17/5/09 Today we moved on to Foz do Iguaçu, the gateway town to the Iguaçu Falls. First of all we had a five hour trip to Sao Paulo in a private minibus, and then after a couple of hours' wait at the bus station there, we had a 17 hour journey in a public bus to Foz do Iguaçu. I was glad we had to change buses at Sao Paulo, because it's the biggest city in South America and this meant we got to get a glimpse of its sheer enormity. We did get a good view, actually, of the city spreading as far as the eye could see in every direction, so I and several others were happy. Nick said that apparently there are 40,000 high-rise buildings here, which he thought was more than in all of Australia! We heard that Sao Paolo has more helipads than any other city in the world, because all the richest people here just use their helicopters to travel to and fro instead of cars, in order to bypass the traffic jams! We didn't get stuck in any though, luckily. The bus station was also enormous; it was a similar size to an airport terminal!
It was dark by the time we left at 6.30pm. The journey overall was fine, because since it was a specifically a night bus, the seats leant right back and there were special footrests, so there was plenty of room. Also, there weren´t any streetlights on the main road once we got out of Sao Paolo (apart from when we occasionally went through small villages and petrol stations), so since we were driving with complete darkness surrounding us in every direction (apart from the bus lights) and thus there weren´t any reflections in the windows - plus the sky was cloudless - I could lie back in my seat with my blanket over me and gaze at the stars.The only thing that annoyed us for a bit was at one stage when we went over speedbumps, regularly placed every couple of hundred metres, for quite a while.

18/5/09 Sleep was sporadic, but time still past quite quickly. We arrived in Foz do Iguaçu midmorning, but were allowed to check in early. At 11 we set off to visit the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu Falls. I'd heard from some sources that the Brazilian side isn't really worth seeing, but I beg to differ. It's amazing, and most definitely worth a visit - I certainly recommend it!
We walked along a track by the side of the river for quite a while. At the start we saw some crab-eating raccoons, or coatis to give them their local name. I was also looking out for some toucans, but I didn't see any. Although not the tallest in the world, The Iguaçu Falls does have the most volume. They aren't just one waterfall, too, but several; some so tall that you can't see the bottom from the top, and some much shorter. I was gobsmacked when we got the to main falls, in a place called The Devil's Throat, because as you can see from our photos, you can see rainbows formed by the sun falling on all the spray! The combination of waterfall, rainbows, blue sky and green rainforest was absolutely beautiful. We were standing about halfway down the main waterfalls, though not right next to them, and so from the walkway we also got a view of the main river below us and another smaller river flowing under our walkway and falling over another edge into the main one.
I took lots of photos, and went up the lift next to it to see it from higher up. On the way back I got separated from Dave and the rest of the group, because we had all split up into smaller groups by then anyway, but when I got back to the start the others all came up in the minibus. They'd only been waiting for 10 minutes, luckily.

19/5/09 Breakfast was gorgeous, nearly as much as the one in Rio. So much variety, and lots of creme caramel, pineapple, hot chocolate and scrambled egg found their way onto my plate, as well as chunks of quiche.
We visited the Argentine side of the Falls for most of the day. We crossed the river which is the border, and had our passports stamped, despite our visit being so short. When we got to the main falls, I felt like I did when we went to Cristo Redentor after the Sugar Loaf in Rio, in that I was already amazed after the Brazilian side, only to be astounded even further once I got to the Argentine side. On this side you actually stand at the very top of the main falls, and your jaw literally drops when you stand at the edge of the walkway and look down. You can't see the bottom because the water falls into all the spray coming back up, which blocks it. Hundreds of swallows fly around and even through the water, and when you look in the other direction from the falls you can see the river far below, partially obscured by the misty spray, flowing slowly between the Brazilian and Argentine rainforest. Of course, all you can hear is the booming of the water, and every now and then when the wind blows your way you feel some spray on your face. It's perfectly possible to stand there for ages, just transfixed by the sheer enormity and height of it all.
It was very hot, and we saw lots of colourful butterflies sunning themselves on the walkways' wooden railings. After the main falls, the others all went on a boat ride further down the river, but Dave and I went for a walk around som eof the other falls nearby. We got some spectacular views, and took some good photos.

20/5/09 In the morning some of the others visited the Itaipu Dam, the biggest dam in the world, but after lunch all of us crossed into Paraguay for a couple of hours to do some 'black market' shopping. Basically, because the town we visited is just within the Paraguayan border, none of the goods have had tax paid on them, and so Brazilians come by the busload to buy electronics, watches, clothes, perfumes, alcohol, sports equipment etc., because it's cheaper than in Brazil. The main shopping mall we went into is just like a massive duty-free airport shop, split into different shops on separate floors. The shops in this town accept US dollars, Paraguayan guarani and Brazilian real, and Dave and I both wanted some Paraguayan money to keep as a souvenir (though Dave just wanted some coins to give to one of his brothers, who collects coins.) I saved a 10,000 guarani note (only worth about one pound ten) and a 1000 guarani coin, to add to my collection; so far I've saved a note and some coins from every country I've been to! None of them amount to more than the equivalent of two pounds fifty, most of them considerably less, so they've been very cheap souvenirs...
On our way to the border our driver told us that Paraguay is the poorest country in South America, closely followed by Bolivia, that we shouldn't be worried by the fact that the police here all carry pistols and shotguns (and Dave and I weren't, because I think in every single other country we've been to so far, the police have all carried guns, so we're used to it now), and that in this town drugs are sold with complete freedom because the police turn a blind eye to it. We didn't get our passports stamped or even looked at. We were gobsmacked when we looked out of the bus window and saw a boy standing on the pavement quite openly holding two little bags with what we assumed was cocaine in. He had other people swirling around him yet he made no attempt to hide it. The streets in the part of town we were in had market stalls on each side and lots of independent people standing around with bags of stuff, ready to jump on every tourist that comes past and get them to buy from them. You can tell that Paraguay is poorer than Brazil because the buildings are more dilapidated and the streets are more dirty; we passed a building site, and all of the scaffolding was made from bits of wood. Yet builders were climbing around on it as if they were sturdy metal poles! Yet I wouldn't want to make out that all of Paraguay is like how I've described above; it's just that this town is a known black market area, so it's an exception to the rule. I've heard that the rest of Paraguay is really nice!
Dave and I bought some blank DVDs and a set of two packs of 'Kem' thermoplastic cards. Dave got excited when he saw them, because they're famous for being really good, used in casinos etc., and in Britain they sell for around 20 pounds. Yet here they were on sale for US$3! My Welsh pack of cards fell apart in Australia, so I quite fancied one of these packs! No danger of them ever wearing out, and the design is quite fancy too. Yet not everything was that cheap; in fact some things were the same price as in Britain, ie. Ipods for US$180. The others didn't get anything big, just chargers for phones and cameras mainly.
Most of us went out to a pizza/pasta buffet restaurant for dinner, and at the end, after all the normal pizzas, the waiters brought round a chocolate one! We were all surprised, and each had a slice in the spirit of experimentation. It had a thin layer of cheese underneath the chocolate, and some people didn't like it. I thought it was quite nice actually - I couldn't have eaten more than a couple of slices at a time because it's really filling, but the chocolate nearly overpowered the cheese, and what slight cheese taste that was left, wasn't that bad actually when combined with the chocolate.