Iguazu is on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay in the middle of a rainforest. It was recently voted one of the natures seven wonders of the world - we spent three days waterfall watching and it was certainly a sight to behold.

After our eventful last night in Buenos Aires and rush to the airport I wanted to lie down for the rest of the day when we arrived but Jon was having none of it and got a bus to the Argentinian side of the park at lunchtime. There are a series of walkways at the Argentinian park that take you around some of the smaller waterfalls. Iguazu is actually between 150 and 300 different waterfalls depending on the water levels at the time. When we were there the boat crossing to a small island in front of the falls was shut due to high water levels so I think we got to see it at its more plentiful. We did the upper trail before heading on the world's slowest train to the main attraction - the Garganta Del Diablo - the Devil's throat.

According to legend a beautiful woman named Naipi was going to be married to a God, but was in love with a mortal. As they tried to flee in a canoe the god was so mad he split the river in two creating the falls. As you approach the Garganta Del Diablo from the walkway in the Argentinian park that's certainly what it looks like. The river is incredibly wide, and then just drops off, with huge volumes of water cascading into the lower river over 80 metres below. And as you get closer you see the huge volumes of tourists snapping away trying desperately to find a shot that will somehow capture what is in front of them.

The next day after some much needed sleep we went back to the Argentinian park to go and see the falls up close and personal by speedboat. It's so hot and humid in Iguazu we had taken to carrying a towel around with us to mop the sweat from our brows. The cool power shower provided by the falls themselves turned out to be a much more effective way of cooling down. The speedboat takes you across the rapids created at the base of the falls and then goes up to the front of some of the smaller falls to allow you to take pictures. Then the man at the front pulls out a poncho to go over his waterproof trousers and tells you to put all your things in the waterproof bags provided. Once everything is secure (fold over at least 3 times) you get WET. We were so close to the water that I couldn't keep my eyes open, I just sat there with my hands in the air and a big ridiculous grin on my face. Jon did manage to keep his eyes open but then they went really red later so maybe it wasn't a bad thing. The falls had a slight green tinge that day because of rainfall so we tried not to think too much about what was in it. The speedboat was amazing, the driver having perfected his donuts as we circled round and round in the water. I think we dried out fully about 3 hours later.

On our last day we took the bus over the border to the Brazilian side of the falls. The actual border is half way over the river, and the side of the bridge is painted in light blue and white when you are on the Argentinian side, then green and yellow when you cross to Brazil, which is clever. The border crossing is fairly uneventful, efficiency on the Argentinian side, then the bus driver takes your passports in to the Brazilian side while you wait on the bus. Seems like they don't really want to see tourists in Brazil (that attitude pretty much sums up some of our later experiences trying to get around in Brazil). The bus drops you off at the park and then you get on another park bus to the trails along the side of the falls for a panoramic view of what we saw up close in Argentina. Because of some confusion with the return bus time (the timetable was in Argentinian time, despite the fact we were in the Brazilian time zone which is an hour further ahead) we ended up rushing round the park in 2 hours, and then spent an hour sat in the car park. But the viewing platform is pretty good and you get nice and wet (though nothing compared to the boat ride we took).

There's much debate about which side of the waterfalls are better. Brazil undoubtedly gives you a better panoramic view of the falls and you can still get pretty close to the water on the viewing platform they have built. Personally I preferred the bus system for getting to the falls on the Brazilian side rather than the torturously slow train on the Argentinian side, although I suppose building a road through the park isn't terribly environmentally friendly. The boat ride on the Argentinian side is cheaper and gets much closer to the devils throat.

Next stop is Rio - we will cross the border in a taxi then fly from Foz de Iguacu into Rio for a week of beach side recuperation in preparation for Carnival.

This week we...

STAYED

· At Hostel International Iguazu Falls hostel in the centre of Puerto Iguazu. It was OK, pretty dated but OK.

ATE

· The supermarkets finest food at our hostel once we could get into the kitchen. There were massive groups of travellers at the place we stayed and trying to get a kitchen spot before 9pm was nigh on impossible. But the kitchen was outside which was a novelty so I suppose everyone wanted a go.

LEARNT

· I value my time at about £9.65 an hour - that is how much more we were prepared to pay to fly rather than take a 19 hour bus trip to Iguazu. And as for 32 hours from Iguacu to Rio - forget it.