And so we bid farewell to Deigo, after a great few days in Argentina. Barely really touched the surface of the country really but had great fun, and definitely want to return to try out Mendoza for the wine and Ushuaia to reach the most southerly tip, to name but a few places. But now we turn to Brazil and say hello to our new tour guide, Thomas.
This is we're organisation falls over a little bit, we are told to expect the new guide at 9, I think it's nearly 11 by the time he arrives. Then instructions aren't clear in the pack about the next 4 days, so having meticulously packed with not a spare centimetre available I now have to get my head round how to unpack and repack with 4 days... This is about as stressful as it gets!! So rainforest, hiking, and island life now crammed into a backpack... With accompanying designer Tesco bag for the overspill! We hit the road.....
The border is actually in the middle of the Iguazu falls, so right in the centre of the river. So as we drive over we see the colours of the bridge change from blue and white, to green and yellow! We are now in Brazil, I get my stamp and head for the helicopter ride around the falls. With the border and the way the falls lie the majority of the falls are on the Argentina side, however the best view of the sheer scale of them is from Brazil... Argentina get the boat rides, Brazil get the Helicopters.
I join the queue with a group of Aussies and a Brit, turns out she is from Mill Hill just fresh of the boat so to speak and when I say I live in Wanstead I find out she plays cricket on Nutter Field opposite my house! Small world indeed... The ride in the helicopter is pretty cool, short at 15mins but well worth it to see the size of the falls and for a different perspective.
Next we head to the Brazil park, which to be honest is tiny in comparison to Argentina, today is absolutely scorching I think 37C easily and we are all burning up as we walk round, spotting a few monkeys on the way and taking endless photos... I think at last count I got up to 300 photos of the falls, which for all your sakes I have whittled down to 3 I think just to give you an idea. "Awesome" is a word that really does apply here.
I think I am not the only person relieved to hear the bus depot we are heading to in Foz do Iguazu has showers.... The thought of 10hrs on the bus in what I am wearing now, I don't think any deodorant on the planet would have made it through this day and still be working on an overnight bus! So off we go, have to say I'm impressed for a mere £2 I get a shower, soap, shampoo, bathroom and towels. Fresh and ready we start to head to the bus.
Of course now the fun starts, we all get on the bus and then are greeted by more people with the same seat number... This is great when not many speak English, I'm lucky the lady in my seat has a little English she finds out what is going on and comes back. Apparently, someone booked our tickets in the wrong direction!!!!! Some back and forth with the bus officials and we are all split up on 3 buses, me on the last with Jamie. With them being only 15 mins apart there is no problem but you can tell Thomas is a bit worried.
So the bus journey starts and we are lucky that we can swap seats (to sit together) with a young Brazilian guy Eduardo from Curtiba, he speaks really good English and explains he hasn't seen any foreigners on this bus route for 4 years or had a chance to practice his English so we happily chat away until we are ready to attempt sleep... This isn't the luxury of Argentinian buses, but it's not too bad... Semi-Camma travel is a step down, no food service, less recline and leg room but it will get us there (maybe!). Fingers crossed.
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