Day 12: Iguassu Falls Argentine side, Day 13: Brasilian side

in the native language it means "Big Water", though in English is sometimes known as The Devil's Throat. it is the world's largest waterfall by volume (i really can't keep track of which is the biggest, it's like measuring a river, how to you measure, by depth, area or volume?) because there are HUNDRED of smaller falls. i had the guide to myself again and she was really good at taking photos of me here i look thin (still have man-shoulders, i look like i belong on the CHinese swim team). also discovered the manual mode with longer exposure does indeed provide better photos.

why do waterfalls always falls on two borders, with the more complicated visa-requiring one the crappier side? the case is true for Niagara (sorry America but you get the butt end of American horsehoe falls and a lot of mist) and i wonder if a Zimbabwean visa is worth it when i finally have enough money for Victoria Falls.

the difference from Niagara is that it's a whole national park, and the wildlife is fantastic. we spent 6 hours on the Argentine side (and hey, Asians CAN sweat! all that is needed is a South American jungle), here are some of my reasons why it is my current favourite waterfall:

• the steel bridges are right on top of the waterfalls, in awe walking on top of them.
• the butterflies are HUGE, and others have gorgeous colours. one of them is called by locals the Double 8 because it has intricate ying-yang 8 patterns on its wings. they love humans, i guess from all the salt from our pores. speaking of, i get the spanish words (and portugese) for butter and butterflies confused (the last syllable is different) so i have been making people laugh, pretty much by asking for insects on my toasted bread and stating, "YOUR LARD IS BEAUTIFUL. LARD IN AUSTRALIA NOT BIG"
• Tucans are actually the bad guys! they eat all the other native birds' eggs. none of them are afraid of humans either, and the natives now lay their eggs under said steel bridges, so every now and then the guie shows me a nest that we are walking right on top of
• there are marsupials that look like ring-tailed lemurs, they walk right along the rails of the bridges with us, and the native language for them means "pointy-nosed" (they were a very literal native people aye). the baby ones are make me want to squish them
• A JAGUAR RAN IN FRONT OF THE CAR! on the way there. it was very early though and all i saw was a quick and big beige blob. the driver says there are only 6 in the park, they come out when it's particularly hot
• lizards are pretty big, though not blue-tongued in size. they do have that blue-tongue attitude of owning the place
• i felt fit! hooray for oxygen in low altitudes. after getting breathless every 5 steps in Peru/Bolivia and constantly saying, "i walked 20 km everyday! really! but----GASP----please stop" i felt as though i were a 65 year old a-pack-a-day smoker (those illamas standing at the top of summits also damaged my self-esteem, how did they get there?!) and now i have regained my physical powress. take that Wii Fit, i am NOT 35 years old!
• the boat ride that took you right next to the falls was like a violent communal shower. there was also a guy shouting at us and filming us so it felt like we were part of some strange Hispanic Girls Gone Wild auditioning at a wet t-shirt contest. 

crossing the border the bridge changed national colours (and at the top of the national park is Paraguay's territory, but they don't have access to the falls and instead market "helicopter adventures" (whose vibrations often break the birds' eggs and therefore shouldn't be supported)

the brazilian side hotel was a village, considering i only ate there for 3 days (there was nothing else outside besides roadkill and some guy with a machete selling agua de coco) it was still a bargain, had room service meals for AUD6 bucks, and i noticed here bar fridge drinks are still cheaper than bottles of drinks for us at home, roughly 1 dollar each. BUT their burger meats, unless you ask for steak, isn't mince, it's that fake meat you get from supermarket pretend-snitzels.

the brazilian side had views and a bridge under one of the falls. so they have a lot of adventures made for Bear Grylls like rafting and bungee jumping. i contemplating WW rafting, but after someone told me your arms will hurt the entire night i chickened out and went swimming at the pool instead (empty during their siesta hours). brazilian food also has bbq parrillas which they call churrasco. they have a similiar sugarcane rum cocktail called caipirinha, but they make them quite strong.

my portugese is even worse than my spanish, it sounds more german than romantic to me. if you exclude foods, i know about 6 words. they have very good West African foods, in particular the seafood, moqueca, made from prawn and okra (okra!) as well as sweets that remind me of Trini coconut bake. they make a nice jambalaya looking dish called celebrasa from chorizo sausages in an onion stew. as you can see i spent a lot of time eating. the beer are all chopps, most draught and are better than lagers (though i find cleaning agents better than lager), though nowhere near as good as German/Czech pilsners and ales. mangoes are the calypso type, pineapples are to die for

hot water! no more waiting.

brazil is in my opinion probably poorer in appearances than Peru. but only because the gap is so wide. like the other BRIC countries Russia, India and China, there are a small, rich bunch but masses of extremely poor, shanty houses. the flood currently has a death toll close to 700, and says something about the lack of aid organisation. mostly only volunteers doing the hard work, with less than a few hundred soldiers. the racial make-up is more diverse than the other latin americas and their tv shows definitely show more bikini-clad women (one program has them chasing chickens in a pen). they also have Big Brother, but it appears to be very beautiful people eating lots of food.

just saw an ad for Chile Tourism. features shots of the 33 miners. what?! of course, i'm sure people go to Chile for its close proximity to Antarctica, its great seafood, and its POOR INDUSTRIAL WORK SAFETY???