Day 12 & 13 Salto and Pepper

This morning it was the Brazilian side of the falls we had to explore!
We wondered how yesterday could be possibly be beaten. We all loaded into our mini bus and set out for the falls. We all starred out the windows in amazement of yesterday’s events and seen reflections of what we had witnessed in the panels of each window.
Our first stop was the helicopter tour area where there was ostriches waiting nearby and Gary nearly had his hat nabbed by one of them!Six of us from the tour decided to do the 7 minute helicopter ride over the Iguaza Falls. The view was unbelievable and the helicopter well worth the price of admission! It was a sight I never forget.We then made our way to the Museum where we learned about the history of the falls and the birds and animals that inhabit it.

When we arrived at the falls we were flabbergasted by the view. We then encountered an unexpected obstacle: the rain. As we ran from one sheltered area to the next we constantly stopped to take photos of the mighty waterfalls. We were accompanied on our run by the local quatimundi (raccoon like animals).One even entered a rubbish bin but we quickly kicked the bin as they are not allowed to eat the organic food as it gives them disease. We then went out along a protected path where the mist from the falls blew in our faces as battled against the elements as we took photo after photo before we got too wet!

That day at five our next long bus journey awaited a twelve hour trip to Salto in Uruguay. We had a long journey in store so Gary had to be prepared and he was. He whipped out Blades of Glory to kick off the movie proceedings but it was interrupted by crazy woman on the bus who none of us knew was on it. She wore six layers of clothes and big gloves that we thought were her hands. Because of this we referred to her only as “The Bear”. During our next movie, “Three Men and a Baby” there was a random search that none of us saw coming. Four officers with guns in the holsters and their sniffer dogs arrived on the bus and proceed to check our bags. Three people were taken away for questioning and we had to endure an awful two hour waited to see what would happen. The three amigos arrived back on the bus and we continued our trip to Salto. We were dropped into the middle of nowhere we then had to wait for five taxis to arrive. When we arrived through border control in Uruguay Conor had his back searched much to his disgust.

We arrived at our hotel appropriately named Hotel Uruguay. Lots of thought obviously goes into the naming of some of these hotels.Today it was decided that after our gruelling fourteen hour bus voyage we would need some pampering so we all went to the spa, one of the only things to do in Salto.

We could not resist the option to buy our own robes and flaunt our stuff around the swimming pool and hot tubs as we posed for a few photos. It was a much needed relaxation break from all of our travelling.

That night we had a very nice meal in the best restaurant in town and we could not believe the price of some of the meals. Uruguay is a very cheap country. We had an early night as we knew needed some sleep before our trip to the countries capital Montevideo tomorrow!
Stay Classy
Mike