Iguazu Falls

We have just completed 3 spectacular days in Iguazu Falls and we were fortunate to see it at it's best. Upon initially arriving on the Argentinian side of the falls we were disappointed to find out that we could not get all the way to the final trail at Devil's Throat because of the recent rainstorms in the surrounding countries (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay). As we soon discovered, the closure was justified and extremely necessary. The volume of water entering the falls had increased by 800% and was actually passing over many of the tourist walkways including a couple of spots that were still open to us. There were many places where the spray was so intense that we got totally soaked even when we put on our golf rainsuits. We were glad that we had not signed up for a tour because the noise from the falls was so loud that you could not hear anyone talking very well. The pictures posted only cover a small portion of the many different waterfalls we saw and were able to walk over.......they cover several kilometres. It really made Niagara Falls seem very small to us.

The following day we went over to the Brazilian side which provided more outstanding views (and another soaking), including a walk to the top edge of Devil's Throat which was not possible from the Argentinian side.....where we could see the walkway partially submerged in the rushing waters. If anyone has a chance to visit Iguazu Falls we strongly recommend seeing it from both sides.....the overall view from the Brazilian side is a little better but there are more trails to the upper and lower falls on the Argentinian side so you get a completely different perspective.

We also stayed at a wonderful hostel in Puerto Iguazu (Hostel Inn) which had a large pool to relax around (and dry out) at the end of the day, and active evening happenings with huge buffets and bbq's ($7-10 pp) attended by most of the backpackers (60-70 young people) with great music, entertainment, and atmosphere. We shared our 6 person dorm with a nice couple from Ireland and spent our evenings with them drinking lots of Argentinian wine and caipirinhas (Brazil's answer to the pisco sour or marguaritas).

To top off our trip to Iguazu Falls, there was a drug bust on our overnight bus trip back to Curtiba. We found it a little odd that they not only tagged our large backpacks stored underneath the bus (normal procedure for claiming at the other end) but also our daypacks which we carried with us onto the bus. A couple of hours into the trip (at midnight) our bus was suddenly pulled over to the side of the road with approximately 20 federal police officers standing by. No other traffic was stopped leading us to believe this was a targetted search resulting from a likely tip. Most of us were sleeping at the time and awakened by the officers checking our passports, bus tickets, and on-board luggage while other officers checked the stored bags. With everyone now awake and watching what was going on outside, we noticed a duffle bag being opened filled with suspicious looking book-shaped packages (probably cocaine). Several were taken away to a nearby building for inspection and shortly after the officers came back on board and checked everyone's tickets to see who was sitting in seat #24. Fortunately it wasn't one of us (several rows ahead of us), and a gentleman (probably a 'mule') with grey hair was led off the bus and didn't return.........we were on our way shortly after.

We spent the next day taking a bus tour of Curitiba, with several interesting stops along the way: Botanical Gardens and Oscar Niemeyer Museum (the architect of the above eye-shaped structure) and a walk through a park which was supposed to lead us to the next bus stop but instead turned into a 5 kilometre adventure (up and down hills) which found us back at our starting point an hour and a half later! We took another overnight bus from Curtiba to Rio where we are now and will stay for several days relaxing on Ipanema Beach.

Ciao (that still seems to work in Portuguese).