Cataratas Iguazu

 And so we ended our travel in Brazil at Foz do Iguazu. We booked a trip to Iguazu Falls at Argentina side and to drop us at the bus station at the end of the day. After spending some time picking up people around the city,we then proceed to the border of Argentina. The bridge is painted in Brazilian colour up to the ½ way mark before being painted in Argentinian colour on the other side. Reaching the Iguazu, we had to take a train to the end of the station and walk for another 1km.

Blue jay

The view at Argentine side is even more spectacular as we are much more closer to the Devil’s Throat. The power, the amount of water and the noise is incredible. I wish we could stay longer to take in the sight but our guide hurried us along.

After this, the upper circuit and lower circuit are not as spectacular. We went to the best view in the morning and everything else is not as sepctacular. We should have done the Devil’s Throat last, building it to the climax through the day.

Coates playing...

Coates

Must be the lighting or angle .......

A good day out at the Cataratas Iguazu!!!

Itaipu Dam in Brazil

Itaipu Dam is the 2^nd largest in the world. The pipes that the water runs through is 21m in diameter each and the power generated supplies 18% of Brazil needs and 75% of Paraguay needs. The building of the dam probably displaces thousands of people and animals, and flooded hundred of square km of forests. Who are we to judge whether it’s the right thing to do for their own country?

These pipes are 21m in diameter.

Such a big bushbearing!

Our dinner - roasted chicken wings and fried vegetables...yumyum

Iguazu Falls - Brazil

Iguazu Falls is the largest in the world. We reached the start of the trail to walk to Devil’s Throat. The view is simply spectacular as we walked down towards the waterfall. Near to the falls, the spray is immense and we wore our rain jacket. The best thing that we bought is the waterproof pouch for the camera. Those who saw it was envious as our camera is dry.

After taking many pictures, we almost missed our last bus and had to run for it. Unfortunately for me, I had to step on S shoes and she turned around and snapped at me. The strain of travelling had caught up with us. We were unhappy with each other for a short time. Phrase of the day – “You always do things to irritate me”

Bird Park near to Iguazu Falls

We went to visit the bird park which is just a short distance away from the Iguazu Falls. Quite a nice bird park with lots of birds from South America. It would have been nicer to see them in the wild, but sometimes can only see them in the bird park.

Hyacinth macaw

Golden parakeet - such vibrant colours

Flight from Campo Grande to Foz do Iguazu

Next day, we managed to book a budget flight from Campo Grande to Foz do Iguazu. We got to the airport for our 4.30pm flight to Foz do Iguazu on Trip. After clearing custom, we walked on the tarmac towards the plane and realized that it’s a propeller plane. After settling comfortably into the seat, all the lights came on and the stewardess opened all the overhead compartment. Mechanical problem and our flight is delayed. I think we should take bus next time. We were given only R$15 for a 2-hour delay. And so we got into Foz do Iguazu airport at 11pm.

We took a bus into town and according to the instruction  from the hostel, they are very near to the bus terminal. Another crisis struck, we forgot to take the address of Iguazu Guesthouse. It was a trying time, but I sort of remembered it as 1190 Rua Napa. Taking out my guidebook, I’m relieved that there’s a Rua Naipi, and so off we walked with our backpack at midnight to search for the hostel. Not a safe thing to do. St*p*d budget airline for delaying us again when we’re supposed to arrive at 9pm.

Should be de-boarding, NOT immediate boarding

2 sweets.... that's what we got for the flight delay!

Later gave us R$15 each to buy food and told us to be back in 15 minutes....

Pantanal National Park

Muito Bonito Hostel staff, Pamela, is efficient and organize everything well. The driver was punctual for both days and is cheerful and showed us wildlife along the way. Then it’s back to reality, the driver to pick us to Pantanal National Park is late for an hour. We drove to Miranda and changed to a minibus, then change again to a small truck outside Pantanal National Park for a 3 hour ride into the park. Accom is basic with bed and attached bathroom. Mosquitoes are in abundant, and any area not covered by insect repellant will be bitten. My hair is thinning and the scalp got bitten also.

That evening, we went to do light spotting of caimans. As we sat on the boat, the guide will navigate close to the bank and shine his powerful torch onto the water near the bank to spot for caimans. There are plenty to be seen. My headlight of 140 lumens don’t do too badly also.

On the 2^nd day in PNP, we went onto the boat to look at animals. Birds (white-necked egrets, falcons, greater kisdadee, cattle egret?, etc) are everywhere. We saw a group of capybaras at the bank and they were startled and jumped into the water and promptly disappeared from sight. We then landed on the river bank and went to walk among the caimans, it can be a little scary as we are not sure whether the caimans will attack us. Further on along the river, the guide spotted a pair of howler monkeys high up in the tree. The male is totally black, and the female is totally chestnut in colour…..AWESOME. As we were coming back to the basecamp, we briefly caught a glimpse of heads of 2 giant river otters. Not too bad for a morning with 3 mammals spotted. It would have been perfect if we spotted a jaguar.

Muito Bonito Hostel

Bittern

Hey Baby!

Capybara

Howler monkeys (black male/chestnut female)

Turkey vulture

Caracara

 

In the afternoon, we were experiencing Brazilian time as we waited for an hour for our guide to bring us to go piranhas fishing. He brought along a slab of beef fat and bamboo poles to fish. The hooks are huge and they have wire leaders. And so we boated to the opposite bank and lowered our hooks some 10ft into the water. As I felt a tug from the piranha, I struck and the main line broke. So the guide re-tie a hook for me Second time that I struck, I got the fish and it is my first wild piranha. When S felt a tug, she struck and the main line also broke, and to our disappointment the guide has no more hooks and we had to share a pole, so slack! Eventually we came back at about 5.30pm and had fried piranhas for dinner. The meat is firm and sweet, really good eating fishes.

On the last morning, we loaded our backpacks onto the truck for the trip out of Pantanal National Park. Along the way, we went to look for anacondas but as usual no joy. But, we did see wild pigs, and 1 deer from afar thanks to our binos. We came to a pond that has lots of maribu storks in it but was blocked by mimosa-like shrubs. No one wants to go nearer to see the storks except S and I. And so we went bashing through the shrubs and it is really hard as there are many thorns. Eventually we came out onto the pond and all the maribu storks took flight. It was a gorgeous sight.

The next pond that we went to was also splendid and had maribu stork, black vultures and surprise.. a couple of flamingos. Simply awesome. There were also caimans basking in the sun along the trail. After ogling at the birds for about ½ hour, we make our way back to the truck and went to the campsite for our lunch. As usual, lunch fare is mediocre. I think it’s because of the low price that we paid for this trip.

My 1st wild piranha

Nice piranhas goreng

Drying down feathers

Wild pigs

Maribu storks

We eventually make our way out of Pantanal National Park and hopped onto a minibus for a 3-hour ride to Campo Grande. After checking into Ecological Expedition Hostel for a free night stay, we went to a local restaurant for an excellent and cheap buffet dinner.

That evening, all the traveling and enjoyment eventually caught up with us. Both of us had gastric flu. Well, with some carbon pills, flu medication, and some TCM medicine, we were well again the next day.