Top 5 Photos – Brazil

The view from the top of a favella in the heart of Rio De Janeiro

The view from the bottom
Christ the Redeemer

Iguazu Falls

Lopez Mendez Beach, Ilha Grande

Entering Argentina and the Incredible Iguaçu Falls

After a brief 16 hours on the bus we arrived at Foz do Iguazu – the local town near the waterfalls. We stumbled off the coach and fell into a taxi which took us to our accommodation which was a bizarre mix between a hostel, hotel and motel. We dumped our bags in the room and took the bus to the Brazilian side of Iguazu falls (the waterfalls are split between Brazil and Argentina by the Iguazu river). We had also spotted a leaflet in the hostel that advertised ab sailing and zip lining in the trees so we rashly bought a voucher from the hostel to do those two activities. We arrived at the waterfalls and had our first glimpse of the tremendous sight. It was absolutely spectacular!! Our eyes were glued to this immense beautiful natural wonder. I have never seen something so breathtaking in my life.

After gazing at the falls in awe for rather a long time, we did the zip lining in the trees and ab sailed 55m down the rock face with a view over the waterfalls. This was absolutely incredible although I couldn’t help thinking my white shorts were being ruined by the rope as I slid down. I tried not to let this petty thought ruin my ab sail.We watched the sunset over the waterfalls and I took some necessary photos for the blog. Social media first, real life experience second.

The next day we left Brazil and crossed the border into Argentina!! Border control was virtually non existent with no bribing necessary. We were sad to be leaving Brazil as we had spent such a great time there, 2 weeks really isn’t enough! We visited an animal sanctuary in the afternoon which was quite fun but just a time filler as we were visiting the Argentinian side of the falls the following day.
We woke up at 7am the next day to get to the falls by 8 and avoid the numerous swarms of retired American tourist groups. This was also our first hostel breakfast with scrambled eggs!! A great start to the morning. We ran to the bus stop as getting up proved harder than we thought. We got to the falls and started off with a 7 km trek to a rather underwhelming little waterfall. I don’t quite understand why we did this as Iguazu falls were a lot closer and more impressive. By the time we returned from our trek the retired American tourists were in full swing roaming the national park. Bad timing on our part. We later took a speed boat underneath the falls which was absolutely hilarious as we all got completely soaked. We had also brought a bag with us containing swimming trunks, flip flops and a towel but due to pure laziness we decided not to change as we had convinced ourselves we would emerge dry (even having been told the night before that you get soaked). I walked all day with a stupid plastic bag that I didn’t touch once.

Once again the Argentinian side of the waterfalls did not disappoint. They were breathtaking. The shear power and quantity of water that flows over the cliffs is inconceivable. This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

We arrived back into town around 6 and went to pick our washing up from a dodgy little launderette. Unexpectedly, as we stepped in, the man started rambling on about how we had paid with fake bank notes which we had just taken out from the bank atm. Luckily, I spoke good enough Spanish to return back a convincing argument. 10 minutes later after a decent debate, the man caved and gave us back our washing. His clever scam had failed and our washing was clean. 1 to the tourists, 0 to the launderette. 

Tomorrow we fly to buenos aires, this flight we have to catch!