Puerto Iguazu

So after the day of paradise that Nicola described it seemed like our worries were behind us and that there was no way we could possibly have a worse transfer than Rio to Ilha Grande..... WRONG!! This is South America after all where general logic borderlines insanity (note: I'll try hard not to sound too much like Carl Pilkington in this blog entry)

It turns out that if you're not a Brazilian national with a Brazilian national ID number you can't buy or book anything on any Brazilian website (something to do with credit card fraud apparently). So pre booking our bus transfer from the mainland to Foz de Iguazu (the town on the Brazilian side of Iguazu falls) was impossible. As lowly tourists we had to simply turn up and hope for the best....

Step one of our journey was a 1hr 45 min boat ride from Ilha Grande back to a shanty town on the mainland called 'Angra Dos Reis'. The plan was to catch a bus from there to São Paulo and then a connecting bus to Foz de Iguazu. Upon our arrival, as suspected, the pesky Brazilian nationals with their smart arse ID numbers had fully booked all the buses for the next 3 days! Our only option was to get a 3 and a half hour bus back to Rio and then hop on a 23 hour bus to Foz. Basically that's about as convenient as going from London to Scotland via Exeter!!

So with plenty of time on our hands we did just that. We got to Rio and, in a rush and with a bit of luck, managed to make it onto the night bus that took us all the way. Having since experienced the way the Argie's do coaches I think the Brazilians have got a lot of improving to do before the Olympics and World Cup come rolling into town. We had to put up with, what felt like, sub zero aircon. Nicola actually removed the head rest covers off our seats at one point and used them as leggings...it was that cold! We also had to endure pit stops at some seriously bad food outlets. I nearly cried every time we went past a Maccy's and Nicola barely ate for 48 hours solid. Clearly the driver had struck up some deals with these local garages to march in 30 hungry desperate gringos in order to get free petrol.

30 hours since leaving Ilha Grande we arrive in Foz de Iquazu with just one more leg of our journey remaining. Crossing the border into Argentina to get to our pre booked hostel in Puerto Iguazu (the town on the Argentinian side of the falls). Sounds easy, but not when you're travelling with Nicola 'the illegal alien' Hilliard who came very close to being detained by Brazilian customs because she failed to get an exit stamp when she last visited Brazil 5 years ago. They basically thought she was an illegal immigrant. If it wasn't for the help of a guy from Israel who spoke both English and Spanish (I was on standby obviously haha) she could have quite possibly spent the night in a cell. We all know how that would have ended, a pretty girl like her would have been holding someone's inside out pocket within about 10 minutes!

Eventually we got to our hostel which was really nice. Big swimming pool and decent food. I had my first steak in Argentina for about a fiver (yum!)
and some nice wine. We done some organising for the next part of our trip (Buenos Aires) and booked our excursion to visit the falls. Now it has to be said, Iguazu falls is without a doubt one of the best things I have ever seen. It was incredible! We had the most amazing day trekking around the national park surrounded by all kinds of wildlife and rainforest. We loved every minute of it! I could bang on about it forever but I think the pictures say it all, it made the long journey well worth it!

We have now moved on to Buenos Aires where we will be spending 2 weeks. We met a Scottish couple who gave us some amazing advice as they were just finishing a 9 month adventure themselves. They said that you can get serviced apartments for cheaper than private rooms in hostels in Buenos Aires and so we have done just that. We have a serviced apartment for two weeks in a place called Palermo Hollywood which is meant to be nice. I must admit I'm well looking forward to not being in a dorm with a load of strangers who snore!

We will be blogging Buenos Aires in two parts across the two weeks. Thank you to everyone who has added comments and messages so far, please keep them coming! It really helps make the blog for us and they will all be printed in the book that we are getting made at the end :)

Harry & Nicola

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 20- 28 HF