TAN-GO WEST AT IGUAZU FALLS

After a pretty good night's sleep on the bus we arrived in Puerto Iguazu in the far north of Argentina and found ourselves at probably the best hostel we will ever stay in on our trip with a large swimming pool, bar, sun loungers, friendly staff, air conditioning and great food. Perfect. We could've stayed for days but we only had two nights to make the most of it. After a quick dip in the pool, we caught a bus to Iguazu Falls National Park to see the famous waterfalls which span the border between Brazil and Argentina. We had arranged to meet the others, who had already been here for 24 hours, at the entrance to a boat ride under the falls, and had to virtually sprint through the whole park ignoring cool butterflies and funky animals, arriving just in time to wrestle on a life jacket before getting straight onto a speedboat, which steered us directly into the force of the water and immediately soaked us. It was brilliant fun! We had only caught a few brief glimpses of the falls before that point so getting completely drenched by them was quite an introduction - really exhilarating and very refreshing in the hot weather. We dried off and spent another couple of hours wandering around the Argentine side, seeing the falls from above including the famous 'devil's throat' - the heart of the falls. On the footpaths around the falls, which take you through the jungle, we saw lots of colourful butterflies, a family of coatis (similar to raccoons with long dark/light brown tails) and even a beautiful toucan, straight out of the old Guinness adverts.We headed back to the hostel and, after a quick dip in the pool, met the others for an amazing barbecue laid on by the hostel which included free caipirinhas (no tequila this time) and enough meat to keep even Duncan the dustbin happy. And all for about £6. And then the tango show and free lessons started which, fortified by the caiprinhas, we joined in with. Move over Bruce Forsyth. Strictly Come Dancing here we come! That night we said our goodbyes to Suzy and Christian who were heading to Rio de Janeiro for the next part of their holiday, and we were all really sad to see them go after such a great holiday - but lucky them, they had the wonderful Rio to look forward to…Next day, we crossed the border into Brazil to see the falls from the other side where the panoramic views are better and, very excitingly, to go white water rafting. And what an amazing place to do it with the incredible power of the water, the spectacular scenery and with our friends around us. Sadly it didn't quite work out like that as the lazy sodding guide didn't turn up for work so we couldn't fcuking do it. Grrrr. The photos will show how annoyed we were. They asked us if we wanted to climb some trees instead but we gave that idea short shrift - as if! - and shuffled off in a hump to see the falls, not impressed by having been shafted by the rafters… We soon cheered up though when we saw the falls again, which were of course just as spectacular from the Brazilian side, but with a more panoramic view. To cheer ourselves up we also splashed out (literally) on a photo of the four of us going over the top of the falls in canoes - posing for this shot was quite an adventure, and although it didn't quite match the excitement of rafting it's definitely one for the mantelpiece. Later we headed to a bird park and saw some beautiful parrots and cousins of our toucan friend we'd met the day before, although Duncan was absolutely infuriated by a group of idiot Brazilians, who couldn't resist touching the poor toucans as if they were pets. Afterwards, Ali and Tracey headed off to catch their flight back to BA and we went back to the Argentine side to see what we didn't have time to see the day before, including a Russian guy who posed for photos at the point closest to the falls in nothing but the skimpiest of speedos. Nice. Ewwww. That one probably won't make the final cut of the photo album.We caught the bus back to BA overnight, and met up again with Ali and Tracey the following morning for breakfast - briefly borrowing the lovely pool in their apartment block for an early morning swim. After breakfast, another sad farewell, as they then headed off to the airport to catch their flight home to London. And then there were two, once more… Without the assistance of the others to helpfully guide us in the right direction and help us make decisions, we shuffled off aimlessly and indecisively to a park, where we spent a good few hours in the shade trying to decide where to go next. Sadly, that place turned out to be Uruguay…