Argentina > Iguazú

Hey!

Crossing the boarder from Brazil was pleasant, extremely quick and we were entering the town of Iguaçu before we knew it. Assuming it was a public holiday as there was hardly anyone around; we jumped in a taxi and were at the hostel within 5mins. With the rain on our tails (it had managed to track us down again!), we arrived to a very wet destination no.5, Hostel Inn. As you can see from the photo's this hostel was more like a hotel with beautiful grounds and a very inviting pool. The rooms were huge and so clean - better than some hotels we have stayed in! We have read that is used to be a casino and so we knew it´d be a big place but underestimated how big: 2 football pitches, a volleyball area and 3 houses alongside the hostel that have been transformed into mixed dorms. Huge! Of course, due to its size it lacks the personal touch and the staff are robotic, but that was soon forgotten the moment the 2-4-1 cocktails were poured and enjoyed as we laid in the sun, which by day 2 had stopped playing hide and seek with the rainy clouds. We booked up a trip to the Iguaçu Falls (the natural waterfalls) for the next day and ate the evening away taking advantage of the menu of Argentinean meat in an all you can eat BBQ put on at the hostel. With high expectations, the meat did not disappoint and only left us looking forward to future meals!

The falls the next day required an 8am pick up, and was well worth the early alarm call. We began our Iguaçu experience in a 4x4 which "educated" us on the rainforest, in other words, Nick and Danni terms; we were shown lots of trees and big creepy crawlies. Maybe if we'd listened properly we may have learnt something, or worse yet, actually enjoyed it, but we were too busy avoiding those aforementioned bugs and low hanging branches that were perfectly aligned to our faces. The next part of the Great Adventure definitely made up for the tree-trail when we were strapped up in life-jackets and put in a boat to be taken under 2 of the many many falls. The staff kept referring to this part as ´the shower´, and they weren't exaggerating! Everyone walked off of the boat drenched - it was fantastic! We were being led in and taken under one of the most beautiful natural sights and we were lucky enough to be accompanied by a small rainbow that was hiding just under the base of the fall. Because there is water coming at you from every direction, we were unable to take photos - although I'm sure it would have been difficult to capture its beauty in a single photograph. Sopping wet, our squelching footsteps took us to the tops of the waterfalls. The park in which the waterfalls are located offers amazing scenery (The perfect place for you mum - it was so beautiful and so peaceful.) and homes lots of animals including thousands and thousands of butterflies (Hayley, you would have absolutely loved it!! I took plenty of photos for you.) that took a liking to Nick - just look at our photos! Once we reached the biggest attraction at the park, we were glad to have saved it until last; the views from under the falls do not match the breathtaking scene of the devils throat, the mouth of the biggest waterfall. The views stretched as far as the eye could see and the power of it gave us a nice shower which was perfect as the sun shone down brightly (although Nick wasn't best pleased as we had only just dried off from the boat party!). Luckily the rain had moved on during the previous night - we've read aplenty that the falls are at their most impressive after a heavy rain fall and so the rain the day before had, in retrospect, been nothing but good for us.

Similar to Paraty, Iguaçu town doesn't have much of a nightlife, if any at all (it wasn't a public holiday as we had previously thought, it's just their way of life), so we stayed at the hostel enjoying more Argentinean meat washed down with more cold beer...

The next morning the sun made the decision for us to book another night here, feeling obliged to take full advantage of the pool and fit in as much sunbathing as possible before leaving for the city of Buenos Aires.

We hope you're all well and enjoying the bank holiday... & don't worry we're fully aware of the drama's surrounding the Swine Flu breakout (numerous people have already invested and are wearing masks here) so we'll avoid Mexico, for now.

Lots of Love XXX