A small dose of Paraguay

Paraguay was very much an unknown for us as it's off the beaten backpacker trail, therefore not as much information is readily available - either online or second-hand from others who've been there.  But that didn't stop us wanting to check it out.  And luckily it only took 2.5 hours (but $65 each) to secure our visas in Foz do Iguacu.

Crossing over the infamous Friendship Bridge from Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, into Paraguay (a well-known smuggling route) we were hit by the crazy wild-west town that is Ciudad del Este.  All we could gather from information online and the couple of people we met who'd been there, was that it's a good place to buy cheap electronics and you don't want to be out at night because it's dodgy as hell.  This fact was reinforced by the ridiculous number of security guards outside shops with big fuck-off shotguns.  And it wasn't just currency exchanges or banks, but even outside tyre shops.  Maybe they have something extra out the back... And we saw an armored cash van about every 15mins so there was obviously a lot of money going around in that little city.

As soon as we arrived we found a place to stay near the bus station and away from the centre of town, then headed out to Itaipu Dam which used to be the biggest dam in the world and is one of the Industrial Wonders of the World.  As dams go, its pretty impressive, especially the facts and figures.  The dam borders Paraguay and Brazil and has 20 turbines - 10 are owned by each country.  However, Paraguay only uses 2 of its 10 turbines and sells the remaining 8 to Brazil, while still getting 83% of the country's power from those 2 turbines.  On top of that, each of the 8 turbines they sell to Brazil earn up to US$500,000 per day - not a bad little earner.  And the remainder of Paraguay's power also comes from other dams, so they are 100% hydro-electric.  

After our brief tour we headed back into town and checked out a couple of electronics stores.  One guy took us to his mates store, but there was another guy following us the whole way with a taser I'm assuming he wanted to sell, and the crackling buzz every time he pushed the button was more than a little disturbing.  Needless to say, we got away from him quick smart before we had to buy one just to avoid getting tasered.  Most stores were closing so we ended up going back the next morning before our bus left and bought two powerful little portable speakers for our mp3 player for $21.  Pretty damn cheap.

Our next stop was Asuncion, the capital city, and it was on this trip that we noticed the significant change in bus quality - broken seats, no air-con and no toilet.  But it was also a lot cheaper.  We only stayed 2 nights in Asuncion, but met two cool English guys, Harry and Tom, and an American guy, Rob, at the hostel so we inevitably ended up out for a big night on the piss with them straight off.  After about an hour of 'sightseeing' (taking photos of buildings) the next arvo we had a BBQ at the hostel with the guys and checked out the local political rally going on in the street, complete with fireworks.  

We checked out the following morning to go to the bus station as we'd planned on going to a lake a few hours away then on to Concepcion.  We'd then planned on crossing into Bolivia from there.  However, after buying our tickets to the lake and asking a few questions, we discovered it wasn't possible to get a bus from Concepcion to Bolivia - we'd have to backtrack hours and hours to Asuncion and go from there.  So, after some consideration we decided to cancel our tickets to the lake and go straight to Bolivia that night.  It's great having the luxury to change plans spontaneously, but a shame we didn't get to see more of Paraguay.  We had the whole day to kill so we headed back to the hostel to chill out.  We also visited our first museum of the trip - the Police Museum - and it was unlike any other museum.  There were only 3 rooms - one with ancient computers, fax machines and telephone switchboards; one with photos of dead officers and various uniforms; and the final room contained a more eclectic variety of artefacts - taxidermied police dogs, guns and other weapons, drugs and their effects, photos of dead bodies at crime scenes, a dummy display of someone who'd shot themself...but the most disturbing item was an aborted baby foetus in a jar.  No shit.  And we got to see all of this for free.  

Apologies for the disturbing nature of this photo

So despite spending a LOT less time in Paraguay than we'd anticipated, it was a good few days and we met some good people along the way.

Impressive Iguazu

Iguazu Falls is one of those places in the world that you can never accurately describe to people.  Even photos don't fully do it justice.  Basically, you have to see it for yourself.

We started off on the Brazilian side, where the falls are about 20kms out of the town of Foz do Iguacu.   After a very touristy double decker bus ride and a short walk down a tree-lined path, we got our first glimpse of the falls.  Niether of us wanted to say so, but we were rather underwhelmed and felt guilty for not being more impressed.  But to be fair, there are over 200 separate falls of varying sizes that make up Iguazu Falls, and it just so happened we saw a bunch of the smaller ones first.  They were still very pretty, but the best part came about 10mins later.

Our first glimpse of the falls

The Devil's Throat is the main attraction of the entire falls (for good reason) and you get very different views of it from the Brazilian and Argentinian sides.  Some prefer one over the other, but if you go that far you'd be stupid not to go to both sides.  From the Brazilian side you walk along a walkway that's only about 10m from another impressive fall and inevitably, you get wet from the spray.  Not surprising considering the sheer volume and power of water crashing down only metres away.  Despite not being the 'star' of the show, this fall was pretty spectacular and the rainbows in the spray all around were beautiful.  

At the end of the walkway you can see the Devil's Throat about 50m away, and you get an idea of the amount of water surging over by the clouds of spray filling the valley below.  Now that's what we were expecting.  After 2 or 3 hours we'd seen all the falls on the Brazilian side so we left, looking forward to what the Argentinian side had to offer.

The Devil's Throat as seen from the Brazilian side

Puerto Iguazu is the town on the Argentinian side from which the falls are about 15km.  However, the National Park is so much bigger and has a lot more to see than the Brazilian side, that most people spend 2 days checking everything out.  The fact that you get half price entry on the second day makes this more attractive.  It would be possible to see everything in one day, but it would be a very long, full-on day with no time to chill out or leisurely stroll around.

Our first stop on day one was to head straight to the Devil's Throat and see how different the view was.  It was about 1km on walkways over the water and we saw some huge catfish and even a turtle sunning itself on a rock.  

As we approached the falls we could hear the roar and see the top of it where it all rushes over the edge.  The viewing platform gives an amazing close-up view from the top, so you can see the change of calmly flowing water in the river to the raging cascading falls that is the Devil's Throat.  The water falls from a height of 82m, so the bottom was obscured by a wall of spray. 

The Devil's Throat from the Argentinian side

Everyone was obviously getting photos of themselves with the falls in the background, and Kurt offered to play photographer for one couple just so he could travel back in time and use an old-school wind-on film camera again.  Who knew people still used them?  For the rest of day one and all of day two we walked along the myriad of trails giving different views of all the different falls, and took a boat across to a small island where we spotted armadillos and some big ugly birds.  We also walked to a tiny little isolated waterfall where we braved the cold water and stood under the waterfall.  While it was only small it still hammered down on us and was freezing.  

It was a tiring but rewarding few days, and we saw some of the world's most spectacular waterfalls.  Hopefully some of these photos give you an idea of the beauty of Iguazu.

Rio = a-maz-ing

Rio de Janeiro is known as the 'marvellous city', so we were looking forward to seeing what it had to offer during our 4 days there.

Arriving at about 6:30am after an overnight bus, we were straight onto a local bus which was an interesting experience.  The driver was an angry maniac, ignoring red lights and throwing the rickety old bus around corners on uneven roads.  Not the most hair raising ride we've ever had on our travels, but it was a good way to wake us up!  About a 30min walk after getting off the bus we arrived at Favela Vidigal, which is where we were staying at a small guesthouse run by a lovely Brazilian girl and her Lithuanian boyfriend who completely welcomed us into their home.  They don't do it for the money, more to give people the first-hand experience of staying in a favela and to dispel a few myths.  We had no idea what to expect as all you hear about favelas (slums) is from TV or movies, and generally depicts them as dangerous, crime and drug ridden places that you'd be stupid to venture into.  But that couldn't have been further from the truth as we soon found out.  Everyone was so friendly and willing to help and we felt completely safe walking around, even at night.  Sure, there's probably crime and definitely still drugs around, but there's an unspoken rule that everyone sticks to - don't rob anyone in the favela.  And that extended to us.  It was without a doubt safer than if we'd stayed in Copacabana or Ipanema, as tourists are targeted in those areas.  So not only was it the cheapest place we've stayed so far, it was also the best experience.  And you can't beat views of Ipanema and Leblon beaches from the rooftop.

Favela Vidigal

Aside from the beautiful, famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, we went up to Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf for unbeatable views of the city.  At almost 40m tall the Christ statue is definitely an impressive sight, as are the views from the top.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't great when we were up there, but we could still see the city spread out below.  Sugar Loaf was just as amazing, and the views of the city were possibly even more spectacular.  We went up for sunset which is the best time of day to be up there, and we were lucky with the weather this time.  You could see right across to Copacabana beach, and watching the sun set behind Christ the Redeemer across the valley was stunning. 

 

View from Christ the Redeemer

View from Sugar Loaf

We only saw a fraction of this enormous city, but what we did see we liked.  We also became addicted to our daily dose of acai.  It was a glorious glass of purpleness, kind of a cross between a slushy and a smoothie.  If only we could get it in the rest of South America.