!