We took the night bus from Douradas (3 hours from Bonito) to Cascavel. At 7:45 am we had to change buses to take us to Foz do Iguaçu (Portugese for Iguassu Falls). We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and headed straight out.
Kate and I decided to do a helicopter ride over the falls. It was only 10 minutes long but the views were amazing! They are bigger than Niagara Falls but they are not a complete falls - there are lots of smaller falls. We then headed towards the falls so that we could see them from the ground. We walked along a trail that ended up on a bridge across the river lookig straight at the falls. The power of them was amazing!!!
That afternoon, we crossed the border into Paraguay for some tax free shopping! Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America and the difference was very noticable compared to Brazil! We went into a shopping centre, where the majority of shops sold electronic equipment. They don´t pay tax on their goods so they are so cheap! Kate & I bought a set of Ipod speakers (for £20!!).
It took us a couple of hours to cross back into Brazil - we had lots of sellers coming to the mini bus selling almost anything you could think of - soft drinks, beer, socks, umbrella hats, mini seats, blood pressure monitors, CD´s and DVD´s. Some of them were quite funny to watch and it made the time pass quickly!
The next day we headed into Argentina to see the falls from that side. Inside the national park, we took a short walk through a forest to the train station and caught the train to the edge of the falls. The view is far superior from this side as you stand on the edge of the falls an watch the water go over! We stayed there for about 20 minutes just taking in the view (and getting a little wet from the spray)!
After lunch, we took a trip through the jungle en route to the river. Here we got a boat for a close up of the falls, which involved the boat going into the falls and giving us a shower! We looked like drowned rats when the boat ride was over but it was worth it (especially since it cooled us down). It didn´t take long for us to dry off (in the 40 degree heat!)
We headed back to the hotel (to finish drying properly) and to rest as we were leaving at 6:20am the next morning for a 10 hour bus trip to Curitiba!
Kate and I decided to do a helicopter ride over the falls. It was only 10 minutes long but the views were amazing! They are bigger than Niagara Falls but they are not a complete falls - there are lots of smaller falls. We then headed towards the falls so that we could see them from the ground. We walked along a trail that ended up on a bridge across the river lookig straight at the falls. The power of them was amazing!!!That afternoon, we crossed the border into Paraguay for some tax free shopping! Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America and the difference was very noticable compared to Brazil! We went into a shopping centre, where the majority of shops sold electronic equipment. They don´t pay tax on their goods so they are so cheap! Kate & I bought a set of Ipod speakers (for £20!!).
It took us a couple of hours to cross back into Brazil - we had lots of sellers coming to the mini bus selling almost anything you could think of - soft drinks, beer, socks, umbrella hats, mini seats, blood pressure monitors, CD´s and DVD´s. Some of them were quite funny to watch and it made the time pass quickly!
The next day we headed into Argentina to see the falls from that side. Inside the national park, we took a short walk through a forest to the train station and caught the train to the edge of the falls. The view is far superior from this side as you stand on the edge of the falls an watch the water go over! We stayed there for about 20 minutes just taking in the view (and getting a little wet from the spray)!After lunch, we took a trip through the jungle en route to the river. Here we got a boat for a close up of the falls, which involved the boat going into the falls and giving us a shower! We looked like drowned rats when the boat ride was over but it was worth it (especially since it cooled us down). It didn´t take long for us to dry off (in the 40 degree heat!)
We headed back to the hotel (to finish drying properly) and to rest as we were leaving at 6:20am the next morning for a 10 hour bus trip to Curitiba!
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