I was going to start this with "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave" to telll you how I feel about this hotel....but I will tell you about that later

"Yesterday you where on the Brazil side of the falls where the view is Panoramic....Today you will be part of the falls on the Argentine side"......our guide said this today about 10 times !! Yep got it, brazil side is ok but Argentine side you are in it..

Wow so much water and loud. Yesterday after being picked up at the airport we went directly to the Brazilian side of the Falls. From this side the view is all Panoramic and amazing. The spray coming from the falls is like being in a cloud. We walked along paths up and down and saw the imposing Bozzeti falls across the border. Then onto the lookout over the Garganta del Diablo or Devils Throat Falls just 150 metres away. At the end of the path we come to a panoramic elevator where we had a great view going up to top of the park.

After the trip to the park we go buy car to the Brazil border where our guide 'checks' us out of Brazil...funny we didn't have to do it, he just handed over our passports, stamped and on our way. Then just down the road we pull up to a booth and again our guide hands over our passports, the lady at the booth looks at us through tinted windows in the car and promptly stamps our passports.... welcome to Argentina...anyone can come in....lol.

Day 2...The Argentine side of Iguazu Falls. From the visitors centre we take an open train up to the Garganta station (about 20 minutes) and from there we descend walking 1200 mtrs to the Devil's Throat balcony, definatly impressive up close. Back up and on the train go back one stop and do the upper and lower trails which allow us to see alot of the 275 Falls that drop from the Iguazu river. All around us is the National Park, sub tropical and even though it's only about 18c by lunchtime it's quite humid. Do not come in their summer it gets to over 40c !!!! and humid as. Well we have now seen another Wonder of the World..

Last night at our hotel we saw many people having flasks/thermos filled up at the bar with hot water, then saw people mixing up what looked like ground seeds and lawn clippings in weird looking mugs and drinking from metal straws!! mmm we thought a special brew for the locals... So we asked our guide today. The drink is called MATE and is the traditional Argentine drink. A real cultural thing and over 90% of the country drink it. You can buy all sorts of special containers and even while at the falls today we saw loads of people with their carry bags with Mate and mugs in tow. Seems they can't go to long without a drink. I looked it up and it's a type of herb. They drink it alone, in their homes, at work, on the bus. They drink it with friends at the park playing cards. They drink it in winter as a hot drink, carrying a thermos of hot water to constantly refill the cup and in summer as a cold drink made with iced water or with fruit juice. Amazing metal ornate straws to drink from...see my pic's. So I guess we will be seeing much more of this tradition when we arrive in Buenos Aires tommorrow. Also had a walk around the 'city' here, not much to see so came back to hotel early.....ah the hotel yes.

Now back to "hotel california'...... naw not really. But could not get this song out of my head last night and this morning. The hotel we are in is classed as 5 star...yeah right ... well maybe the newer section is but where our room is it's maybe a 3. The room is not too bad, it's a good size but everything looks really dated and it has that slightly musty smell. Definately salt damp somewhere. The walls are pretty thin too so in go the earplugs again especially as there are familys with kids both sides of us .... Ray said I think it's dingy because we have been spoilt with all our other hotels along the way... and he's right. Oh well only a sleep away and we will be in Buenos Aires at the Novatel so should be a nice place to finish off our South American Journey. xxx to all again.