Flying across Brazil and finding ourselves in a tin shed airport, we caught the two buses to our hostel and were very pleasantly surprised to find a spotless room and a swimming pool. Given the time and the fact that the Iguacu falls park was already closed, we caught up with the other travellers in the mass exodus from Rio following the end of the carnaval and swapped many a happy story of people who had been kidnapped, threatened and robbed during the celebrations - looks like we got away lightly! We sampled the pool and the delights of the rather dangerous 'all you can eat' dinner and retired for the night safe in the knowledge that the following day we would be out on the water, underneath the eagerly anticipated Iguacu Falls.

We started off having a guided walk through the jungle near the falls and amusingly we went past a piddly little waterfall where everyone stopped to take photos. I really felt like reminding them that in a few minutes we were going to see one of the greatest waterfalls in the world! We then kitted up and got on the speed boat which was to give us an 'up close and personal' feel of the waterfalls. We were given plastic bags in which we put our possessions and with good reason: we were going to get WET! We sped towards the falls and zipped underneath a couple of them so we could really get a feel for them (thanks Mr Boat Driver). We gave a wave to the people on the viewing platform where we would be in about an hour´s time and then sped back towards the jetty to ring out our soaking clothes!

We dried off on the 45 minute walk towards the viewing platform. The walk included increasingly impressive views of the falls and were were accompanied on the walk by quitos: small to medium-sized animals that were a cross between a cat and a racoon. We headed for the viewing platform where once again we were slowly drenched by the encroaching mist of spray from the falls and took in the beauty and scale of this natural wonder. We were lucky enough to catch some rainbows in the waterfalls and we settled down to have some lunch where we munched to the sound of crashing water and spray and were pestered by the 6 inch long wasps.

After lunch we decided we wanted to take in the falls more as we had zoomed past on boat and foot so we stood and watched the falls for an hour or so before realizing we had to go to catch the bus. We headed off into the sunset for an early night as the next day we were to cross to the dark side, or rather the other side of the Iguacu falls. Our next destination was Iguacu falls, Argentina.