Ilha Grande and Iguassu

The bus to the town from where the boat leaves to Ilha Grande was going through a beautiful jungle left and right and up and down. I was ok, enjoying the views, and mom from lack of experience got a bit sick. With work deadlines, and too much moving I actually learned to work on buses, and on boats, and on planes :) Mom was getting worried a bit that we didn't book anything on the island. Mom, we don't need to book anything. How can we go and not know where to stay? It's ok, we'll figure something out. We got there, and as always boys where running around "posada, posada", and we got a beautiful posada 1 minute from the harbor for an excellent price... And that's how you get a posada. mom - unbelievable !! ;)
In the morning got a tour around the island. Went to a place with lots of fish, but after red sea, Bermuda and Galapagos, it wasn't super exciting. And there were too many people in the water. So I went to swim away from them. I would kick a few times, and swim far far away, I thought to myself, I must be getting better at swimming ... um .. NO! that's no the case, it's just the current. On the way back I would try to swim hard but wouldn’t move at all, and when I stopped paddling, I would actually go back ... Oh oh. That's gonna be one hell of a workout! We then went to another beach, and another beach. But to enjoy it fully, I wished I had my own boat :))
Next day we wanted to go to a very popular beach, people said that it would take from 1 hour to 3 hours to get there. While walking in town in that direction, we got offered a boat to get there. No thank you, we're walking. We asked a few people for directions, they all pretty much pointed, but some people said that it's 3 hours, and we have to go over that mountain to get there. What? It's over a mountain, it's not along the shore, in this heat ... thank you ... boat, BOAT ... WAIT FOR US !!! :))
The beach was pretty, but for me it was a chance to catch up with my sleep, so I slept through most of our stay there :)
The way back was a bit tricky because we didn't know at which time to catch the boat back. The bus leaves the terminal from the town at 12 pm. There is a fast and more expensive catamaran at 8, or a slow boat at 10, which I don't know how long will take to arrive at town (approximately 2 hours). But I figured that the bus company is not stupid, and the bus won't leave before the boat comes, because the capacity of the boat is like 300 people. And yes, I was right, it arrived there just in time to comfortably take a taxi, order a ticket and still have enough time to eat something. But just to make sure, I asked the stuff which door will open on the arrival, and was the first time to get out, the first one to get a taxi, and the first one in line to buy a ticket, before everybody else shows up and we'll be left without a seat. 8 hour bus to Sao Paulo, and in there we find out that the bus to the airport costs R$32!! What kind of prices are these???? It should be normal city bus prices of like $R2, ok, a special bus for maybe 5. So we got a taxi for 70 instead. In the airport we were so tired, we went to an expensive restaurant and sat there until the plane, can't wait until it arrived !! The time finally came, we went on a plane which is 1:20 hours flight. 50 minutes later, I barely understand in Portuguese something that sounds like that the plane is going back to Sao Paulo. There is no reaction from anybody, so I thought I misunderstood it. Everything is absolutely normal, when I asked the stewardess what was said, and he told me that the weather is too cloudy, planes can't see the runway, so the plane returns back to Sao Paulo. I could not believe it, people like were smiley, continued to smile. We almost arrived, and now we have to go all the way back :( When we got back, we received a message that please stay in your seats until they make a decision ... half an hour later, they finally let us out, 300 people and the order and silence is unbelievable !! We all got a hotel voucher for the night, and a rebooked flight for the next day. Finally finally finally we arrived at the hotel at 4am! I thought this day would never end !! The hotel was the best hotel I've almost ever stayed in, I would give it 5 stars :) Too bad we only stayed there for 5 hours :))
When we arrived exhausted to Iguassu at 4 pm the next day, I really had to finish working that day. So I went to sleep for 2 hours, got up, and with a "fresh" head finished the work !! Yahooo !! :))
In the morning we went to Iguassu falls, which are the most beautiful and powerful waterfalls in the world, and are one of the 7 wonders of the world. The trail to and through the falls goes through a park which is filled with birds, butterflies, raccoon like things and spiders! :S The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers of the Iguazu River, with a flow of 400,000 galons per second. Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" The waterfalls were amazing, and very very powerful. I liked the waterfalls, but the driving there and back from hostel to falls, in the falls themselves was exhausting. After the falls we went to a bird park nearby. In the evening we went to Argentina side. In the border, they just opened a car window, the guy looked at us, and stamped the passport. I think all the border crossings should be that way :) The hostel in Argentina was so good! The room was huge, also with a kitchen and a table.
Next day it was supposed to be raining, so we didn't go to the falls, but it wasn't raining, so we just hung out in the town. The town is very pretty, it's small and extremely green. Now here's a difference between Bolivia and Argentina. In Bolivia: how long does it take to get there? ... Oh ... you'll never make it, it's like 5 minutes away, you must take a taxi !!! In Argentina: how long does it take to get there? ... Oh ... it's really close, it's 1 hour that way :)) We went to a 3 borders landmark. There a river crosses Brazil and Paraguay. Pretty cool.
In the morning we packed our bags, left them at the bus terminal and went to the falls on the Argentina side. I loved the Argentina side so much more than Brazilian. There is a 1.5 km bridge that goes over the river towards the falls, and then it stops right above the "devil's throat". You can't believe the power of that thing. You just look at it, and can't believe that it's real. There are also lower and upper routes which we walked through. The panorama is beautiful, the day was cloudy though, so the pictures are kinda gray :( There was a boat that goes beside the falls, but we didn't want to go, and then we debated debated and went there last minute. The boat went beside some waterfalls so we could take pictures, and then we hid everything in dry bags, and went right beside it, it felt like all over the sudden a strong strong rain began. We just sat with our eyes closed and screamed :)) And it did it 3 times !!! :)) We came out all drenched and happy :) And then I wondered why if we go voluntarily on the boat to the waterfall and pay for it, we get out happy, and when we walk on the street and it starts raining, we start cursing the weather and run away?
Guess what? Again we were late for our bus, we got there 5 minutes before it leaves, and we still have to change from all the wet cloths ... it's ok, they waited for us :) The bus was going to Buenos Aires for 18 hours. It was a nice bed bus. We were given pillows, blankets, candies and champagne. The movies where playing non stop. We got served a 3 course tasty dinner, went to sleep, and by the time I woke up, it was already 10 am. After breakfast and another movie we arrived in Buenos Aires.

pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/IlhaGrandeAndIguassu#