It was hard to believe, but today was our last full day in Argentina, which also meant our travels in Central and South America were coming to end. Nine months had gone way too quick.

After breakfast we packed our backs and left the room at 10am to check out. We asked them to call and book seats on the airport shuttle, but it was already full; in hindsight, we should have booked yesterday. They called a remise (a taxi service) for us instead which would cost a little more than the shuttle, but at least we knew we would be leaving for the airport at 2pm.

We had few hours to kill, but were able to leave our bags at the hostel while we went for a walk and maybe grab a bit of lunch.

The town of Puerto Iguazú is bounded by two rivers, Rio Iguazú to the north and Rio Paraná to the west. These rivers also act as international borders with Brazil on the opposite side of the Iguazú and Paraguay on the opposite side of the Paraná. We took a short walk through town to Hito de las Tres Fronteras, a monument and viewpoint from where the three countries can be seen from. There is not much else to see there, there were a few merchants selling their trinkets on the walkway.

We walked back by the road following the Iguazú River towards the ferry terminal for Paraguay. We half heartly thought about taking the ferry to Paraguay, but lunch seemed like a better idea.

Looking back towards Paraguay we could see the sky was getting quite dark, and that weather was heading for us. We had been smart enough to put our ponchos in the backpack and took them out, ready to put them on in a hurry. If it wasn't for the stifling heat, we'd have put them on straight away. As soon as the first few small spots of rain hit us, the ponchos were on and it wasn't a second too soon. The heavens opened and we sheltered as best we could under a tree. Within a minute, the steep road we were on, leading up to the town, had turned into a raging torrent. The wind began to blow a bit harder and the tree was offering less and less protection so we decided to make a dash for it. Three hundred metres up the road, we came to church with a big covered area in front of it and joined the others sheltering from the rain. The rain was so heavy that even with ponchos we got quite wet.

A bunch of school kids soon joined us and they looked pretty much dry so we guessed the school was next door to the church. The kids kept us amused while we waited for the rain to stop. Unlike us, getting wet was too much of an attraction for them. They were dancing in the overflowing gutters, the force of the water pushing it up above their knees. After one kid slipped on the painted floor, it soon became a waterslide and they were throwing themselves headlong across the floor. Needless to say, there wasn't a dry bit of clothing on any of the kids after 15 minutes. The numbers dwindled as the parents collected their kids and took them home in the car.

The rain finally stopped and the flooded roads began to clear surprisingly quickly. We finished walking back into the town centre and stopped off at Restobar Bambu where we had a small lunch of mixed empanadas. Maria opted for a coffee, but David couldn't resist trying Iguana Beer, one he had never seen before. The beer must have came straight from the freezer, it was ice cold and a mist was coming off the bottle. It tasted pretty good too, good enough to order a second one litre bottle.

Timing couldn't have been better, as soon as the food and drinks were finished, it was time to leave to get back to the hostel for our ride to the airport.

We arrived at the airport in good time, but the flight was delayed by an hour. We were kind of expecting it though due to the weather. Bizarrely, our flight had been rescheduled yesterday to leave at 4pm instead of 6.35pm so we were still likely to arrive before originally planned. It was an uncomfortable wait at the airport, the seats were hard and there was a lack of them for the number of people waiting for their flight.

The plane made it to Buenos Aires' International airport, Ezeiza, without any dramas. We were staying overnight at an airport hotel, Posada de Las Aguilas, to make sure we didn't have problems getting back to the airport in the morning for our flight to London. It was the closest hotel to the airport and included a 'free' shuttle to and from the airport so there was no need to pay for taxi and we avoided the 40 plus minute ride to the city centre.

We weren't sure what food might be available at the hotel, so we decided to have a quick McDonald's meal before calling the hotel to come and pick us up.

Once we called, the driver arrived within about 15 minutes despite there being chaos all around the terminal - it seems that the airport has a rush 'hour' between 6pm and 11pm every day. The hotel was only a 5 minute ride away and we were soon checked in and shown to our room. It was a very basic room with old sheets on the bed, but it was just for one night so we would survive.

As we went to bed it was hard to believe our nine months in Central and South America were over, it feels like we only just started and scratched the surface...