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Wednesday, 27.02.2002: Bonito - Voz do Iguaçu
This was a really bad day for all of us. We had to get up at 4am and left Bonito at 5-15am. It was a very long driving day today. We expected a brunch by 10am but Darrell just didn´t want to stop. We were starving! We had a quick wee stop at a Petrol Station at 11-30am (6 hours after breakfast!) and everybody went to get some ice cream, crisps, sweets and drinks at the chusqueria. Since we had to queue up it took a little longer and Darrell got really angry with us.
At 1pm we pulled onto the side of the road and we all thought it must be another loo stop, but to our surprise Paul told us that we are going to have a truck lunch now and group 3 was on duty. We were all looking at each other because there hadn´t been any mention of truck food and no shopping had been done.
Well, all the bread was mouldy and the eggs were off (after 4 days on the hot truck!) so we decided to cook some pasta, but Darrell told the cook group off and said he´d drive on alone! He was the first one to get any food and sat eating alone while everyone else was waiting. We had to wash all the cutlery because it was rusty!
Darrell wanted us to eat the pasta on the truck but Paul didn´t pass this information on to us. We were not very happy bunnies!
The rest of the long driving day was passed with playing cards. We got into Voz at 9-30pm, went past McDonald´s (oohh, that would have been nice now!) and straight to a shitty chusqueria where the food was cold!
The campsite was excellent though and we all had a few drinks at the pool bar that night!
Thursday, 28.02.2002: Voz do Iguaçu
We all deserved a lie-in and enjoyed a relaxing morning at the campsite. In the afternoon we took the local bus and went to the bird park first. It was nice to see the tropical birds, like tucans and parrots, so close.
Afterwards we went to the Brazilian side of the famous Iguazú Falls, one of the most spectacular in the world with over 275 separate falls cascading an average of 60 metres over a four kilometre span and 700.000 visitors per year.
Iguazú Falls on the Brazilian side
The falls are magnificent. We walked along the pathway and waited for the sunset - except that we found out the last bus left just before the sun actually set so we saw it on the bus!!
Paul was supposed to meet us at the Falls entrance but didn´t show up so Chris took over and tried to pay for 22 bus tickets with a 50 Real note. The conductor thought that Chris only wanted one ticket and didn´t have enough change but eventually Chris sorted it all out and we got dropped off at the road to the YHA. The YHA bus didn´t turn up so we all walked back to the campsite.
We were all meeting at the restaurant at 8-30pm for a YHA meal. We all took our seat and when the gong went we all got up to get our food. But apparently we needed tickets. Kirsten went to the reception and came back saying that we hadn´t been booked in for a meal. We could eat but they would need an hour to prepare the food for us. We all decided to have some burgers and cheese toasties at the pool bar.
Anne-Marie, Jason and Graham decided to have a non-alcoholic night and drank water (the one and only time during the entire trip!!!)
Later on we joined Melanie watching the lads and Katie playing football. Mel gave an excellent commentary like "nice footwork" and made us laugh.
Friday, 01.03.2002: Voz do Iguaçu
Helens thermarest went flat during the night and she took it into the swimming pool to find the whole. It was big and she put the thermarest on the washing line to try up.
After breakfast we took a local bus transport to go to the Itaipú Dam, the largest hydro-electric scheme in the world. Darrell had to sort his passport out so couldn´t take us on the Kinda truck.
The local bus broke down but managed to get us to the dam. We watched a video at the visitors centre and one of their coaches went on a short tour with us with a few stops.
Itaipú Dam
Afterwards we went to the Argentinian side of the falls and explored them with a guide. We also went on a speed boat - no speed just a lot of getting wet under various waterfalls and we all got surprised my a massive wave from the rapids sending plastic bags down to the back of the boat. We had our waterproof bags with us and we were also wearing our swimming costumes because we'd actually videoed the boats from the Brazilian side the day before and we knew how wet we were going to get! The water was freezing cold but it was a refreshing change from the heat.
Iguazú Falls on the Argentinian side and boat ride under the falls
At around 4pm we took the bus back to the YHA. On route it started pissing down with rain. A few tents and Helen´s thermarest (still on the washing line) were drenched so we decided to get a bed in one of the rooms. There was a big cock-up with the room numbers and people staying in the rooms, so we still didn´t know which room we would be in when we left for the samba night.
The samba night with local dancers and singers was good fun. The food was excellent and a few lads and girls from our group had to perform on stage. We all went back to the YHA at 11-30pm singing Dancing Queen on the bus.
Samba night performances
