Get Jealous has been ‘acting up’ so haven’t been able to update the blog in a while.
We fly back to the UK tomorrow where we’ll spend a few days with Laura and Victoria then onto Canterbury to stay with Craig and Sophie.
But I must just add photos of the last of our trip.....ten fantastic days at Iguazu Falls then Rio de Janeiro.
We flew from Salta to Puerto Iguazu and the magnificent falls that are on both the Argentinian side and Brazilian WOW .
Skip this paragraph if you aren’t interested in statistics: Largest waterfall system in the world, being 200 to 270 feet high they are not as high as Vic Falls but they cover 1.7 miles wide and have 275 drops. Water gushes down at 62,000 cubic feet per second.
Started on the Argentinian side in a hotel 5 minutes walk to the local bus station to catch a bus that takes you right into the National Park. We’d arrived the night before into a thunder storm and were greeted by a fabulous manager full of humour, called me Pamela Anderson !! As I say , full of humour. It was indeed a tropical storm so he kindly drove us to the restaurant we’d chosen. Great hotel with a pool again, useful after a full day at the falls.
Chris and I saw Victoria Falls when we lived in Africa and I saw Niagra in the 1970’s but I have to say I think these are definitely the most spectacular.
We spent the whole day walking the trails, mostly in rainforest, at different levels to the many viewpoints. We spotted quite a bit of wildlife including exquisite brightly coloured butterflies. Families of raccoon like quatis , we’ve not seen before, try to pinch food and will bite and scratch to do so.
As the photos show the water is chocolate coloured with all the sediment washed down from early on in its course.
Here we go again with that word I don’t like but it says it all.....awesome. At one point you get chance to stand out on a ledge and look up at this huge overflow that feels so high above you and is coming down with such ferocity....the noise is deafening and the fine spray is drenching.....I cannot describe the feeling, warm tears just flowed down my face and wouldn’t stop, it just felt so amazing and powerful. No photographs at this point, too much water everywhere. We wore plastic ponchos, some folk took their tops off and others got soaked to the skin. It is hot and humid so no matter.
We said our fond goodbyes to the friendly manager and Argentina and took a taxi across the border into Brazil and to our next hotel, took less than an hour. Again we chose a hotel 5 mins from the local bus station to get to the falls easily. The town Foz de Iguaçu is only worth staying in for a falls visit.
From the Brazilian side you get a more panoramic view of the falls and we spotted some of where we’d walked the previous day. Another fabulous day and I couldn’t help but think how lucky we are to see such sights.