Iguazu Falls

Buenos Aires - Puerto Iguazu - Foz do Iguaçu

We had our longest bus ride yet a couple of days ago - 20 hours from BUenos Aires up to Puerto Iguazu. Luckily, it was the best bus we~ve ever had. The seats were huge, there was plenty of leg room, the movies were played over headphones so you didn~t have to listen to the latest Steven Segal action movie if you didn~t want to. It was so fancy, they even served us wine with our dinner and then champagne afterwards. So, despite being the longest bus ride, it certainly seemed shorter than some of our past experiences.

In Puerto Iguazu, there isn~t much to do except go see the Iguazu falls. If you~ve seen the new Indiana Jones movie, these are the falls that they go over in the boat or you may have seen them in the Planet Earth fresh water episode. They were pretty impressive - there~s catwalks so you can walk right up to the edge of the largest falls and you can~t see the bottom from all the mist. Then there are walks lower down so you can see them from the bottom. It~s also cool because the river marks the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay so at one point you can look across and see three countries at once.

After a day on the Argentina side, we moved across the border to Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil. It was the most complicated border crossing we~ve had, but mostly because of our cab driver. The first cab we got in, we asked to be taken to the Argentina customs, then the Brazilian one, and then finally the town. He took us to some random street in Puerto Iguazu and said it was customs, but it was all closed. He left us there and said he~d go ask around and come back, but after waiting for an hour there we decided to take matters into our own hands. We got a different taxi at the bus station and he took us to the real customs - we~re still not sure what that first building was.

We~ve only been in Brazil for one day, but we~ve already had problems with the Portuguese. We needed to break a 20 to get change for the bus, so we went to McDonalds to buy a fanta. All James said to the clerk was "fanta", but she had to call over someone else to translate for her. Hopefully it gets easier, but we~ll see.

Today we~re going to the Brazilian side of the falls and then this evening we~re taking a night bus to Sao Paolo. As soon as we arrive there, we~re getting on another bus for 6 more hours of driving to Paraty. Then the following day we~re getting another bus and then a ferry to Ilha Grande. But after that, we~ll only have one more bus and we~ll be in Rio. And then home!