Brazil

The Iguazu Falls (Spanish spelling) are a huge series of cataracts on the Iguazu river forming the border between Argentina and Brazil. They form the largest waterfall system in the world with a edge of 2.7km, although a series of small islands break up the flow into a number of smaller falls. We visited both sides of the falls starting with the Argentine side, which allows you to get a close up view of the majority of the falls. The whole area is inside a national park and walking through it to get to the falls we saw a huge array of wildlife. Colourful butterflies, small monkeys, lizards and coatis (a small racoon like creature) were everywhere. Long metal walkways stretch out over the river linking many of the small islands and allowing you to get right to the edge of the drop. About half of the water falls in a U-shaped 700m section known as the Devil's Throat. We could stand on a tiny island at the edge looking down into the abyss. It was very loud and we got very wet in the mist which rises well above the river despite being generated over 80m below. It was very refreshing in the intense summer sun. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the rest of the park and walking down to the bottom of the falls to see them from a different angle. It is very impressive looking up at the wall of water whilst again getting soaked through. 

Devil's Throat from the walkway to the edge

Fiona at the bottom of one of the falls

The next day we crossed the border into Brazil and headed to the national park on that side of the river to visit the Iguaçu Falls (Portuguese spelling). From this side of the river we got great panoramic view of all the falls at the same time. At the Devil's Throat there is again a walkway out onto the edge, but on the Brazilian side it sticks out half way down the drop so the wall of water was above and below us. The combination of sun and mist made for an impressive rainbow that almost made a full circle.

Looking across to Argentina from Brazil

Devil's Throat from the other side

So much water!

Before leaving the area we visited a bird sanctuary close the falls. Here they try to rehabilitate birds rescued from trafficking and hopefully release them again, but also provide a home to those unable to re-enter the wild. The highlights were walking through aviaries with Toucans and Macaws. They were such colourful and amazing birds and it was great to be able to get so close to them.

Toucan

One of many colourful macaws

Another long bus journey including a 6 hour wait in a bus station and some confusion owing to our lack of Portuguese language skills saw us arriving in Campo Grande, the gateway to The Pantanal. We had booked a 3 day tour of the huge wetland area over Christmas. We had decided that we needed to keep busy over the festive period as most places shut down and we would just miss home even more with nothing to do. We started our tour on Christmas Eve getting a lift with the owner of the company, Gil, and his wife to our lodge inside the Pantanal. We were staying in a room in a small chalet on huge stilts to ensure it stayed dry during the flood season, which was just starting when we were there. The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland and floods every year with up to 80% of the area being covered with water. This means the wildlife congregates on the small islands left making it much easier to see them. At that point the whole area is only navigable by boat. That afternoon we went out on a boat trip to see what we could find. We saw howler monkeys, caiman, iguanas, storks, capybara, kingfishers, heron, toucans and many other species of birds. We also enjoyed a spectacular sunset before trying to spot jaguars with a huge flashlight, but with no luck.

Howler monkey

Christmas celebrations in Brazil are fairly small and limited to a big meal with family on Christmas Eve with presents exchanged at midnight. We joined in the meal with the owners and staff at the lodge, but it was very different to what we are used to. We spent Christmas morning canoeing down the river in search of more wildlife and enjoying drifting peacefully downstream. That afternoon we moved to another lodge on a farm further into the Pantanal and went horse-riding around their land. The horses were well behaved and followed each other in a line on the hour long walk sometimes wading through flooded areas up to their bellies. Despite initial panic at being atop a vehicle with a mind of it's own, Fiona even managed to enjoy it and made friends with her horse Shakira. The weather was very hot and humid so most activities took place early in the morning or around sunset with a much needed siesta in the middle of the day.

Fiona on Shakira

Other activities included a bush walk around the area, a jeep safari and piranha fishing. This involved wading into a lagoon up to our waists and fishing with a line and hook on a bamboo pole with raw beef as bait. Not only were the piranha swimming all around us (not a problem as these species wouldn't eat a human) but a couple of caiman were very interested in our bait and watched us with just their eyes above the water less than a few metres away. This was very unnerving but our guide assured us they didn't see us as dinner and wouldn't attack unless they felt threatened. If any got too close he proceeded to hit the water in front of them with his fishing pole to scare them off. The fishing was surprisingly easy and we caught several quickly, keeping the largest for our dinner and releasing the smaller ones.

Mmmm...dinner

Once back in Campo Grande on 27th December we caught up with family to find out about the Christmas celebrations we had missed back home. We were sad to have missed out on seeing everyone with the usual food and festivities, but we feel that it is a price worth paying for our amazing year of adventures. Christmas will happen again next year.

Ben's Christmas present

Our last overnight bus journey in South America took us to Rio de Janeiro where we celebrated New Year's Eve on Copacbana beach with 2 million other people. It is traditional to wear white to the party on the beach to symbolise a fresh start to the year, so we purchased 'Feliz Ano Novo 2017' t-shirts from a street vendor before heading to the beach. We had to buy special metro tickets in advance with a timed slot to avoid chaos on the underground system with so many people trying to arrive and leave at the same time.

Feliz Ano Novo

We arrived about 8pm, found a good spot in one of the less crowded areas of the beach and soaked up the atmosphere with a couple of beers. We watched as 4 huge cruise liners jostled for the best positioned to watch the fireworks from out in the bay. As we approached midnight the beach got more and more busy until by the time the fireworks started it was standing room only. Impressive for a beach that is over 4km long! The fireworks were launched from several barges moored out in the bay and lasted for 15minutes. Apparently the display is normally longer and bigger but due to the economic crisis in Brazil the budget had been massively cutback, but it was the still best display either of us had ever seen. After the fireworks we walked along the beach enjoying the various mini-parties taking place with different music and Samba dancing.

Amazing fireworks

Whilst in Rio de Janeiro we also went on a walking tour of the historic downtown learning about the history of the city and Brazil, and visited the Christ the Redeemer statue. The views of the city from the statue were amazing, but as it's one of the most popular attractions the huge crowds spoiled it somewhat. We found that the best view of the statue was from a distance where you can see it looking out over the city.

Jesus

Next we left the intense heat and humidity of the city and headed down the coast to the small colonial town of Paraty for a week. It was still hot, but the breeze from the sea kept us cool enough to sleep, which was difficult it Rio. The town is very picturesque with cobbled streets, white-washed buildings and many colourful boats moored along the river and seafront. At high tide the streets flood meaning you have to stay on the pavement or wade through the water. This is part of the original design and was to wash the sewage out of the street into the sea. We enjoyed a quiet week at the beach, sea kayaking around some small islands, trying stand-up paddle boarding and eating in a few nice restaurants. We took one day trip on a boat to explore some of the more distant islands of the coast of Paraty. The small beaches we visited were idyllic with palm trees coming down to the clean white sand, and the water almost as warm as a bath. The trip also included unlimited Caipirinhas (the local cocktail).

Pretty houses in Paraty

Look at the colour of the water!

After a week on the beach we travelled back to Rio de Janeiro to see a few more of the sights without the huge New Year's crowds before catching our flight out of South America. We had rented another apartment via Airbnb right in Copacabana a couple of blocks back from the beach. We spent one day walking around the lagoon where the Olympic rowing and canoeing races were held and visited the botanical gardens nearby. Unfortunately the gardens don't look like they have been cared for too well in recent years and it was a bit of a disappointment as they have the reputation as being amongst the best in the world. During a bike ride along the Copacabana and Ipanema beachfronts the skies opened and we got caught in the heaviest rain I have ever experienced. Within minutes we were completely drenched and there was so much water that the drains couldn't cope. The streets quickly flooded and we had to cycle and wade through several inches of water. Our last tourist activity was to catch the cable car up the large rock known as Sugarloaf. We went up at sunset so enjoyed views over the city and beaches in both daylight and the dark.

View from Sugarloaf

We couldn't leave Brazil without visiting a Rodizio restaurant, so we went on our last night as a farewell South America meal. This is essentially and 'all you can eat' meat buffet. After filling your plate with lots of tasty things from the unlimited salad bar, the waiters circulate around the tables with huge steaks, sausages, chickens etc on big spears, which they then carve small pieces off onto your plate. The meat was very good and we got very full. The following morning we headed to the airport to catch a 6hr flight back to Bogotá and then a 7hr flight to Los Angeles. Our South American adventure was over, but our Australasian one was about to begin.....