More waterfalls and rainbows, but this time in Brazil

29 May 2007

Yesterday morning I got up a bit on the late side, had some breakfast and was planning on visiting the Brazilian side before I headed to Paraguay. I met a great Aussie, David, and we headed to see the falls. From Foz do Iguacu, it is a 30 minute bus ride to the falls, where it cost 20 reias, which is about 10 dollars. You then take a bus to where you can walk and see these panaoramic views and then finally dumps you into the Devils Throat or Garganta do Diablo. Which is again a fall that you can almost be directly in the middle of. It has water pouring out of three different falls and again this is where we couldn't go on the speed boat due to the river being too high.

So now that I've showed and told you about the falls from the Argentinian side, I'll tell you about the Brazilian side. Unlike the Argentina side, the Brazilian side offers panaormic views of the falls. Most guides say that you should see the Brazilian side first and then go see the other side. Opps, once again I am following my own tune. People have asked me which side I liked best and really both are amazing. The Brazilian side is overwhelming because you get to see the vastnest of the falls. You walk to one area and are in awe, and can't believe that there is anything better then this, but then you walk around the coroner and it is just as fantastic.

Unfortunatly I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time on the Brazilian side because I had to catch a bus (which I missed) to go to Asuncion, to see my brother. So I didn't get to experience the rainforest on this side, but I heard great things about it.

Because I missed my bus I had a few hours to just walk around in Foz Do Iguacu, which is decent size city and has some good shops to walk around it. I do have to say the hostel in which I stayed Hostel Bambu was great. The people working there were super nice and helpful. So if anyone is heading to Foz, they should stay here.

I made it to my bus for Paraguay and had to cross both the Brazilian border, where the bus stops, you run off to go get your passport stamped and hurry to get back on the bus, so it doesn't leave you. Then you stop on the Paraguay side and do the same thing. I know have three stamps from Brazil, one for when I flew in, one when I went to the Argentinian side (twice) and one for leaving. I also have a bunch from Argentina.

Waterfalls and rainbows in Argentina

27 May 2007

Ok, so a little more about my days at the falls and the story itself. Iguacu Falls, in Guanani means Great Water. It is based on a Guarani legend of a forest god who got angry at a warrior for stealing his daugther and escaping on the river Iguazu in a canoe. In his rage he caused the river bed to collapse in front of the lovers. Throwing the daughter over the edge and turning her into a stone, whereas the warrior survived and later was a tree that overlooks his lover. Isn't it romantic.

Well the falls themselved can be seen on both the Brazilian side as well as the Argentinian side. My first day was spent on the Argentin side, where you get to get up close and personal with the falls. Like I said before it is unbeliveable and difficult to put into words on how to describe what you see. The falls are the largest in the world, where as Angel Falls is the highest and Niagra is the widest for one waterfall, but Iguacu Falls spans almost 9000 ft total, between both countries.

When we arrived we took a jeep and rode throught the jungle, it is a sub-tropical rainforest and has many different species of birds, including 5 different species of tucans, snakes, butterflies and plants. They also have jaguars and courgers, but of course we didn't see any of these, apparently you have the best chance of seeing them in the morning. We then got onto this speed boat which takes us up directly to the falls and you get soaked by them. In fact we almost went underneath them. Because the river was flowing at 4000 cubic feet/sec (normally only 1700 cubic feet/sec) we couldn't actually ride up the the Devil's Throat, one of the biggest and seemingly most powerfull of the falls, but I do have pictures from it on the Brazilian side. The boat tooks us under two different falls and it was amazing. After the boat ride we get back into the jeep and go for another ride. There are the upper and lower falls that you can walk through and you walk up to both the upper and lower, which is where some of the pictures are from. On this walk you are literally walking right above where some of the falls spill over.

The two pictures are from the Argentinian side. Like I said before, there are rainbows everywhere and all you want to do is keep taking pictures because it is just so amazing.

27 May 2007

Sao Paulo is a dirty city and I wouldn´t recommend it anyone. The museum of art at Sao Paulo was good, but other than that, it was dirty and no fun. I did eat some interesting things, but other than that, not looking forward to having to stay the night. Well I got on a bus at 3:00 to Foz for 15 hours.

28 May 2007 FOZ

It was an interesting bus ride, uncomfortable and once again I arrived at 5:00 am in Foz, luckily I had a hostel to go to and get a few hours of sleep before I headed to the falls. Which are amazing.

Words can´t describe it, they are just so awesome. I´ve got some great photos that I can´t wait for everyone to see. We went on this tour that took you into the park, then on a jeep ride to a boat where we went under the falls. It was crazy and we got soaked. Then we went and walked above the falls again amazing. I met some great people from Ireland, Aidan and Clare and basically have hung out with them all the time and am now on my way for a beer.

I think I´ve been up for more than 24 hours!

Well I finally made it to Sao Paulo! But let me tell you about all my fun adventures.

5/25/07 San Francisco


Well Beth was awesome for taking me into SF and hanging out for the day. First off we needed to retrieve my passport that was at the Brazilian Consulate because I needed to get a visa to come into Brazil. Then we parked along the Embarcadero and proceeded to be touristas. We walked down Pier 39, saw the stinky seal lions, arh arh. Then we decided that we wanted to see Coit Tower, we hiked up a bunch of hills and finally made it. Great views, but it was a little foggy and it does cost to get in, 4 bucks, so we just decided to head back down to North Beach where we ate lunch. Then we walked through China town into Union Square for some shopping. Because we had all the time in the world (my flight didn´t leave until 1:00 am on the 26th) we saw Shrek 3. After that we walked back to the car and Beth took me to the airport. I do have some pictures, but there is no usb port :(.
Well Beth drops me off at the airport and I am just chilling, when I see a familiar face. GLUE Dave!!! I couldn´t believe it (he was someone I dated last year and lived right around the corner from Amy and I). Well he is going to Peru to do some mountain climbing. So we shared the flight to San Salvador, with the helicious 5 hour layover, that~´s right 5 freaking hours. Then off to Lima for another 3 hour layover, then finally onto my final destination Sao Paulo (the crap shack).

So that´s where I am now, actually at the bus station heading out for FOZ. So I will have more for you later, but if you ever come to Brazil, bypass Sao Paulo.