Day 86: Baaaaa!

Wed. 7th November 2012

It was a day when we initially felt that we were being herded like sheep – a price we’d have to pay for the sights. We had been told by our friends Rob & Katie that we would absolutely love Iguassu, and so it turned out. By the end of our trip, we had forgotten about the crowds as we lost ourselves in the immensity and grandeur of the spectacle. Our memories will be of the falls themselves – the crowds were insignificant beside them!

Not a very auspicious start though as we nearly overslept. I had correctly set the alarm time on my phone, but I had forgotten to update the clock in my phone to register the additional change of hour as we drove across Brazil. We are now on something like Rio summer time and are only 2 hours behind the UK now. So, it was a quick breakfast – fruit, lots of coffee and some bread and then we were on our way to the Argentinian border. Iguassu is at the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Hence some of the confusion as to how you spell the name Iguaçu (Portuguese), Iguazu (Spanish) or Iguassu.

Leaving Brazil was very straightforward, but as we got to the Argentinian border station we got our first inkling as to how the day was going to go. The car park was crammed full of buses and minivans and we were penned in a field for a half an hour wait whilst our guide went off to get our passports stamped. Once we got going, we joined the queue of buses to get into the National Park that surrounds the falls. The larger portion of the falls lie on the Argentina side and so the park there is correspondingly bigger. In addition therefore, the crowds were bigger too as we went through the turnstiles to the sheep dip ticket machine.

The park is sufficiently large that there is a miniature train service to take you from the centre of the park to the head of the falls and so we headed off for the train station at a brisk clip in order to try and beat some of the crowds. After a 15 or 20 minute wait, we get on the train for the journey up to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) station and to join the throng heading out along the walkway to the falls.

The walkway took us out, over 1km, across the broad river above the falls, crossing from island to island. It was barely wide enough for a single file of people in each direction and so it was slow going but eventually we hear the roar of water and see the mist rising up above the trees on the next island. Further on we start to see the rapids and the first signs of water disappearing over a cliff – and crowds of people standing and gawping. Then, we are there, above the falls, looking down on the Devil’s Throat and on the people standing where we stood yesterday as they look up at us. The noise of the falls is terrific, the volume of water immense – and this is only part of the falls. There is a short video below that shows a little of the sights and sounds.

After retracing our steps along the walkway and back on the train, we have time for a walk along the side of the river to see more of the falls before lunch (and before our boat trip which is booked for 1:45). Here we got some of the best views of individual waterfalls and also out along the length of the cliff giving us a better feel for the sheer extent of the falls. Against the sheer spectacle of the falls we forget that we are sharing the view with a crowd of tourists and we get lost in the view and the sights.

Before we left the hotel, we had been told to expect to get wet and, in the heat of the afternoon sunshine, that seemed like a really good idea. We loaded up into trucks which drove us through the jungle that surrounds the falls and down to the loading pontoon for the boats that would take us up close. For the first section, up the river and through some rapids to the falls we could keep our cameras out and we got some great pictures of the falls (and of us with the falls in the background). Then it was time to put the cameras away and to feel as well as see the falls. As promised, we got absolutely soaked – great fun, and I’m pretty sure that I have had colder showers in a couple of hotels on this trip! All in all, a great way to finish our visit to Iguassu Falls.

Whilst we went to see Skyfall last night, the rest of our group went to a restaurant close to the hotel and came back raving about how good (and good value it was), so we thought that we had better check it out. A good call – it was a BrazillianRodexeiro (?? should have taken a photo of the sign!) restaurant. For R$20 (£7) you got access to a buffet of salads, rice etc and the waiters would keep bringing out different barbequed meats until you beg them to stop. The highlights were some of the cuts of beef (singed outside, red inside) and the pork with crispy crackling. True or not, we felt that we have been deprived of (proper) meat for a while and so we gorged ourselves! A good way to end (another) great day.

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Day 85: Waterfalls and Skyfall

Tues. 6th November 2012

Facemasks were essential last night to get any sleep on the bus, as the lightening lit up the night sky and then the sunrise at 5ish according to our watches but 6ish in Iguassu time.

Soon after 7am we drew up outside our hotel and loaded all our belongings into the only room that was ready for us. This was quickly followed by showers and the  best breakfast we have had to date on this leg of our travels. Fresh fruit, recently cooked scrambled eggs, slices of sausage in onions, tasty coffee and lots of choice of cakes.

There was then time to stretch our legs and get our bearings in this new town. As we needed more cash we headed off to Rua Brazil, were the banks should be, but after 20 minutes walk and rejection of our card in two banks (including Santander, which we thought would be a safe bet) we gave up and headed back to our hotel.

At 10:30 we were off again, this time by minibus to see the Brazilian side of the waterfalls, but first stop was to a different bank where Zaida said we should all be able to get cash – success for most of us. Later there was a Skype session to NatWest by two of our group to unblock debit cards. Just over £1 for the double phone call to the UK to sort the problems – much cheaper than mobiles or hotel phones.  Thank you Skype for saving the day again.

Next it was off to the falls which are actually 22km out of town and part of a National Park declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. We had expected it would be like Niagara where the town has been built around the falls. Luckily this was not the case as Niagara is far too tacky, this was much more natural surroundings (despite the man made walkways and other tourists!).

As some of our group had booked a helicopter flight they were the first to see the falls during their ten minute flight. Very spectacular was the verdict, but worth £6 a minute – only if you were not counting the pennies or it was on honeymoon!

The rest of us had to wait until we had got back on the minibus for two minutes, got off and walked through the entrance, back on the minibus for 5 minute drive then got off again and start walking along the marked trail!!

It was a case of following the path and the tourists to various viewpoints and wait for a space on the railings for the view and taking photos – and we took lots of photos.That said the views were definitely worth the wait and it is difficult to convey the sheer size and number of waterfalls in photographs. There are between 150 and 270 waterfalls depending on the season and the flow/volume of water.

I remember visiting waterfalls in Wales, as a girl, and my dad trying many different settings on his film SLR camera to trying and make the water look like water and not cotton wool, as he described it! Even with digital cameras that is still a challenge but good daylight and auto setting helped me.

The last viewpoint was up close to the falls called Devils Throat, so named because of the loud roar of the water. The waterfall is nearly 90 metres high and the spray on our faces was quite refreshing on such a hot day. However the ice creams and cakes in the local patisserie were even more welcome once we had finished sightseeing for the day.

It was good to finally return to the hotel, an hour or so later than expected, and find our rooms were ready for us. It only left us 2 1/2 hours before Dave & I were out again to go to the cinema to catch the new James Bond film, Skyfall in English with Portuguese subtitles.

As it was half price Tuesday the entrance ticket was only £2 each but the taxi was £5 each way, still a cheap night out. The cinema was small and the audience totalled 12 including us. The film was well worth it and very enjoyable and even better, it will stop Dave going on about how he is missing Skyfall in the UK. It did leave me pondering, however, as there was some amazing Scottish scenery featured in the film and there we were thousands of miles away, enjoying  it on a cinema screen!

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Day 84: A Day By The River

Mon. 5th November 2012

It is the night bus again tonight. Its nobody’s favourite – we are on the ‘standard’ rather than the ‘comfort’ tour and as we knew when we signed up, it would involve some overnight buses. Zaida announces in the morning that it will be a private rather than a public bus and explains that this is good news because we won’t have to change buses every 3 hours.

Before then, however, we want to make the most of our day in Bonito – especially as we were lazy yesterday and the reports of the Balneario do Sol riverpark from the folk who went yesterday were all good. As well as buying some food for a barbeque, I also needed a new pair of swimming trunks as my normal pair are in the laundry. In Spanish, I would be hunting for traje de baño, whilst a shopkeeper assures me that the Portuguese equivalent is sunga. I eventually succeed with some trunks, but I’d say that Portuguese is proving to be hard work. Although the written language is similar to Spanish, the spoken version is very different. We fall back on Spanish or English and that usually gets the job done.

Eight of us then pile in to a minibus for the 30 minute trip out to the riverpark. Given that once we get out of town the road becomes a track, we are glad that we didn’t go for the longer trip yesterday.  Once we get there, the riverpark is very well organised. Down by the river, there are dedicated barbeque areas with brick fire pits with counter tops and sink on either side and table and seating areas in front. Apparently, yesterday being Sunday it was completely packed with each of the 16 or 20 barbeque stations (they are organised in groups of 4) full. Today there is just us and one other group.

Also in the park are some shops and restaurant along with some table-tennis tables, a volleyball pitch and a giant sized chess set. More disconcertingly, there is a red and green macaw who seems to think that he owns the place and a rhea who wanders round the park scavenging for any food left unattended. We weren’t sure whether to feed him or shoo him off – and if the latter how to do it without being on the receiving end of his beak.

Once we got the charcoal lit for the barbeque – not that easy as we didn’t have any firelighters and so had to go scrounging for some kindling – it was time to go swimming in the river while the coals get hot. It was a nice stretch of river to swim in: the water was not too cold; with some small waterfalls upstream of us, the scenery was pretty; and best of all, there was a zipline that you could take to land in the water. Lots of fun, even though Janet couldn’t be persuaded to repeat her zipline riding!

Sadly, the weather didn’t really cooperate (maybe it just wanted to remind us of home) and we had a few spots of rain and cloudy skies. It was also a bit of a battle getting our meat cooked (we put it down to the design of the barbeque with it having too large a gap between coals and grill). Anyway, we did get our sausages & steaks cooked and they were very tasty but we didn’t hang around too long afterwards and head back to the hotel in the middle of the afternoon.

When we get back, we are still able to grab a shower despite being checked out of the hotel, thanks to them having an arrangement with a closed down / run down hotel just along the street. Not the best shower we have ever had, but also not the worst. Given that we had a couple of hours before our bus arrives to take us to Iguassu, we thought we would spend some time trying to book a hotel in Rio. Our trip ends in just about a week (where has the time gone). This proves to be tricky – Rio is looking busy (it is a bank holiday over the weekend we are there) and places we want to stay are expensive. I wonder if we have become spoilt by having G Adventures make all the bookings for us!

At last, our maxi mini bus arrives and we all pile on board. There are nearly enough seats that we can each have a double seat. However, Janet and I are either too slow or too romantic and we end up sitting beside each other – each hoping that we will get comfortable! It gets dark soon after we head out of town and we drive into the storm that was threatened earlier. There is a terrific light show as the bus windows are lit up by sheets of lightening and the rain is torrential. We are glad not to be driving and also that the roads in Brazil are in a better state than those in Bolivia.

A few hours in, the bus stops in a small town so that the drivers can get a bite to eat. It is around 11pm and the town is absolutely dead – and we are not doing much better as we had just got off to sleep as the bus pulled in. We are soon back on the bus, pulling on all the warm clothes we have to hand (not many), pulling eye-masks down and trying to find a comfy position in the seats that are too narrow. All the while, the bus rumbles on further into Brazil and to the border with Argentina and Paraguay.

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Day 83: Sunday is Rest Day

Sun. 4th November 2012

After a poor nights sleep in hammocks and having been pretty full on for quite a few days we decided it is time to chill out and do as little as possible.

The optional excursions today include a snorkelling trip down a river being swept by the current, which sounds tempting but the 6:30am start does not. Typically, those who did go said it was amazing and they were also lucky enough to see a family of monkeys swing across the river and a baby anaconda wrapped around a tree. However, we are still savouring our snorkelling with turtles in Mexico so do not feel too cheated by opting out. The remainder of our group went on the second option which was a trip to a local river park, but we are saving that excitement until tomorrow.

Just before noon we stir ourselves from reading and computing to visit the supermarket, possibly to pick up something for lunch and also some water. We arrive there at 5 minutes to midday to discover it is just about to shut for the day, so it was a quick rush round for the essentials!

The majority of the shops in town are shut all day today so it is very quiet. Yesterday we discovered that our laundry will not be ready until Monday due to them not working in Sunday, which will be interesting as Dave’s swimming shorts are being laundered and he will need them tomorrow!

Having failed in the supermarket to buy lunch we opt for a place called Pantanal Carne Exotica where Dave has the Piranha soup, which is very flavoursome and I have deep fried Caiman (yes it does taste like chicken but with the texture more like calamari).

We had hoped the internet would be better in Brazil but so far this is not the case and it was quite frustrating this afternoon, as the service failed in the middle of Skype calls back to the family. There have, however, been some definite changes for the better in Brazil after Bolivia and Peru. The roads are generally in much better condition and also the time it has taken to serve fourteen of us in the restaurants is much quicker. Somehow, Brazil also feels more affluent – and not just because the cost of beer has doubled!

As everyone else has been on trips today they are not keen on eating out tonight, so it is agreed we will order in pizzas. The hotel entrance area doubles as a communal space and has tables and chairs (and hammocks if preferred!), which is used for breakfast and general waiting around so the setting is quite agreeable. Armed with wine and beer (or vodka and coke) to go with our pizza, we settled down to a pleasant evening together.

We took time to discuss with Zaida what to do in Patagonia when we get there, as she covers most of South America on her trips and has done the Patagonia trail. She says we must take the boat trip to see Glacier Perito Moreno, and the decision is whether to come back across to Argentina from Chile to visit Bariloche,in the Lake District there, which is said to be beautiful. Too many places to see and not enough time, but at least we have the outline of a route from El Calafate down through Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas and then flying up to Puerto Montt for the Lake District. Details like booking hotels and buses can follow (a little) later!

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Day 82: Early Morning Walk

Sat. 3rd November 2012

We now know one advantage of the heavy rain during our first night here in Pantanal – it was very effective in keeping down the number of insects flying around. As Janet described, yesterday evening we were inundated with flying critters and any light just attracted them, so there was no reading in bed (hammock). The previous nights rain also drowned out the various night time noises – howler monkeys, frogs, crickets – and the lesser spotted human snorer. Extinction threatened this last species a couple of times as I struggled to get any sleep at all.

In the end, I resorted to taking the opportunity to catch up a little listening to my Economist audio edition. It didn’t help me get to sleep, but it did suppress the other noises and I do need to catch up as I am 4 weeks or so behind. The long bus journeys are my main opportunity to listen to the Economists and to my regular set of podcasts – I do find them a useful way to keep up with what is happening in the world. As ever, the Kermode & Mayo Film Review podcasts from Radio 5Live are a highlight – though Janet has to shush me whenever I start chortling and attracting funny looks from the others!

Given my poor/no sleep, I was happy that we had signed up for the early morning forest walk and the alarm going off at 5:10 relieved me of the tedium of trying to get to sleep. It was still pitch dark when we got up and we had the added challenge of trying to work out which hammock Jess was sleeping in so we could wake her too! Good guess – but wrong Jess, I think we were forgiven !

In the end there were 5 of us who set off following our guide, Ronaldo, just as the sky was starting to lighten – everything was in monochrome, really quite surreal, and Venus (I assume) was shining brightly just above the horizon. Dawn came quickly (so to speak) and the improving light let us see more of the surrounding grassland and forest. We saw many of the birds and animals we had seen before, but the highlights were seeing Howler Monkeys in the branches of a nearby tree and then seeing the holes where an anteater had been snuffling round ants nests. Sadly, we didn’t get to see the anteater itself.

As we got back and after having had breakfast (still no bacon and egg but at least it didn’t involve spaghetti, rice or beans), the others were just getting up and dressed. It is now time to pack up and move further on east as we head towards Rio. We enjoyed the Pantanal, but it wasn’t as much of a highlight as (say) Salar De Uyuni. I will certainly be glad to not only have a night in a proper bed but also to have a night without the accompaniment of animal (and human) noises.

It was back into our pop-pop open sided truck for one final time to drive to the edge of the park and then into a minibus for the 4 hour transfer to Bonito. An opportunity to catch up on sleep and/or podcasts depending on your preferences. Our lunch-time stop at something that distinctly resembled a motorway service station was our first inkling that Brazil really is going to be quite different (as well as more expensive) than Bolivia.

Bonito is a small town with a long main street around which everything clusters. We are based here for a couple of days before catching a night bus to Iguassu – for the waterfalls and hopefully, also to see Skyfall. (Yes, it is on the cinema there, and it seems to be the English version with Spanish Portuguese subtitles. Can’t wait!). There are activities based around the town including snorkelling in a lagoon with tropical fish; visits to a water park; and trips to a cave where the light shines bright blue through the water.

However, we opt for a lazy day tomorrow as we’ve been on the go since Lima a month ago (and possibly before). We want to catch up with family and so are looking forward to Skype-ing and having a general catch up. Our other priorities are the usual mundanities – laundry, ATM & cold beer!

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Day 81: Beating The Caiman To The Piranha!

Fri. 2nd November 2012

The day began, after a frugal breakfast – not even any jam to have on our bread and marge, with horse riding. It must be 10 years we have been on a horse so it was back to basics. Whilst Dave’s horse gave him the illusion that he was in control, I know who was boss between me and my horse! We did however come to an agreement. If I let it eat grass, follow Anthony on his horse but keep away from Paul’s horse it would be placid! However, I was still a bit freaked when one of the horses threw its rider for no apparent reason.

The horses were trained to walk single file and no overtaking, which was quite tranquil plodding along admiring the scenery and we were able to see some of the wildlife. We saw monkeys, egret, red and green macaws to name a few.

Lunch was spaghetti, rice and beans again. The dessert looked a bit like tapioca but was all caramel – almost (but only almost) too sweet!!  After our exertions of the morning, there was then some time to rest in the daytime hammocks. Lots of inquisitive colourful birds and  two lizards came to see us.

At 1:30 it was off again in the truck, this time armed with rods to go piranha fishing to catch our supper. It took 1 1/2 hours to get there as we kept stopping to see and photograph the wildlife. There were more owls, caiman, otters, storks, spoonbill and heron but the armadillos got away before the guide could point them out to us.

When we finally arrived at fishing pool  the caimans lazing on the shore and in the pool watched us approach.  We all said that under no circumstances would we wade into the water with them watching and loitering. However, we soon did as the competition heated up to catch the first piranha. Zaida soon caught one and the challenge was set. Others then followed suit and Dave caught two. They were annoying little teasers who knew how to nibble the bait without being hooked so frequently after feeling the rod twitch we came up empty handed. After almost two hours the cry went out ten more minutes and I still had not caught anything. Just as I was giving up the nibble on my rod stuck and I had caught a beauty. They are mean looking and have teeth to avoid.

Between us we had a good haul (though we did lose one to a caiman as we tried to land it – clearly weren’t going to argue the point with the caiman) and we happily set off on our long trip back to the farm. As it was getting to the cool of the day, the wildlife began to come out and we saw a toucan, a rhea and an otter feeding on a caiman while a whole host of other caimans looked on. Apparently these otters are so big, strong and aggressive that the caiman defer to it.

Once showered and refreshed it was off for a beer, but restaurant area was inundated with insects and bugs that continued to annoy us all evening. The piranha were tasty but not much flesh on them so we filled up on more rice and spaghetti. After supper, we went outside and sat around a campfire which at least seemed to keep the bugs at bay. However, the toilet block was crawling with bugs so visits were kept short and many preferred to use the eco-toilet!

The night time noise of the frogs, monkeys and other creatures was quite deafening – it sounded a little like a Gran Prix racetrack. Soon we headed for our hammocks as some of us had agreed to be up at 5:30am for an early walk to see the sun rise. It seemed to be a competition between the nightlife outside and the snorers inside over who could make the most noise.

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Day 80: Roughing It

Thur. 1st November 2012

With the train rocking and bouncing around, it was a pretty mixed night’s sleep. Opinion was divided as to whether or not it was better than the night bus. In any event, the surreptitious bottle of wine that we drank last night was certainly a good idea. When we woke around 7, the train was going backwards – we don’t know when it turned around (so, I suppose we can’t have slept that  badly) and an hour later it pulled in to the town of Puerto Quijarro on the Brazilian border. A road sign said 594km to Santa Cruz, so we have come a long way and are now pretty much right in the middle of South America.

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A short taxi ride took us to the border post and then it was the familiar ritual of queuing at the immigration station to get our passport stamped. Looking at the notice on the door, we were surprised to see that the border post is only open 8-12 and 2-6 (and only 8-12 at weekends). You really wouldn’t want to arrive late, as the town really did not look like it was filled with places to stay and things to do. Equally surprisingly, the queue at the Brazilian immigration station was longer than that at the Bolivian side – and there was some significant queue barging going on. At least we are getting used to filling in the immigration forms.

[Editors note: We have just found out that the other group that we will meet in the Pantanal tonight and who were travelling in the other direction (i.e. to Bolivia) hadn’t realised that it was a Bank Holiday in Brazil today (Friday) and arrived at the border crossing just after it closed. They will have to spend an unplanned 24 hours longer in Brazil and will not be happy bunnies!]

For the next couple of weeks, we need to put aside our Spanish and remember the very little Portuguese we know (Bom Dia not Buenos Dias, Obrigado not Gracias – fortunately, cerveza still seems to work!). We also need to get used to the temperature and humidity which both came as a bit of a shock after our time at altitude and the air-conditioned train. In the mid to high 30s it was a lot hotter than we were used to (and probably even hotter than Cuba).

As we drove in our minibus from the border into the Pantanal wetlands, where we will be spending the next couple of days, the change of scenery and landscape was very noticeable. Gone were the mountains and valleys and rocks and cacti, and instead it was flat as far as we could see with green grasslands and trees. Once we got off the tarmac road, we changed from our comfy, air-conditioned minibus, to an open-sided truck (natural air-conditioning). This had the lumpiest, roughest sounding engine I’ve ever heard (worse than the Cuban taxis!). We then chugged and bounced along a dirt road interspersed with wooden bridges over creeks and streams  as we headed deeper into the Pantanal.

On the way, we started to see some of the wildlife that the Pantanal is famous for – the Jabiru Stork (the emblem for the park); Capybara (water pigs) and, by one of the muddy pools, Caymen. It bodes well for our nature spotting ahead.

With Brazil being an hour ahead of Bolivia, not only are we now only 3 hours behind the UK, but it was also nearly 3pm by the time that we arrived at Fazenda Sao Joao, our eco-lodge for the next two nights. We are completely Lee Marvin (starvin’) by the time we arrive as breakfast was but a single banana and a couple of biscuits. One of the biggest disadvantages of these long bus & train journeys is that it is very hard to eat any decent food – typically, it is all crisps, biscuits & sweets. Lunch was a mix of pasta, rice & beans with a little meat added to each of the above. OK, but a far cry from the food we had on the Inca Trail.

The fazenda (farm?) consists of a group of wooden huts. We have been briefed that we will be sleeping in a single dormitory in hammocks whilst we are here – even so, we are a little worried when we spot a large circular hut with lots of hammocks but no walls. Fortunately, this is just a communal area and our dormitory hut does have walls (and hammocks and very little else). After lunch, we head out for a guided walk into the Pantanal and head through the forest to a lake where there are a lot of Caymen lazing on the shore. Both sides seem to decide that discretion is the better part of valour and we both give each other a wide berth.

Supper seems to bear a distinct similarity to lunch – spaghetti, rice & beans and some salad stuff. I hope that the menu isn’t like a record with a stuck track. As we finish supper and it gets dark outside, we are treated to a bit of a light show as we can see lightning flashing all around. Sure enough, as the evening draws on we get the first spots of rain and then it really starts to pour down. We have heard that there is a drought here and that water levels in the pools and creeks is much lower than normal – als0, we have been very lucky with the weather, so we can’t complain.

There is a rumour that the electricity is switched off at 10pm and nobody is sure how well they will sleep in hammocks in a communal dormitory, so we head back to our hammocks for an early night. Tomorrow will be horseback riding and then piranha fishing so there is plenty to look forward to.

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