Saturday 5th March 2016.

So the time has come to move on from Lapa, Rio De Jenerio and head to Iguazu to see the waterfall. Our bus leaves at 1300 but we had to collect our tickets from the office so we headed over shortly after 1000. We caught the tube again across the city but the station we needed was closed so we had to get off at the one before and walk the rest of the journey. As we were walking we realised that we were in an area not frequented by other tourists and you could see a massive favela just in the distance. We both felt slightly concerned and just put our heads down and walked as quickly as we could.

We had to walk for about 30 minutes and on at least two occasions got some really dodgy looks from people and on one occasion I knocked into someone with my bag and Isla thought it was going to kick off but thankfully we made it to the bus station. We collected our tickets and then sat down and treated ourselves to a Big Bobs (Brazilian McDonald's). At 1300 we boarded our bus which was really nice, it was a double decker with first class on the bottom. We were on the top and had seats that reclined to almost flat, wi-fi and USB plug ins to charge phones.

The journey was very long, 26 hours in total and I still hadn't got over the jet lag so was sleeping by 1600. The journey wasn't that interesting really, the scenery wasn't the best Brazil had to offer.

Sunday 6th March 2016

So we arrived in Iguazu at 1400 and got a taxi to take us to our hostel. The hostel had electrified fences and an intercom system with camera to make sure they didn't let any old riff raff in. Thankfully the lady approved and let Isla and I in. She didn't speak much English and we didn't speak much Portuguese but we were able to check in and got shown around.

The hostel was lovely, the beds looked new and the rooms were clean. The hostel had a swimming pool, pool table and outside bar. We settled in and then walked around the corner to buy some food for dinner. On our return a Japanese girl called Juri had arrived and was in our room. We sat and spoke about each other's travels and she put us to shame by saying that she had learnt English over the last 2 years and had started to learn Spanish 2 months ago. Her English was really good and her Spanish was much better than ours. So we ended up getting taught Spanish by a Japanese girl who had learnt English 2 years ago. So weird and shameful on our part. We are definitely going to learn Spanish.

We cooked some dinner and then chilled out before heading off to bed as we were going to leave for the waterfall early in the morning.

Monday 7th March 2016

We enjoyed a good breakfast consisting of a toasted cheese sandwich and cake and then headed off to the local bus station with Juri. Juri was heading off to Paraguay so we said goodbye and caught the bus to Iguazu falls and paid 49 realis each to get in which is just under £10. This also included a bus ticket so that we could get from place to place once in the park.

We got on the bus and got dropped off at the main part for the falls. About 5 meters from the road we could see part of the waterfall and it looked awesome and much bigger than we first thought. The water was crashing down at such a force that the spray was hitting us and we were at least 200 meters away.

We walked along the path towards the waterfall, seeing loads of Coatis along the way. There was also loads of viewpoints to take photos of the waterfall which we took advantage of. The closer we got the more awe struck we became, the falls were just massive, they sounded loud and the amount of spray in the air meant that everyone was getting wet. We finally reached the main walkway for the falls which went right out into the water. People were coming back soaked so we put the big camera away and walked out. Straight away we got wet through but it was so fun and amazing to be that close to a massive waterfall. It's really difficult to describe in words what it is like but it's as if the Earth has been cut in half and all of the worlds water is falling over the edge.

We caught a lift to the top of the waterfall which provided a different perspective. It enabled us to see the calm of the water leading up to the edge and then the thundering power as it spilt over the side. We had our lunch at the top and had to protect it from about 20 Coatis who kept trying to climb up where we were seating to get our food.

After lunch we caught the bus back towards the main entrance but got off to take a tour on a speed boat up the river towards the falls. We got on the boat with about 12 others and raced up the river towards the falls. We could see the falls approaching and from water level they looked even bigger and seemed like the force would tip the boat over. That didn't bother the driver as he drove the boat into the waterfall and got everyone absolutely soaking. We never went over to the Argentinian side but we did get completely drenched by the Argentinian water.

After playing around in the boat for 20 minuets and getting completely soaked we went back to shore and sat in the sun desperately trying to dry off before heading back to the hostel.

We caught the bus back to the hostel and cooked some dinner. The day had been amazing and the South American experience is just getting better. That evening we spoke with a tour agent and booked 3 nights and 4 days in the Pantanal which is a wetland area in Brazil bigger than the size of the U.K. and a place were you can see Jaguars, Tapiers, Giant Ant Eaters and loads of other wildlife.