Tours 'R'nt Us

Woke at 7am this morning for breakfast at hotel before our tour of the Argentine Iguacu park. There was lots of choice at breakfast, pastries, cereal, fruit and bacon, sausage and eggs. Sarah burnt the toast but ate it because she didn't want to appear wasteful. There were lots of miradors feeding by the hotel as we got on the tour bus and three capuchin monkeys in the trees nearby. I thought we were only here to see the waterfalls, but now we're on a wildlife quest too.

The coach part of the tour was arduous. We were the first pick up and after five more hotels, a border crossing and an hour and a half, we finally got to the national park...only to have to wait a further half hour for the poxy little train to take us into the park.

Maybe it was the heat, but I got annoyed at the number of people and how an American granny was so nonchalant about seeing such spectacular landscapes and animals as if it is an everyday occurrence. Travel is too easy. People would appreciate it all the more if it was difficult to get places. I know this is hypocritical of me as we are just as bad; we're half way around the World, on a new continent for us and it hasn't sunk in that were on holiday yet.
Anyway, the waterfalls are the most amazing scenery we've seen. Every turn provides a more breathtaking view. We've been above, below, alongside and then on a speedboat, in the falls.

The wildlife in the rain forest is wonderful too. On our trek today we saw a blue Jay, a snake, lots of butterflies (there are 400 species in this rain forest) and Sarah spotted a hummingbird and a toucan. Nothing funny happened on the tour and I'm only mentioning it to make you all jealous.

Did I mention that doing the tour with a guide was pointless? There was no, zip, zero commentary. All he did was tell us when to meet at each part of the tour so we all went around together. It would have been quicker and easier to go round the trails on our own. And, as the route back to our hotel went passed his house, he hopped off the coach before dropping us off. Ciao!

Oh, I've found out how South America is trying to deal with unemployment; in Rio airport there was a woman employed to press the buttons for us in the lift. Ok, this happens in some expensive hotels in Europe and the US, but at lunch today there was one waiter per table...in a self service restaurant!

Back at the hotel, we had capirinhas (Sarah's favourite cocktail, which we've found out come from Brazil) and champagne in the bar and looked at our photos on the laptop. Sarah was tiddly after one drink.