Iguazu Falls

So, after saying goodbye to our parents in Rio we hopped a quick 26 hr bus ride (with no tvs or movies!) to get down to Iguazu which lies on a triple border between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Oddly enough this is was one of our least anticipated major stops on our trip because we had this expectation that it would be a bit boring and that we´d just end up looking at some waterfalls for a few hours and be done. Well, we couldn´t have been more wrong.

Iguazu Falls is a massive complex of literally hundreds of waterfalls all kind of chained together along 2 km of river. There is no place on ground level which allows you to see the whole set of falls at one time, so you have to make your way up and down the river to see the whole thing. And to make it more interesting the falls is split mostly between Brazil and Argentina, with each side containing their own interesting vantage points for viewing the falls. So rather than spending a boring couple of hours looking at some waterfalls we spent 2 days hiking around the parks on both sides. I could try and remember some of the details about the falls, but you´re better off just googling or checking on wikipedia, so lets just see some pics …

After our couple days in Iguazu we continued south to Buenos Aires where we are now, unfortunately we haven´t done a whole lot here the past couple days because Chels hasn´t been feeling too well so we are resting up at the moment and should be back on the trail shortly.

Ilha Grande and Rio de Janeiro

okay. been a little while since the last post and we´ve been hitting a few spots here in Brazil before heading into Argentina and making our way down towards Patagonia.

So, from Lima we hopped a flight (overnight, of course) over to the eastern coast of South America and landed in Sao Paolo, Brazil where we then quickly grabbed a bus off to the costa verde and Ilha Grande. Ilha Grande was a nice introduction to Brazil since it was basically deserted until around 10 years ago and since then has slowly been converting into a tourist destination. The appeal now of course is that hardly anyone goes there yet, so the island is large and empty, a good place to relax for a few days before hitting the big city …

After a three good days relaxing on Ilha Grande it was time to meet our parents in Rio for a week. You´d think that a week was plenty of time, but it flew by and we could have spent even more time there. Rio certainly has one of the most unique and interesting locations for a city we´ve ever seen and there is a lot to see. Some of the weeks activities included … biking around the lagoa and Ipanema, watching a soccer game at Maracanã stadium, touring through a couple of Rio´s favelas (ghettos), Sugar Loaf and Christ Redeemer, getting stuffed on feijoada, and of course – lots of caipariñas.

And now we are off to Iguazu Falls and Argentina!