Puerto Iguazu

Crossing between two countries has never been so easy, well, except from our journey from Brazil into Paraguay and back. The half-hourly bus to Puerto Iguazu actually took us to the Brazilian exit point to get our passport stamped, but to our surprise it wasn’t there when we were in the no-man’s land in between the two countries, so we waited another half an hour for the next bus to arrive. However, our tickets showed that we had paid to go straight through to Puerto Iguazu which meant that all we had to do was hop on. At Argentinian immigration the bus waited patiently for us to get stamped in before rolling on.
Suddenly we feel at home: we are quickly befriended by an Argentinian guy called David, who has just completed an important interview with a German singer called Ute Lemper. He talks for hours, especially about his family, and the whole narrative has the makings of a best-selling Latin American novel. He has also taken the trouble to learn Guarani.
Yesterday at the Iguaçu falls in Brazil, it had left us with so many wonderful memories and thrilling moments that we really wished to experience them again. We did exactly this but from the other side of the River Iguaçu this time, in Argentina. How peculiar it was to be looking back over the river to a different country, let alone where we had been standing, open-mouthed at the waters the day before. On the Argentinian side, there is one major difference and that is that our entry tickets came with a free train journey to the important locations around the park. The major stop was the ‘Garganta del Diablo’ where flat, calm river water suddenly appeared to be sucked into a powerful vortex, which was fogged out by the abundant white mist as a result of the mighty thundering mass of water.

Stunning views from the ‘Passeo Inferior’ completed the overwhelming experience along with the large fluttering butterflies and the calm birdlife in the surrounding dense forest, dappled in sunlight. We were sure to keep an eye open for any roaming jaguars that may have been toying with the idea of pouncing on us. The Ministerio del Salud TV crew decided to interview Jon about his opinion on the work that they do around the park against Dengue Fever, amongst other serious threats. Do you remember when Jon was interviewed in the Lost City of Petra by a television crew from São Paulo? He’s starting to feel a bit of a star.