Cordoba to Posadas to Puerto Iguazu to Foz do Iguacu

Ok so the overnight bus trip wasn't all that bad in the end, even though it ended up clocking in at over 21 hours. The Argentinian countryside, for the most part, is very flat and the roads are very straight. If there were a few more hills, it could probably be placed into the Waikato without anybody noticing much of a difference. Before we left, we had dinner out in Cordoba at a Middle-Eastern restaurant (very fitting of us, I know) where I sampled some sort of raw meat dish that Ilona refused to try(Ilona imputting - I did have a funny tummy!!). We had seats right at the front of the bus this time, which offered us great views of the Argentinian countryside in the daylight hours, even if they were pretty much the same thing for a good 12 hours or so. We both slept relatively well considering we were in a bus, but got awoken before 7 due to the heat of the sun. This is something that I'm really struggling to get used to, as even in New Zealand, I'm a heavy sweater, and so here in the muggy Southern Amazon I am almost consatantly drenched and smelling awful. During this bus trip, Ilona developed a severe case of hives, which have been plagueing her ever since. We counted over 160! Once we reached Posadas at around 9pm we booked a relatively cheap bus to Puerto Iguazu for the next day and then jumped into a taxi to get to our hostel, which was conveniently located on the other side of town. Our hostel actually looked quite nice as it was replete with a pool, hammocks and air conditioned rooms, which have become pretty much the only way for me to sleep in this heat. It is hotter at night here then it is during the day in Auckland! So after a good nights sleep on my part (Ilona's wasn't so good because of her hives problem), we caught a taxi to the bus terminal and boarded our bus for the 5 and a half hour drive to Puerto Iguazu, the Argentinian town in the tri-border zone of Iguazu. This bus was probably the nicest I have experienced so far, as the temperature was nice and cool, they served us lollies and even a little lunch! We also got the front row seats on this bus as well, which was great because we got to see the dramatic change in as we moved into the far north of Argentina. The dirt on the side of the road started to get redder and redder, the jungle sprouted up around us and became incredibly thick and hills started appearing! It's quite funny, because there are road signs that tell you that there is a turn in the road coming up, if there is an uphill or downhill segment ahead and speed limits often go down and up again in a matter of metres for no apparent reason. All this nonesense aside, we arrived in Puerto Iguazu in good spirits at around 3pm hoping to quickly see the Argentinian side of the Iguazu Falls, but were told that we needed at least 6 hours there to see everything and take it all in, so in the end we decided to have a relaxed afternoon to catch up on things and slow down a tad, as we had been moving quite quickly for the past few days. The evening saw us head to a restaurant for some dinner at around 8pm (very, very early for Argentinian standards) and we ordered what we thought were two simple hamburgers with a salad on the side, but which turned out to be enormous steak sandwiches with a little lettuce and tomato in it and very oily french fries. Now this place we were at wasn't a proper Argentinian steak house by any standard, but the steak we got was just incredible. I really want to see what a proper steak tastes like now! The next morning we got up very early to catch the first bus to the falls at 7.20, in order to get there when the National Park opened at 8.This was a good decision as it ended up with us walking the lower and upper tracks virtually alone and with some great early morning light to see the falls by. It is just amazing to see the sheer volume of water going over, and the sound accompanying it is totally deafening in some parts. We got very wet at one point as we got quite close to the foot of one of the larger falls. After seeing these, we boarded a little train packed with tour groups to head to the Devil's Throat, the main fall of Iguazu (Wikipedia it!). We walked out on a long gangway to the mouth of the fall to be met by throngs of tourists, Argentinian families and Brazilians all crowded near the edges of the platform trying to get the perfect picture and squealing when the wind blew all the mist from the falls in their direction. The mist generated from the falls is so thick that you can't see the bottom, and it looks as if the water is just falling through a cloud. After seeing this, it spelled the end of our trip at the Argentinian side of the falls, all in a brisk 4 hours and seeing everything we wanted to see! We boarded a bus straight away back to Puerto Iguazu, grabbed our packs from our hostel and then jumped on another bus to cross the border into Brazil with the intention of seeing the Brazilian side as soon as we got there. A one hour time difference and a non-existent bus on the Brazilian side scrapped this idea. This didn't end up being too much of a bad thing, as our hostel in Foz Do Iguacu is very nice, and we could have easily spent more than just one night here, as we are situated on a farm outside of town that has a swimming pool, a lake, hammocks, a bar serving awesome Caipirinhas and cheap beer, a pool table, foosball table, covered outdoor lounge area and just a generally awesome vibe. We enjoyed our dinner of pasta and a lentil sauce with Caipirinhas outside at sunset, which was just paradise. We have an early flight to Rio tomorrow morning so I have to end here, but until next time, have fun doing whatever it is you're doing in cold, boring Noo Zillind! And happy Waitiangi Day!

Mike.