Iguaçu and beyond

So... we were in Iguaçu Falls, both the Brazillian and Argentinian side. The next day we travelled to a massive power station called Itaipu Dam and to say is was large is an understatement. From what our guide was saying, it seems to have its own independent country, with everything going 50/50 between Brazil and Paraguay including management and employees.

It all seemed too happy a place!

From there we headed across the border in Paraguay and it was great fun. I have never seen so many electronic shops and people trying to sell you everything you can imagine. I ended up buying a knife for Africa in one of the shops for $3 - bargain.

This photos says it all - the streets we full of this type of truck and in some of the shops you could buy underwear and socks by bulk.

Anyway, from there we headed on another night bus - 3 in total as the first one broke down to Bonito. This place had the best downpour we have ever experienced - it was more like a tropical storm. So in true Chris and Jude style, we had to go and play in it. Soon after a tree down the street collapsed and the power went out.

In Bonito we did some rafting along a very muddy river (due to the rain) where we saw some wild toucans and a howler monkey). In the afternoon, Chris & I hired some bikes and cycled to the local municipal lake (6kms each way) and relaxed with the many Dourados fish. They are about 1.5 ft long and the swim freely in the lake. It took some getting used to!

For dinner we went to a restaurant which sold the 'game' of the area, so we had caiman, capivara and queixada. They were lovely.

Next stop - the Pantanal