We decide to spend today just taking it easy so went for a walk into town, heading up towards the bus station to get our next tickets. We walked up a very big hill and got tired very quickly. We finally found a post-office and got stamps for the postcards we bought on our second day in Rio. After a long walk up another big hill we found the local bus station where we could get a bus to the big bus station. There were lots of sign saying “No entry to pedestrians” or something in Portuguese so we walked all the way around the bus station until we got bored and just walked in past a sign. Some bloke came up to us and redirected us out so that we had to go through the main entrance, paying a pound each to do so. This annoyed us somewhat until we realised that we then didn't have to pay for our bus ticket and could get on the back of the bus instead of going through the turnstiles. We got to the big bus station and got tickets for Campo Grande on Sunday. Some bloke started talking to us, telling us how greta the area was (The Pantanal) and we should go to see it and he had a tour company etc. but in a friendly way, not pushy. We then tried to work out how to get a bus back. After a bit, some bloke cam eup and helped us out and asked where we were going next and that the Pantanal was great this time of year and his friend had a tour company etc. We explained that we'd already met him. With this in mind, we decided that we might very well consider doing a Pantanal tour. We spent a good couple of hours looking on the internet at all the various tour operators, the extremely mixed reviews, horror stories, great things etc and basically decided it wasn't worth all the hassle, we'd rather get to Bolivia.
We ate a meal of stuff that we got at the supermarket; crackers and cheese, palmito pies, cheese fritters and another one of those cat-food pasty things I had on the bus. Watched more crime-related American TV programmes and that was about it. I get annoyed that whenever I go to shops in this country I get told to go to another till. Then when I go to that till, I get told to go to another one, or worse, back to the original one. I just wanted to say that but couldn't hink of an appropriate place to put it so there you go.
27th August
Today we got up earlyish, had breakfast (best so far on the trip) and got ready for our trip today to Iguacu Falls the Brazilian side. We decided not to do a tour today but head up there ourselves. So we left the hotel, jumped on a bus to the National Park. The park is a world heritage site and is shared with Brazil and Argentina. The park has load of wildlife from jaguars to butterflies and things inbetween. We arrived at the park and paid our entrance fee and got on their buses (very colouful, double decker, no windows but safe enough). There are load of trails and treks you can do but we decided to save them for the Argentina side as the guide book says they are better and less expensive. So we were on the bus on our way to the Path of the Falls trail down to the falls. The women on the speaker was explaining what trails you can do and also not to feed the Quatis as they are attracted to food and can attack you, they also transmit Rabies and we were not about to waste our £150 injection on them. Neil did not know what they looked like so we had not idea what to look out for...Neil also called them Monsters for the rest of the day. (As far as I knew they were the size of bears or something - I didn't hear the racoon bit...)
We arrived at the start of the Path of the Falls trail which is only 1200 metres but gives lots of different views of the falls. You could hear a faint humming at the start but this got louder amd louder as we approached. The views at the start were great, you could see loads of little waterfalls...there are 275 waterfalls which make uo Iguacu the biggest and best being Devil's Throat. As we walked along the path there were load of butterflies everywhere, lots of different colours, sizes and you can see some of them on the pohotos we took (See the link at the bottom). The falls were amazing to see and there is a theory that the negative ions that the water creates causes people to feel happier and almost giggly. I think I agree to an extent as thoughout the day as we saw more and more and got closer and closer I was smiling, racing around a lot and just excited to be there. We took load of photos (as you can tell from the link below) of the wildlife, views, and amazing landscape.
The best part was when we got up close to the falls, you can get a real view of Devil's throat and the noise and sight is truly breathtaking. You are in awe of the nature but scared a little at the same time as only a small green metal boundary is keeping you and falls apart and you not being swe[pt away by the current. Being that close means we got wet as the falls gives of a lot of mist and rain (not good for my straightened hair for the day!).
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| We didn't see any jaguars... |
While on the trail we saw people in a boat taken close to the falls (possibly) in the falls being soaked and I knew that would be us tomorrow (can't wait very excited about that...dont worry Maria I promise to be careful! The insurance covers us!). Finally we took an elavator to the top of the tower (which give you an overall view) and took yet more photos. Now the problem with moving on this tower is that the floor is made of mesh (strengthened) metal but you can see straight through them, so Neil was a bit slow at moving on this but he did great. I felt a little unsafe to be honest as it didnt feel so safe with all the people on it...but hey were still alive so all is well.
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| One of our favourite pics - can you see the rainbow? |
We went to the shop, got our traditional magnet for the fridge when we return and a postcard to send to Kiran and Manesha bhabi as this trip and the one tomorrow to the Argentina side is their present to us from the wedding....so huge THANK YOU we had a great time today and can't wait for tomorrow.
We headed back into town and went to some big outdoor cafe/restaurant type thing. After perusing the menu for ages as usual, we decided to try ordering a few small 'porcau's, which I have always taken to mean 'portions', or kind of side orders. We got some sort of chicken, some rice, some beans, and I added some fried cassava chips as this didn't seem like a lot. The food came and it was probably the most amount of food I've seen since I have been here, or certainly the most amount of food I'd seen since the breakfast buffet – by the way, I'm sure my nieces and nephews would love to know that I get to eat chocolate cake for breakfast... We stuffed our face as best we could for a while but still had to leave a serious amount of food. The beans were particularly nice. Now just sitting at home watching CSI, NCIS, Law and Order etc.
Clicky link below for pics...
