Foz deIguassu or Iguassu Falls is a big highlight in South America and I was pretty excited about it but was just hoping that it wasn’t going to be over hyped like some of these biggies can be. Did the Brazilian side of the falls on the first day but stopped on the way to see a bird park. Now apart from my love of penguins, I’m not massively into birds but it was a good way to see the inhabitants of the falls national park. The tucans are just gorgeous birds, their beaks are so vibrant, they actually look fake – even in real life!!!

Their beaks almost look 2-dimensional. They are not shy either, one of them had a piece of fabric stuck on the teeth of his beak and he was chasing our feet so we would stand on it to remove it. Weird huh? Clever clogs though, but myself, Lis and Lynn valued our toes too much because, damn, that beak would definitely snap one or two off!!! Loads more to see in the bird park, including fish, turtles and fabulously coloured parrots. (Parrots kinda give me the willies though!!)

We moved on to the main event and the Brazilian side of the falls is accessed through a 1.5km trail. God it was hot, we looked like we had been under the falls within the first five minutes!! Mmmmmmmm sweaty! A very nice walk though which afforded great views of the falls along the way….

…….how often do you get to see something like this, ahhhhh just perfect! Eventually you walk down to platforms over the water from which you view (and hear) the thunderous falls in all their glory. People keep saying it must be hard to impress me after what I’ve seen on my travels up until now but this was definitely a highlight for me. The falls are awesome, and when I say that I mean awesome in a way that I was in absolute and utter awe of them, not just as a throwaway remark. Mighty, roaring, soaking us with mist, which was just the refreshment needed by then.

It was amazing, honestly i don’t think I’ve experienced nature on such a grand and powerful scale. (check out this very shaky video to give you an idea Iguassu Falls, Brazilian video – and no I wasn’t hungover!!) I really don’t have the words to describe it properly but standing in front of the falls makes you feel so small but also so so lucky to see them 🙂

We stayed, got drenched and watched for ages and you know you’ve witnessed something great when it’s hard to leave it behind.

Everyone says that you should view the falls from both the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side so the following day we headed across the boarder to Argentina. The falls are quite different on this side…..

I’m not sure how but I guess you get to see them more up close, the Brazil side seems to show the overall magnitude of them. They are still massive and dramatic on the Argy side though, it’s hard to describe the difference. Anyhoo we got to walk on some great trails and took a speed boat right under the pounding water which was loadsa fun. Wanted it to last much longer. You also got to see just how massive and powerful the falls are!!

Between us all I reckon we took a billion pictures and videos 🙂 (Check this one out Devil’s Throat, Foz, Argentina ) No mean feat when the falls are spraying the crap out of your camera!!!

That night we went to a Latin American dance show, which was very impressive, we got to see everything from salsa to tango to samba……

and a good few laughs in between 🙂 Plenty of pics and videos on my flickr site for the boys to oogle 🙂

The following day we moved into Paraguay. Big changes when you cross the boarder, moving from one of the richest countries in South America to one of the poorest. Our destination was Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. When I think of the capital cities I’ve seen around the world, I think of sprawling cities with high rises and the poorer areas on the outskirts. Asuncion is a little different, it’s relatively small and there is very little wealth there. People work hard for the little money they earn. The slums are pretty much right in the city but we didn’t take pictures, well I don’t think it’s very nice to photograph people in that way. There was also a matter of a militant with a machine gun who didn’t take too kindly to us even looking at this area!!

Asuncion isn’t the most exciting place in the world I must admit. I strolled around the market and there was a lot of leather goods and also the mandatory mate cups. Mate tea is taken even more seriously here than in Argentina. We did a little city tour (led by me of all people!!) and had a look at some of the government buildings. This is Palacio de Gobierno……

…… which looks completely at odds with the shanty town a couple of hundred metres away. We also strolled past this Plaza…..

….. something tells me that Juan could have been a Cork baby 🙂 We also visited Catedral Metropolitana and the oldest building in Asuncion, Casa de la Independcia, built in 1772 and where Paraguay declared it’s independence in 1811. We finished up our walk on Plaza de los Heroes and visited Pantheon de los Heroes where some of Paraguay’s political figures are buried. I can’t say that I’d highly recommend Asuncion as the most exciting travel destination but it was interesting to see the differences between it and it’s wealthier neighbour Brazil. It also had interest for me as a school friend lived there for a few months about a decade ago so I tried to imagine what it would have been like then.

I also assisted with keeping Asuncion litter free……..

…….it’s not every day you see your name on a rubbish bin, I’m not really sure how to take that to be honest!! 🙂 We headed out for a nice meal in a Spanish restaurant. This is (Alissa) Lis, Lynn, Jeanette and myself……

……. we had a good old night, listening to some live Peruvian music in a local bar. By the way never let your camera disappear into this lady’s hands or else you’ll get many of these photos…..

…..Brilliant 🙂

Sin e on sceal, more photos on 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157614873506129/  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157614910276625/   http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157615093654789/