Iguassu Falls
Our 17 hour bus journey to Puerto Iguasu was fairly easy. We opted for the full 'cama suite' which means the whole seat reclines and foot rest comes up to form a reasonably comfortable and fairly horizontal bed, which is perfect if you are a below 5'10" - obviously not an issue for the general South American - but not great for 6'6" with back issues. There is also a hostess on board who provides you with free snacks, drinks (including champagne) and hot meals; they show films on board and there was even a fairly clean toilet. For a long bus journey it was much easier than we had anticipated.
We arrived in the afternoon and after a quick stop for lunch we headed over to the falls. The local bus takes you right up to the entrance where you buy your tickets into the national park. There are 2 walks (upper and lower) to choose from and also a quick train journey and a further 10 minute walk takes you to the most awesome of the falls 'Garganta del diablo' (the devils throat). We opted for the latter and hopped onto the natural gas train (max speed 5km/h). Along the way you see so many butterflies and cutest little Agutis which are small mammals living in the park and are actually pretty friendly.
You can hear the water falls a long while before you reach them and as you come closer you can feel the accompanying mist on your skin. The water falls at this section are stunning and it's hard not to be in a trance looking at the sheer power and the natural beauty of them. Our guidebook had said that they make the Niagra Falls look like a toilet flush, and you can understand why looking at the number of waterfalls and the amount of water that seems to be flowing past you just a few meters away.
We decided that we will have to come back next morning to the Argentine side of the waterfalls as we had not had a chance to do the walks and also the amazing boat rides that takes you right up to the falls. We returned to town an went in search of our final Argentine dinner. You could smell the steaks, chicken and sausages cooking on outside barbeques as you walk past the restaurants. We chose our restaurant after a friendly banter with the busboy outside the entrance, who recommended their lomo (fillet steak). The service was lousy, but the food was the best that we had had so far. Our medium rare steaks arrived, massive portion of 2 large steaks per person and a token vegetable or two. I had a lovely blue cheese sauce on mine - absolutely out of this world!
Next morning we headed over to the falls once more and started our walks on the upper and lower levels. These get you so close to the waterfalls that it's hard not to get wet. However we needn't have worried, if these walks were slightly damp, the boat ride we took was throughly soaking. They take you so close to the falls that it becomes impossible to know which side the water is coming from. It's like taking a very powerful shower whilst being fully clothed. Thankfully they give you a waterproof bag for your belongings, but there's no getting away from exiting the boat looking thoroughly wet but with the biggest smile on your face and adrenalin pumping in your veins.
We left the Argentine side of the falls in hope to cross the border and spend the rest of the afternoon in the Brazillian side. Although the border crossing is fairly painless at this section, it still took a bit of time to get ourselves to our hostel in Foz do Iguasu. Also, we hadn't accounted for the 1 hr time difference between the two countries and ended up being a too late to go to the waterfalls again. Unfortunately we had to catch our flight to Rio the next morning and never got to see the Brazillian side of the falls, but we heard they are great for panoramic views. We thoroughly enjoyed our two days here, but feel it would have been great to have an extra day, but things never really work out the way you planned and we are rather looking forward to some beach time in Rio de Janeiro ;-)
