Monday 3rd August 2008 and we were in our final destination for Argentina. After a 15 hour punishment in first class we arrived around mid day somewhat refreshed. The sun was shining and a pool awaited us at our hostel - Iguazu Hostel Inn. After a quick taxi ride we turned up at what many have described as the best hostel is SA. It looked good. We also had heard the staff were the biggest waste of space known to man. This we were about to find out. We started off check in and were quick to find out the Lonely planet is not lying. It´s painful. The questionnaire was lengthy but the process time was a piss take. Not to worry we chilled with the still and an hour later we were checked in. When we say we, what is actually meant is Luke and Chris were checked in. James and Danielle had it a little more complicated and it turned out they would have to change rooms every day they were there! The receptionists could not understand that the new people turning up the following days could just check into the empty rooms and let James and Danielle stay in the same one. It was a classic case of ´the computer says no´. Nothing would get through to them and we gave up trying just short of James putting Basil Fawlty´s head through the computer screen. Always fun. After that we hit the pool to relax and take in some rays. Despíte the staff this place was what we were hoping for. Sunny! After some sun we headed back in to freshen up. From there we went to town to eat. After a bit of a walk around we settled on an Italian. Not much Italian was eaten but it was nice all the same. After that it was bed. We had some waterfalls on the agenda.

Up early on the Tuesday it was time for the Iguazu falls. Had a bit of breakfast and got ourselves signed up to do a little boat ride when we got there. Hopped in to a taxi and swiftly arrived at the Iguazu National Park. The day was a little overcast but we still had massive bright patches so we were set for photo time. After paying to get in we had a little train ride and soon come across our first bit of wildlife. Little Racoon type animals ruled this place and whilst they were cute as hell, the sharp teeth, large claws and threat of rabies kept the petting down to a minimum. Little scamps. First up was to decide which trail to hit. The lower one was called and off we set. After a few warm up waterfalls we were soon open mouthed and stairing at the impressiveness of the Iguazu. It´s hard to describe and it´s not the height of them that takes your breath away as they are reasonable in that department. It´s the number of falls and the amount of water that is flowing over them that is amazing. As far as the eye can see there is epic waterfall after epic waterfall. It has to be one of the most impressive things on earth. It´s simply immense. You´d have trouble getting bored looking at it. Every angle is different and from the Argentina side you were only treated to a bit at a time, which kept your brain ticking trying to work out just how big these bad boys are. After our lower trail we decided to go for boat ride. Seeing everyone in swim shorts and rain macs we had a sneaky suspicion we were going to get a tad wet. We all popped it on the boat with our macs on and set off. We´re not too sure if this is some Argentinian Disney World but for some reason everyone was screaming as if they were on a roller coaster. We couldn´t quite understand and the guy next to us who was wearing only jeans, and made Chewbacca look like Duncan Goodhew he was that hairy, was not helping by whipping them into a frenzy. He doesn´t know how close he came to losing his life jacket and finding himself overbored with a foot on his head. Lucky. Trying to ignore this we soon found out just how wet we were to get. As we approached the falls and the spray made us moist, Captain Birdseye kept the throttle on until we were under them. You could not see your hand infront of your face and we´re giving it 50/50 odds that you could have jumped in, swam under them, and come out slightly drier than we did. It wasn´t exactly what we expected for our money. Birdseye fully warmed up now whipped it round the other side of the falls and repeated his trick. Joker wasn´t what we were shouting at him. After we were thouroughly soaked and the girlies screaming, Chewbacca asked Birdseye for an encore. If we´d had a lighter Chewbacca would have been history, big time. One more soaking and we were done. Not our greatest activity but we had to laugh! Dripping we headed off for the upper trail. This was very impressive as you walked right along the ridge of the falls. Following that we took another little train ride to see some Diablo based banter. This is where the serious water action happens. Again hard to describe but it´s epic. The dark clouds looming gave it an extra special feel and after some serious camera work we were done. The falls were amazing. A must see and one of the top things we´ve seen to date. It´s just bloody hard to take them in! Leaving the Diablo section we strolled back towards the entrance of the park. It was a great day. Caught the bus back to our hostel and chilled. That night we went out for another meal (this is the only night time activity in this place) and met a Dustin Hoffman look a like who treated us to the so called best steak in Iguazu (having tested we can verify this).

Again up early on the Wednesday and we had more waterfall action to get our teeth into. This time we were headed to Brazil to get our photos from a different angle. We jumped in a taxi and set off. An easy border crossing later and we were in Brasil´s Iguazu National Park. This side was even better. For the first time we could take in the actual scale of the falls. You could see them in all their glory. Snap happy again we cruised along a little walk that eventually took you right out in to the mix of them. It was fantastic. You could get much closer to some of the falls this side and we have to say it was more impressive. We were glad we had done them the way we had. It kind of just kept building up and up. We were there for 3 hours altogether snapping away and including lunch it just flew by. They really are worth visiting twice. At least. After a brief day in Brasil it was time to get back to Argentina. Our taxi was waiting. Once back at the hostel it was more pool action and chill time. That evening it was back to Hoffman´s crib. We were liking Iguazu.

On the Thursday we really decided that it was time to drop it down a gear or two and have some real chillout time. James and Danielle were on their third room change and the smoke coming from James´ears worried us. A receptionist was in serious danger of copping it. We spent the day poolside and had somewhat of a sunny day. Nice and relaxing. Late afternoon we decided we needed to sort out a bus for Brazil the next day. After a lot of debate we realised we simply didn´t have time to go back into the Amazon for jungle antics and that we all wanted to be beach side on the Copacabana. So it was settled. Rio was up next. We rolled into town to book our bus. Our first company quoted us first class for a very reasonable price but not until monday. That was a blow as it was the only decent looking company who went direct to Rio (it´s a 21 hour special). The other companies we tried could get us on some s***ty coaches for the following day, bog standard class and for twice the price of waiting until monday and going first class. For once we were determined to keep our pants around our waste so it was decided we liked Iguazu, we liked the weather, we liked a swimming pool and we´d wait. Argentinian steaks for a few more days wouldn´t kill us. Monday was set and after a brief look around town we were treated to an outrageous thunderstorm. Awesome specticle. That evening we did the norm. Nice restaurant, nice meal! All we had to do was sort out a few more nights in the hostel. James let us do the sorting out!

Friday and we all had to check out. We had managed to get a four bed room but not until 2pm so we had to amuse ourselves. The day was a pretty quiet one. The weather was still trying to recover so we went into town. A pizza lunch and some serious I-net action killed the day. It was all about chilling and getting ourselves round to Dustin´s crib in the evening. Easy!

On the Saturday we were not up the earliest so we missed breakfast. We headed into town for some brunch and the weather was picking up but it wouldn´t be scorching until the Sunday. That afternoon we decided to hit a bird santuary. It was a cool little reserve and we finally saw some Toucans up close. Alright! There was also lots of other animals to keep us entertained and it was nice to get out of the office! That night we decided we should try and appear like travelers and signed up for some sort of hostel BBQ. We had also met our Ozzy friends from the Pampus tour in Bolivia so there was cacthing up to be had. The barbie was actually quite a decent little number with plenty of meat. Rover the hostel dog sat under our table as he knew Luke and Chris couldn´t resist giving him steak, after steak, after steak. We hope he´s alright. The hostel also put on a show for us which involved a young lady with hardly anything on gyrating, a much older lady with a similar amount of clothes on gyrating (retirement screamed out at her) and a Mr Motivator look a like calling the shots in a sequin purple number. It was random. Mr Motivator tried to get everyone involved but no one could honestly give a s***. When he tried to get us involved we gave him looks that said an early grave was close by buster. Still a thong based marathon is not all bad and we´d be lying if smiles weren´t on a lot of faces. Good little evening and after a lot of banter is was bed time. There was rumours of a Hydro Electric based powerplant for the Sunday. Well it´s not bobslaying but it was back to Brazil!

After breakfast on Sunday we set off for the border. By the time we´d leave Argentina we´d have 8 stamps in our passport for it. Crazy. Our taxi driver was a good lad and he informed us such dam action doesn´t kick off until 2 pm. Not to worry he knew a great buffet lunch place. He weren´t kidding and we feasted ourselves on every type of meat known to man. It was all fresh off a BBQ and sliced straight onto your plate. Naughty. Harldy able to move and having been served by Jim Bowen we pushed onto the dam. The Itaipu Dam to be correct and it was actually quality. It´s been labelled as a modern wonder of the world of some sort (officially) and this baby supplies enough electricty to power 90% of Paraguay and a lot of Brazil. It was really interesting. We couldn´t do the special tour as it was no skirts allowed and Luke was wearing one so we just went for a panaramic look and a drive along the top. Photos will explain all but it was a def must see and really impressive. This may sound OTT but apparently they ruined something more impressie than the Iguazu falls itself to build it. Gives an idea. We even drove into Paraguay which ticks another country off even if we stayed on the bus! After a great, very hot day out we headed back to Argentina again. It was time to pack and say our goodbyes. We rounded off the day again back at Dustin´s for one final steak. We´ve had steak a lot and could have it every day if it was like here. Eating is believing. There was no other way to finish.

The Sunday was our final day in Argentina. We were off early afternoon so nothing to do apart from sun it up. Then it was off to the bus station and into the lazy boys. Argentina has been amazing. We´d heard such great things and we would have to agree. Whilst activities elsewhere may have topped this place, if you´re picking a country to live in for South America this is the winner. Further south in Argentina than Buenos Aires is supposed to be the prettiest place on earth but we can´t comment. All we will say is what we have seen has been amazing. The falls tops the list but the partying here is explosive. We could have stayed a lot longer if we were not in fear of turning into Rick Waller. You could def consider Argentina as a holiday destination and it feels strange as it´s almost sad leaving this place behind. It feels like we´re coming to an end which we are! But for now we´re off to Rio. As far as cities go number one has been shouted for this place. All we´re hoping for is sun, sea, sand and the opportunity to finish off this trip like we started it. In pants on fire fashion. It´d deserve nothing less.