Hosteria Casa Blanca Iguazu Puerto Iguazu

... for the sake of our stomachs and fellow passengers, we had decided to pass on lunch that day!<br><br>All that really remains to be said about Iguazu is, if you are ever in South America you have to come here. It's a pain to get to but the effort will be rewarded a thousand times over by the experience.<br><br>On our final day in the area, we visited the world's largest hydro-electric dam at a place called Itaipu about 30km north of the falls ...

... br><br>This done we crossed the road to the hostel, got our bags from the luggage room, and then caught a taxi to the Hostel Inn. On arriving we checked into our dorm, where we were the only occupants, then went to play pool. For dinner there was a huge buffet, another example of the amazing food a this hostel. We then met up with Sonny, Anesh and Dipesh and got some drinks. We watched the final set of an Andy Murray match, then went to sit outside at the bar. Before ...

... Argentine side where I spent 5 hrs walking around. The place is magnificent. I&#8217;m attaching a number of photos of the falls which are quite extraordinary. In some spots it felt like what it would be to stand over Niagra Falls&#8212;if it were 5x larger! The main sight on the Argentine side is &#8220;La Garganta del Diablo&#8221;&#8212;the devil&#8217;s throat. It is a &#8220;U&#8221; shaped fall that goes down ...

... there is enough water to keep them running! although knowing the amount of rain that had fallen in the previous 24 hours I dont know why I was surprised! We saw some really interesting animals, and birds in the surrounding jungle and there were amazingly colourful butterflies everywhere! Hard to get on film though those little buggers! <br><br>After our trip to the falls, all that was left to do was sit and wait for the bus to Rio!...<br><br><br> <br>

... breast with mashed potatoes and Jim had a huge steak with mushrooms and chips. We unfortunately didn't have any room for pudding so we just headed back and crashed out. <br><br> On Monday we set off early and caught the bus to the Iguazu National Park. When we arrived we paid our &#8220;gringo tax&#8221; and then headed into the park. We decided to do the nature walks first, so set off on the Upper falls trail, followed by the lower falls ...

... station, eating kebabs and grabbing a pizza for dinner once the few restaurants opened. Mary ran into a British nuclear decommisioning scientist, Jen, that she had met in Santiago, seen again in Peru and who had seen Sarah at the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It is a small gringo trail world.<br><br>The Dominance of Iguazu Falls<br>Iguazu Falls is a misnomer as it is a series of 275 waterfalls that tumble from the upper to the lower Iguazu River on the ...

... side of the falls, we were able to walk through the many circuits of these beautiful rainforests, seeing exotic plants, wildlife and spectacular swimming spots where peaceful deep lagoons were fed by small waterfalls.<br> <br>Working our way lower through the landscape, we soon ended up at the bottom of the falls, where you could take boat rides up the smooth river towards the ...

... plane ticket for Daniela: the Internet website of TAM, the Brazilian company, wasn't working, and it was a real pain to pay with a credit card in Argentina (forms to fill in, delays, etc), so it was infinitely simpler to just go over to the TAM desk in Brazil and do that over there. :)<br><br>Ciudad del Este is a gigantic mess. The whole town is a souk, an open sky market filling up all the streets, things mostly of poor quality and cheap coming directly ...

... so we also got served some bland inedible food and iced red wine (?!). <br><br>We were also offered some champagne or whisky just before we arrived, which we turned down based on their previous efforts! <br><br>When we got to Puerto Iguacu we were reunited with our baggage, strapped up and walked to our ...

... but it was good to soak up a few rays and chill out for an hour or so. <br><br> <br><br>After chilling on the beach (which we had to ourselves) we walked back to the road via a nice little lake tucked away in the woods, which ...