Sunday 6th May

Iguazú Falls was incredible!! The first sight of the waterfalls was a real 'jaw dropping' moment.  The area spanned by the waterfalls (150 - 270 of them, depending on the season), is almost 3 km wide, with over 2km of that belonging to Argentina, and the rest to Brazil. We went to the Argentinian side yesterday and the Brazilian side today. Definitely worth crossing an international border to see it from both sides!

On the Argentinian side, you experience the extreme force of the flow of water, with  it's thunderous roar and huge amounts of spray. Walkways allow you to get really close to the main, horseshoe-shaped falls, known as 'The Devil's Throat', which you see from above and to the side, and to some others, which you can see from above, from a mid-level, and also from below. When you walk through the rain forest from one location to another, the falls can be out of sight (and earshot), and suddenly, round a corner, you're surprised with a stunning view of a new waterfall, or, one you've already seen, but from a new perspective.

From high ground on the Brazilian side, you look back across the river, and have a spectacular panoramic view of the Argentinian side of the falls, as the distance allows you to see all of them at the same time. There is a walkway which takes you out in front of the Brazilian end of the Devil's Throat, where there is less spray, making it easier to see the wonderful rainbows hovering above the water. Be prepared for LOTS of pictures of waterfalls from every angle when we manage to upload some photos! 

There will also be lots of photos of Coaties, naughty raccoon-like animals which live near the waterfalls, in both countries, and whose main objective is to get into your bag, steal anything they can, and even clamber up onto the table when you're eating and run off with your lunch. Anything will do, our group's table was raided for unopened sachets of sugar and a bottle of mineral water! The babies are not much bigger than squirrels, and the large ones about the size of a badger, all with very flexible noses and long fluffy striped tails. You see one, ambling along on its own, looking cute, and while you're watching that one, there's a whole gang of them sneaking up behind you causing mayhem, then darting back into the undergrowth with their loot! Very entertaining.

Yesterday Martin, the driver, had to go ahead of us to Brasil, as there is a really good garage there where he could get a few minor repairs done to Frank (our truck). So we got taken to the Argentinian falls by minibus, with an Argentinian driver (also called Martín, so that was easy). After the falls, he drove us back to the hotel to collect our luggage, and then over the border to Brasil, without any problems, we didn't even have to leave the minibus. 

When we got to our hotel in Brasil,  (where the towels were laid out on the beds folded into the shape of a dog !), Martin (our Dutch driver) and Frank (our freshly repaired and washed truck) were waiting for us, so we were happy to see them again. Even happier when they told us that the itinerary was wrong, and that we didn't need to put our watches forward after all. So as we'd gained back an hour that we thought we'd lost, Tony and I decided to put it to good use and went off to the bar at the youth hostel down the road which was highly recommended for our first genuinely Brasilian Capiriñha - cheers! 

Later in the evening, against our better judgement, we joined the rest of the group for the 'Cultural night' buffet and 'show', at a nearby venue........ 

Oh My God - what an absolute farce!! We were promised a wonderful evening's entertainment with dancers from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay . But as soon as the first dancers appeared on stage wearing headdresses mainly made out of red crepe paper, I began to have my doubts! The whole show was very amateurish, most of the dancers pranced about quite badly out of time to the music and occasionally collided with each other. It was a jumbled hotchpotch of anything and everything, from moustachioed ' Mexican' Mariachis, to poncho clad, pan-pipe playing 'Peruvians', a rather rotund lady standing next to a large portrait of Eva Peron, singing 'Don't cry for me Argentina' whilst rose petals fell from the ceiling, and some 'Chilean' ladies who twirled around in voluminous dresses balancing towers of wine bottles on their heads. We laughed, and laughed until the tears ran down our faces.  

It was a bit like watching an audition for 'South America's got talent' and every now and again there was an act that you might have voted through to the next round:  one couple who danced a reasonable Argentine Tango; a fire dancer, who caused a few gasps of amazement when he swung some lighted lanterns very close to the rafters (and to his own head), and a long haired, very sweaty 'gaucho', who frenetically twirled a pair of wooden 'poy' balls at a high speed, whacking them on the stage whilst stamping his boots, flamenco style, until it sounded like a round of machine gun fire. 

Most of the audience, however, who had obviously never watched 'Strictly Come Dancing', seemed delighted with the acts. There was one very overweight oriental gentleman at the next table, who insisted on rushing up to the stage in the middle of every act and taking close-up photos with an enormous telephoto lens. Every time anyone on our table tried to take a photo, this man was right in the middle of the picture! He got so excited when the 'Chilean' ladies were twirling their dresses and revealing their petticoats, I really thought he might have a heart attack. One of the waiters told him to sit down during the fire dancing, as he was in danger of singeing  his camera.

Tony was not at all happy, and spent a lot of time loitering at the back, near the buffet. Unfortunately the standard of the food was not very good either, and the price of the drinks was extortionate, so understandably he felt the evening was a complete rip-off, and will definitely NOT be going to any more cultural extravaganzas! 

So today, before going to the Brazilian side of the Falls, we went to a bird park across the road. Some of the birds were in aviaries, but others were flying free, like the toucans, which are everywhere. We also saw the largest kind of eagle, which weighs about 9kg and a lot of humming birds, which were really tiny. There were also plenty of butterflies, some of which were enormous. 

In the evening we went back for more Capiriñhas, then on to a type of traditional carvery. You help yourself from the salad bar (plenty of choice for me) and they bring the meat round from table to table on long skewers, and slide a chunk off for you if you want some - everything from tiny chicken hearts to large chunks of beef. Tony had a much better evening, so our time  in Brazil ended on a happy note after all. Unfortunately we still couldn't get the Internet to work, so I'll have to try and send this from Paraguay when we get there tomorrow........Good night.