It was a bit of a rush this morning, we had to change room today so we needed to leave our bags packed and grab a quick breakfast before heading out for the bus to Brazil. Breakfast wasn't too bad for Argentinian standards. There was cereal, fruit, bread, cakes and a little bit of ham and cheese. We didn't have time to linger over breakfast though, we quickly ate and were then out the door.

We chose the Crucero del Norte bus for no other reason than it was the first booth we came to and they had a bus in 20 minutes time at 8:10am so that suited us perfectly. It only cost 80 pesos each for a return journey and it was only expected to take an hour, obviously dependent on the border crossing.

Our driver was really good, he even spoke English, and when we arrived at the Argentinian border we were all quickly shephered off the bus to get stamped out the country. Once we were back on the bus, which was probably within 5 minutes, he collected everyone's passport which we thought was a little strange. He then set off and headed for the Brazilian border. When we reached the control point, he parked up, told everyone to stay in their seat and he ran over to the building with our passports. Within minutes he was back on the bus, handing back our passports with an entry stamp for Brazil. Our most efficient border crossing ever!

The bus dropped us off right at the entrance to the Falls and he told us he would be back in the same spot at 2:30pm. There was a big queue to buy entrance tickets, but with plenty of windows open, the queue went down quickly. We could even pay with credit card which was handy because a) we'd already calculated how much cash we needed to hang onto before finishing our trip and b) the Peso/Real exchange rate was pretty poor (obviously Brazilians don't want pesos, even for spending over the border). The tickets cost 50 Reals (about $20).

The entry price included a ride on a double decker bus up through the jungle path to the Falls. There were a number of optional extras like jungle walks and boat rides that you could do, but as nobody got off the bus before the 3rd stop they obviously weren't that popular.

The Cataratas Trail, an easy walk with many viewpoints, started from the bus stop. With an entire double decker bus emptying out and a huge tour group from an earlier bus waiting to leave, it was busy. The Brazilian people on the whole seemed like a fun bunch to be with, but they were very noisy, a party would be a better place than a trail in the jungle. There wasn't going to be a chance of seeing any wildlife with all the rabble going on. We tried to jostle our way to the front of the crowd so it might be a bit more peaceful. There were some good viewing points along the trail, looking across to the Argentinian side.

Iguaçu or Iguazú means "big waters" in the local Guarani language. That makes sense when you realise that at a minimum, during dry days, there are 150 waterfalls and 270 during the 'wet' months. The falling area is 2,700 square metres and the water flow reaches 6,500 cubic metres per second during flood seasons.

The only wildlife we saw on the trail was a few coatis and they shouldn't really count in that environment. They are not scared of humans at all, probably because they are actually quite dangerous as they might bite or scratch while carrying rabies. They do look cute though and are often encouraged by humans 'wanting to bond' by giving them food. This has only led them to agressively 'hunt' for human's food in their bags or even their hands.

The further we walked on the trail, the more we saw of the falls and it was definitely a great trail to take in entire falls. The last bit of the trail goes out over the water to "Devil's Throat", where you get soaked with all the spray coming off the falls. It was very refreshing being such a hot day though. It was really busy out on the Devil's Throat Balcony with everyone wanting to have their picture taken before moving on. As time went on, more people were pushing onto the walkway/balcony than the number leaving. We have noticed that taking a 'selfie' actually takes a lot longer than having someone take the picture for you. But for some reason, people insist on a bubblehead selfie, with only a small corner of landscape in the photo, even if you offer to take a photo for them.

Back on land, the end of trail had a 27m lift/elevator to take people back up to the road level and the final viewing platform. The queue was huge, but we asked if there were stairs and fortunately there were. We were joined only by a handful of people to walk up the short path and it didn't take long at all. The last view point gave good views across the top of the falls and the river before it hit the falls.

The whole walk hadn't taken too long at all and we'd seen everything that there was to see on this side. We didn't have to wait long to take the double decker bus back to the entrance. We had a fair bit of time to wait before the next bus back to Argentina arrived so we decided to visit Parque das Aves that was opposite the Falls entrance.

Parque das Aves is described as the most spectacular Bird Park in Latin America, where you see the incredible birds of the Atlantic Rainforest in their natural habitat, alongside exotic species from around the world. They also had butterflies and reptiles to keep things interesting for those not so enamoured with only birds. The park acts as a shelter for birds rescued from mistreatment/trafficking and for conservation breeding. Of all the birds in the park, 50% were rescued and 43% were born there so they're doing a pretty good job.

The entry fee was 28 reals for one, but we only had pesos and they didn't take cards so we ended paying a lot more due to a poor exchange rate. We did get a free night's accommodation last night though so we couldn't complain too much.

The park was very organised with a trail taking you past around 30 areas. Some of the birds were in cages that you looked at from outside while others were in big enclosures you walked through. There was a huge variety of birds, but our favorites were the brightly coloured toucans, parrots and macaws. At the end of the trail we came to the 'Tame Macaw' where, under the close eye of a keeper, you could hold a macaw and have your picture taken for free. Maria wasn't so keen at first but plucked up the courage for a great photo.

Thunder and rain started just as we were about to leave so we decided to loiter in the souvenir shop for a bit until it eased off. We made it back to the bus stop without getting too wet and waited 30 minutes for its arrival. It was a painless journey on the way back to Argentina, we had the same driver as in the morning and he made the Brazilian border crossing just as easy as before. There was long queue of private cars going into Argentina, but that didn't affect bus travelers, we just sailed through and got stamped back into the country.

Back at Kerana Oga we were given the room we had booked. It was huge - it was on two floors like a winter cabin. The upstairs had a double bed, television, air conditioning and balcony with hammock. The downstairs had two single beds, table & chairs, another television and a big bathroom. Not bad at all.

We quickly showered and changed for dinner. The tourist information guy had recommended dinner at A Piacere. His opinion seemed like one you could trust given his own views on Argentinian Tourism on the whole and his personal desire to improve it. We had decided to order a single big steak for sharing and side so the meal turned out not too expensive at all. It was indeed a good recommendation, the steak was very good and so was the wine, although the side dish not so much. We left the restaurant happy though.