Our first breakfast at this Hotel proved to more of the same but at least the Scrambled Eggs looked the right colour and tasted fine. There was also proper tea which was an added bonus. I also discovered the delights of the small South American warm bread rolls filled with melted cheese.
As arranged we met our guide in Reception at 8am for our tour of the Argentine side of Iguassu. This meant we had to exit Brazil and go through the Argentina Border crossing again. Today it seemed a lot more straightforward for reasons I did not understand. We were soon at the Argentina National Park Entrance. There was a queue as the park did not open until 9am, although in South American time it meant when they actually open when they feel like it (at 9.10am).
The entrance looked and felt very much like going into Disney, in particular Animal Kingdom. When the gates opened there was a Disney like rush to get in. We walked past various gift shops and cafes and reached the train station that would take us the 3km to the Upper Falls trail. We got on the first train of the day. The train is the one that the Animal Kingdom is based upon. It is also one that Karen and I have never been allowed to ride upon by Neil!. The train was full. It was a slow trip but a jolly one as we chatted to some of our fellow passengers from Australia & Holland.
The upper falls trail was 2km there and back. It was a metal kind of boardwalk, initially through the jungle and then over the river delta. Then all of a sudden we came to the main waterfall which was literally on the opposite side from the Brazilian trail we had been on yesterday. It was equally spectacular. Even though we were the first train of the day to get there it seemed pretty crowded although people were generally quite good at moving along so everyone could see the views. We didn’t get as wet as the day before but still pretty damp. The force and volume of the water was amazing. We stayed a while and then met up with our guide again and walked back to the central area.
We decided to do the next middle trail next. Just as we started this we stopped to watch some monkeys chilling in the trees above us. There were also some large beautifully coloured butterflies all around us that kept trying to land on my rucksack. The trail was utterly brilliant. Every twist and every turn gave us more and more incredible views.
Amazingly as well some of the stopping points were really good wifi hotspots, which were better than the Hotel wifi. It tool us a while to walk the entire trail as were not in any hurry and it was getting hotter by the hour. When we had finished we decided to have a break for some drinks and lunch. I had some delicious made on site Ham & Cheese empanadas whilst Karen had a salad roll. It was good to sit under the air con for a while.
Suitably refreshed we decided to tackle the lower trails. These were the longest and involved some steep declines and steps. We were so pleased that we made the effort. They gave a whole different perspective and we really did get up close and personal with one of the falls. There were also some 3 feet lizards we passed on the trail basking in the sun along with a quite large alligator one of the rivers.
I really do not how best to describe all of Iguassu Falls. It was just so vast and almost to good to be true. It was like being on a film set or in a Disney Attraction. I felt as if the water should only be switched on for the tourists, to think that it never stops is just mental.
After now walking for about 5 hours in total we were ready for another break after our climb to the top again. Karen was delighted to find a coffee chain shop called Havanna’s near the exit so we stopped for a while and chatted to our guide. She is very well educated and used to be a teacher herself. She is fluent in a number of languages and had a great interest in travel although had not actually been anywhere. We assume that this was just down to the salaries that people in Brazil earn. She also said she would like to try a Starbucks one day which made us smile.
We then went back to the Hotel where Karen promptly had a doze for about 45 minutes. She then ran a bath which took about 25 minutes as it was the size of a hot tub. After the mess up of our meal the day before we decided to go the restaurant that we should have gone to. We went early as we knew we had another early start tomorrow. The restaurant called Mendero had a happy hour so after a fashion we ordered a couple of glasses of red wine. If we thought our Spanish was bad then our Portuguese was even worse. Our ordering process involved lots of pointing and gestures, but we got there in the end. I had a nice steak which was very well cooked whilst Karen decided to play it safe with Pasta with Chicken. She thought her meal was rather bland though. We were sitting next to an enormous TV screen playing music videos that seemed to be exclusively British artistes. We ordered some more wine and then Karen decided to have a chocolate brownie for dessert.
We had both been craving some fruit so we went to the large supermarket in the mall but were disappointed by the selection so just ended up with some banana’s. With those in hand we wandered back to the Hotel and had another cup of tea in the Piano bar. This time we we didn’t have to explain what we wanted as the bar remembered us and just said Tea? as we entered.
Another good, tiring hot day.
