Iguazu Falls

It has certainly been a bizarre week. It felt extremely wierd to be at home, especially for such a short period of time. But my brief stay was both enjoyable and productive, even though the focal point of the weekend turned out to be disappointing. The final was very impressive and the atmosphere was electric; despite Man City's best efforts, we certainly won the volume contest. Alas, if only the story on the pitch had been the same... We didn't turn up to be honest, which was a shame because we had been playing so well before the game. I had made the classic football fan mistake of believing that we were going to win and thus, I was even more devastated when the game ended in defeat. Nevertheless, I remained in good spirits as best I could and Saturday evening was a success, both in terms of the number of Stoke shirts on show in the house and Blue's fabulous Eurovision effort, bagging us a wonderful 100 points. Needless to say, I lost my voice.

And so, I headed back off to Brazil. After two days travelling, I arrived in the town of Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil. From there I crossed the border into Argentina to the town of Puerto Iguazu an eventually to my hostel. The hostel was as good as a hotel and I spent the day just sunbathing by the pool with some young, Canadian engineers. I had my food cooked for me again by an Israeli; they seem to love cooking, as if to prove that they can do it. Whereas I am more than happy to let people cook for me! 

The next morning I was up at 7, ready to see the falls before the crowds got too large. They say that the negative ions generated by the sheer volume of pounding water create a feeling of happiness as you approach the falls. Indeed, I was really excited, really pumped for it. We went to the big one first: Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). Nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced there. The river is really calm, but you can hear the roaring of water in the distance, gradually increasing with every step. And then the world just falls away. The water plummets down into an abyss; you can't see the bottom due to the mist, the noise is deafening, such that I could barely hear myself think and the spray literally drenches you. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen; I just couldn't believe how incredible it was. Describing it is impossible; pictures and videos don't even come close to explaining the feeling; it has to be seen, experienced, lived. I give it my highest recommendation, it was legendary.

The rest of the day was spent walking around the park. There are plenty more falls to see and we made sure we saw every single one, including a boat trip over to the central San Martin island, which offered a fantastic panoramic view of the falls. Even now, almost 48 hours later, I am still feeling amazed by it. I could have stood on that viewing platform overlooking the Devil's Throat for a week. Unbelievable experience.

I am now commencing the third leg of my South America tour, with two months devoted to Bolivia and Peru. Bring it on!