Water, water everywhere - again!

Only this time in our room!

We're now back in Buenos Aires, a long way away from the raging waters of Iguazu. But little did we know when we went to bed last night that we hadn't seen the last of lots of water, as we soon had a minature waterfall in our room.

During the night there was a huge thunder storm with torrential rain that lasted for over 12 hours. Sharon was sleeping through the storm, totally unaware of it, until she was woken up by Craig frantically shaking her. For once, Craig's insomnia had paid off - it meant he was awake to hear the slow dripping followed by a sudden influx of water as one end of our room turned into a shower. In the time it took Craig to wake up Sharon, the floor was already under two inches of water (and it wasn't a small room either). Sharon ran down to reception where the guy looked at her as if she was wildly exaggerating and slowly sauntered up, expecting to see something resembling a dripping tap. He seemed genuinely suprised by the now 4 inches of water on the floor and numerous jets of water now spurting down from all over the ceiling. The early hours of the morning were spent hurriedly trying to move all our stuff out into another room which was luckily free.

So, the last day of our travels, rather than spending it site-seeing, has been spent trying to dry everything from clothes and bags to memory cards and souvenirs. Thankfully, we don't think we've lost any photos and nothing seems to have been ruined or permanently damaged. We just have a soggy pile of clothes to bring back to the UK.

Our first disaster of 6 months happens on almost our last day! Oh well, at least it doesn't matter anymore!

The end is nigh

We`ve now done our last proper site-seeing of the trip, a day just over the border in Brazil.

We started the day with a helicopter flight over the jungle and Iguazu falls. It was great fun, although Craig did feel a bit sick when it span around at an angle immediately after take-off! We circled around the falls several times, getting some great views of just how big and powerful they are.

Next stop was the bird park, which was huge - full of free flying aviaries. There were all sorts of parrots, macaws, spoonbills, vultures, owls, etc etc. There were also lots of Toucans, which made up for the lack of them on the Argentine side. Sharon loved it, and we spent ages making sure we got the perfect Sharon and Toucan photo!

After that, we went to the Iguazu Falls National Park on the Brazilian side, for some more treks and views. You don`t get quite as close to the main falls, but you do get much better panoramas. There is one platform which gets you close to some of the falls, so we still ended up getting wet! That was quite a relief though, as it was ridiculously hot yesterday - 47 degrees (no, we're not joking)!

All that`s left now is the long journey home. We fly to Buenos Aires tomorrow morning, then we have a day there before the long trip back to the UK. We arrive home on Tuesday, and, although we are sad that our travelling is coming to an end, we`re looking forward to catching up with everyone over the Christmas period. We`ll probably update the blog again with some more photos once we have got back home, so keep tuning in!

Water, water, everywhere!

We`re up in the north of Argentina at Iguazu. We`ve spent the last two days visiting the Argentine side of the falls, doing a variety of walks and boat trips around the site.

The falls are spectacular, the sheer size and power is amazing. The falls are in the middle of subtropical rainforest, right on the border between Argentina and Brazil.

As well as lots of walks (including some on little platforms going over parts of the falls), we did a speedboat trip that took us under the falls! It took us as far under the falls as it was safe to go, and we got absolutely drenched, but it was great fun! In the scorching heat it didn`t take long to dry out though, and soon we were wishing we could have another refreshing soak!

We`ve also been on a jungle walk, trying to find an elusive Jaguar (although I got the distinct impression Sharon would rather not find one!). We didn`t have any luck, although we did find lots of flies and mosquitos. No toucans either - Sharon was very upset!

Tomorrow we are crossing over to the Brazilian side, to get some more views of the falls, and hopefully to take a helicopter ride over them. We`re also hoping to visit the big bird park there, so that Sharon can finally see her toucan.

Today we are having a well-earned day of rest at the hostel. We have a private room with ensuite bathroom, a swimming pool, restaurant, the works - even Sharon can cope with youth hostels when they are like this one!

Uruguay and Gauchos

We're nearing the end of our time in the capital now but we've done lots since we've been here. Craig has managed to get to a couple of museums, but unfortunately, a lot of them have been shut!! We did manage to see the Evita museum and the National History museum though. And of course, he dragged Sharon around the Arms Museum although she did like the gas mask for a horse!

A couple of days ago we got the ferry across to Uruguay - it takes 3 hours to go 45Km! We visited the quaint city of Colonia del Sacramento which has lots of cobbled streets and colonial buildings. We climbed the lighthouse for views of the old town and went in the oldest Church in Uruguay. We even found time to sample Uruguayan beer before getting the ferry back to Buenos Aires.

Yesterday, we headed out to the Pampas (grasslands) to visit an Argentine ranch and the gauchos. We had a great day riding horses, seeing the ranch, watching tango and gaucho dancing and eating lots of barbecued meat accompanied by lots of free vino tinto. Sharon's diet continues...

Tomorrow we fly to Iguazzu to see the waterfall and then, unfortunately, it's back to UK. However, we can't wait to get back to work (just in case any managers/HR people are reading this...)

What's new, Buenos Aires?

We're new!

Have finally escaped from Ushuaia, although to be honest we quite enjoyed our time there, and a bit of a rest did us good. On our last day there we climbed up to the Martial Glaciar (well, one of us did - a short, young lady who will remain nameless wimped out halfway, giving Craig the camera to take pictures for her).

Yes, we know that you don't get penguins in Buenos Aires, but we couldn´t resist putting up a cute picture from our visit to Penguin Island. If anyone is interested, we have 400 more pictures just like it... Plus a cuddly penguin of our very own (called Percy).

Our first day in Buenos Aires has been good (and hot!). We've been to the Recoletta cemetery to find Eva Peron´s (Evita) grave, seen the widest street in the world, done the Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada, and been in the cathedral. And of course, found time to sit down and have a beer (it's hard work, all this travelling!). Actually, a nice cold beer makes a nice change - in Ushuaia it was normally too cold for beer, and we ended up drinking tea (or hot milk off the children's menu in Sharon's case).

We're in Buenos Aires until Sunday, when we fly to Iguazzu. We've got a busy few days lined up, including a day trip on the ferry to Uruguay (It seemed a shame not to fit in another country!).

The other piccy is of us at Torres del Paine in Chile. Thought it might be nice to put a picture of that up as we couldn´t do so at the time.

Last but not least, a quick hello to Clare and Ian who are expecting their first child in the next few weeks. Good luck to you both and let us know how it goes.