Poor Niagara!

Giving Florianopolis one more chance was an excellent idea. We stayed in an area called Lagoa, which is an ideal base for restaurants, bars and several lovely beaches. We found a beach we particularly liked - all the way along Mole beach and over some rocks - and spent two days hanging out there; swimming in the sea (or rather, getting bashed about by waves) and eating açai with granola. I get the impression this is what a stay in Florianopolis is really about - even down to the huge cockroach in our room (which I made Mauro dispose of and which he consequently felt guilty about for several hours).

We'd clearly got too assimilated into the Brazilian beachbum way of life, as we (actually Mauro) got the bus-times wrong and so missed our very expensive 15-hour overnight bus to Foz do Iguaçu. Did I mention that was the last one that day? So after a harmonious hour spent together in the bus station, we took the next bus in that direction - five hours away in Curitiba, where we had to stay overnight in a worryingly cheap hotel by the station, before finally heading off to Foz (as I like to call it) the following morning. We managed to convince ourselves this was all part of the crazy adventure of travelling (convincing ourselves of this took several hours).

Luckily, Foz was worth all the hassle! Our hostel was lovely (and not just in comparison to cockroach-hut). It even had a pool, which is necessary in the intense heat of the interior that hits you like a slap in the face. We cooked in both evenings and hung out with a group of Bavarian Jehovah's Witnesses, who'd just visited the rarely-visited Chaco (region in Paraguay), in a bid to get to know some Mennonites. You can't make this stuff up.

We really liked Foz. It had the feel of a frontier town, which we'd not come across so far on our travels. It also had a strong gauchesco vibe - not surprising since it's by the Argentinian border. In true Becka and Mauro tradition, we found a very basic botequim that we liked and had a bem gelada (cold beer) while chatting to the owners about the local culture and the Itaipu dam. Unfortunately we had to pass up the guy's invitation to come back for 30 days (no less), so that he could teach us all the local dances...

And obviously, the waterfalls! Like most travellers, we spent one day on the Argentinian side and one day on the Brazilian side. They were absolutely spectacular (I reckon Eleanor Roosevelt's "Poor Niagara!" quote is about right). To avoid lapsing into clichés, here's a couple of photos instead:

We went straight from Iguaçu falls to the airport, in good time for our flight to Salvador, from where I'm writing now. We got to the hotel quite late and were vehemently advised not to venture out on our own, so the city is yet to be discovered...