The Iguazu water falls are made up of 275 individual falls over 2.7km´s and they range from 64 to 82 metres in height.
The Argentina side of the falls was even more impressive as you get up close to the individual falls - and yes you do get wet!! I have never been to any of the other ´big falls´ but find it hard to think they could be any more impressive than this with an average 80,000 gallons of water falling every second!!
Surprisingly these waterfalls having first been discovered in 1541 were then forgotten about until they were re-disocvered at the end of the 19th Century by the Spanish- how can you miss them!!
I like the legend about the creation of the falls that says that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.
I couldn´t pass up on the opportunity to go out on the boat and get up even closer - thankfully it was quite hot the day I did the Argentina side so I dried pretty quickly - unlike the afternoon before when I got wet over in Brazil and it was freezing!!
The Argentina side of the falls also had some nice walks through the Rainforrest and lots of pretty birds.
This Herron had just caught her lunch..
There were loads of Coatis that were obviously more used to people than the one´s I´d seen in the Pantanal as they came out to scavange for food which your asked not to give them.
When it itches you gotta scratch!!!
They were cheeky little buggers that would come right up to you - one even tried to steal my sandwich off my plate and I saw another steal an apple out of a ladies hand!!
There were also some pretty butterflies.
And wild Guinea Pigs.
The little train that runs to the furthest away falls in case you don´t want to walk all the way!!
I stayed in the city of Foz Do Iguacu in Brazil to visit the falls, it was pretty laid back place but other than the falls not too much to see in itself, though I did end up staying an extra day to catch up on laundry etc!! And I went to the Parqu das Aves (bird park) which was about the only other toursit attraction....
I hadn´t realised there were so many different types of Toucans or that they were partial to a little Chom Poo Moo for lunch!!
These cute little parrots were dangerous - they pulled the trim off poor Alex´s camera as she tried to take a photo of them!!
I´ve seen quite a few humming birds in Brazil but this was the first time I managed to catch them on camera - they are so fast!!
Maccaws....
A Cassowary - these are Australian birds but I never saw one when I was in Oz!!
Blue Jay
Pucker up......
Lots of different types of parrots....
A quirky little duck.
And the pheasants also liked Chom Poo Moo........
Almost five weeks in Brazil and it was time to move on. I have really enjoyed my time here even though I don´t think I ´ve seen very much of this huge country and everyone I speak to tells me about other great places that I didn´t make it too. But here is a few of the memories/ impressions I have:-
- Lots of Wildlife and birds of course....
- Rainforests, cities, beaches, small towns and huge rivers.
- Long journeys - buses and boats!
- Very cold buses as they always have the air conditioning turned on full blast even though everyone ends up under blankets!!
- Very friendly locals who will go out of there way to help you even if they don´t understand what it is you are asking!!
- Buying food by the kilo - pop into onto your plate and they weight it - pay the same for a kilo of lettuce or beef!! They cleverly give you big plates so it doesn´t look like you have put on too much!!
- Rice, beans and beef - in every meal that I had on my tours , boat and bus journeys!
- Buses - comfortable long distance buses with reclining seats and local buses with turnstyles to stop people skipping the fare and/or the conductors keeping the money as they count people through...
- Volkswagons - mainly Beattles but also mini vans.
- The assumption that your American if your speaking English.... I was glad I learnt the word for Scottish, as no offense to my US friends, but it is often best not to be mistaken for an American these days - British is slightly better but Scotland everyone loves or hasn´t heard of :-)
- Much more expensive than I thought it would be - hostels were about the same as in the USA and buses could be even more expensive and laundry was extortionate.......food and sights were more reasonable.
- Churches, churches and religoun everywhere.
- Cities that spread out for miles and miles - other than the biggest (like Rio and Slavador) most were spacious.....the bigger cities having such a contrast of modern and old areas.
- Favelas - poor areas over crowded and full of shacks on the outskirts of the bigger cities.
- Massive gap between those with money and the poor though in general not quite as extreme poverty as I thought I would see here.
- Men making kissing noises as you walk past them!! What a come on -NOT!!
- Traditional markets and food stalls and modern luxury shopping centres.
- Very fashionable locals who took a lot of pride in their appearance no matter what they were doing....
- Men of all shapes and sizes in speedo´s!!
- Very mixed ethnicity groups and cultures in the different states - Northern and Amazon areas have many more people from Indegionous Indian heritage, Salvador has large black population (this can be traced back to the days of slavery) whilst Rio was more mixed and I am told the further south you go the more European influence from earlier settlers!! The influences of the different cultures can be seen in the food, clothes, music, buildings etc.
- Breakfast included with every hostel night - normally bread rolls, cheese and fruit but sometimes scrambled eggs and more.
- Every town/city had a street named 7th Septmeber (Independence Day) and 15th of November (Proclamation of the Republic Day) - in Portugese of course!!
Next update I´ll tell you about Paraguay.
Bye for now.
Jack xxx
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