These waterfalls are unbelievable – absolutely awe inspiring. The highest drop is 82m and they span across 2.7km with a total of 275 drops. Most of the waterfalls are actually on the Argentinian side of the river but that means you get a really good view of them from the Brazilian side.

Here’s a little collection of the many photos I took:

We had good weather and as it had been raining a lot lately the river and the falls were quite full.

This is Devil’s Throat which is the highest drop

The park and the trails are really well organised and signposted so it was easy to get around – obviously there are a lot of people so sometimes you have to wait to get a good photo. The initial walk is quite dry but as you walk out onto the platforms on the waterfalls you get soaked- but the views are amazing.

You also meet a lot of quite tame Coatis on the way – I got told off for stroking one.

To get to the Iguazu falls from our hostel wasn’t too bad either- even though we’re kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We got a free bus to the main road and then a bus from there to the park via the airport. Whilst waiting for the free bus I got stung by a wasp which wasn’t the best start to the day!

This is our hostel – basic but beautiful.

Tonight we went into the Foz do Iguazu which is a strange kind of town. We met an Israeli guy, Jacob, and his mother on the bus into town and they invited us for free drinks at their hotel. We were going to meet up with them for dinner but we couldn’t find the restaurant so we ended up having pizza and then going for a Caiprainha at Capitao Bar.

I can’t believe it’s Faye’s last night here, I’m really going to miss her. It’s so nice to have someone to share the experiences with.

We had a couple of hours on Copacabana beach this morning before we had to pack up our things and get ready to leave.

This is a gorgeous white sandy beach that stretches for 4km and you can see sugarloaf mountain at the one end of it.

It was a sunny morning but unfortunately we had to leave as we had a flight to catch.

Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Foz do Iguazu safely. Our hostel is literally at the end of a dirt track and is in the middle of nowhere but it’s in beautiful surroundings.

We took a walk to the nearest shop which is basically two rooms of food so we bought some bits for our supper. On the way we came across some owls – I thought they were carvings initially but then they moved!

We also met some very friendly puppy on the walk and the hostel has a beautiful fluffy cat but he’s not so friendly.

Tomorrow we’re off to see the waterfalls.

This is one of the main tourist attractions in Rio so we decided to go and see what it was all about.

We caught an uber to the cable car which worked really easily and then bought out tickets to the top.

You have to go up in two separate cable cars- the first one from the base of Morra da Babalonia to Morro da Urca and from there to Sugarloaf’s summit. The highest point is 396m above the harbour. The rock itself is made from quartz and granite which is why it has weathered so well.

Looking down from sugarloaf mountain across Rio:

Looking back up at the peak:

The views were stunning. However, we didn’t seem to be having much luck with the weather and as we were up at the summit it started to rain quite heavily – we got soaked:

And the view once we got back down shows how cloudy it was.

But again- definitely worth doing. As you looked across Rio you could just see the Christ the Reedemer statue on a peak opposite- it looked like he was floating on the clouds.

The rain had stopped by the time we got to the bottom so we walked back to the apartment stopping for some delicious late lunch on the way. We didn’t realise until about 12pm but the clocks all went back an hour in Brazil today!

In the evening we went for a snack and a caipirinha before coming across some local live music in a small bar – it was really good even though we couldn’t understand what they were singing about.

Rio Carnival is very different to Salvador in that it is much more about watching rather than being right there amongst it all. Although I’m sure the various street parties are just as crazy but we didn’t get to experience those.

However, the parade was well worth watching. The floats are amazing as are all the costumes. And you do get to dance/ jig around a bit whilst watching the parade.

We arrived at the grandstand around 830pm and just after 9pm the parade kicked off with an impressive firework display.

During the champions parade the 6 winners parade down the parade area- it takes at least one hour for each samba school to get from one end to the other. And each school has a variety of elements as part of its parade including some breathtaking floats, their own band, flag dancers and a variety of stunning costumes.

The samba schools must spend a fortune on all of this but I read that each school gets some money from the city funds to help take part in carnival.

We only stayed to watch the first three schools before heading home. It was amazing- just all the colours, the costumes and the atmosphere.

The photos can’t really capture the scale of the floats but they were huge and with so much detail including moving parts for the animals etc.

Definitely worth seeing.

Yesterday evening we just went for a stroll along the beach and stopped for a beer and an empenada.

We decided to visit a little bar that was mentioned as one of the top spots to go to for a different kind of night Bip Bip. Well it was a tiny little place where you helped yourself to drinks and then some people started playing guitar and singing. Trouble was it wasn’t very good and you couldn’t really hear it. And then it started raining really hard and you definitely couldn’t hear it, so we cut our losses and went home.

This morning we got up for the walking tour. We managed to navigate the metro successfully and ended up in Lapa – the more historical area of Rio. There was a big street party going on because of carnival so the route was altered a little bit.

We saw some amazing places and learnt a lot about the history of Brazil – invasion by the Portuguese, the French, becoming a monarch country and then a republic.

We also tried Brigadier – a sweet made from condensed milk and chocolate

And like all the tourists we posed on the Selaron steps.

We rested for a couple of hours before getting ready to experience carnival Rio style!

More about that in my next post.

So we arrived in Rio yesterday afternoon- it’s an hour ahead of Salvador which was a bit confusing.

The air bnb apartment is really nice but the Wi-Fi is a bit intermittent. We had a walk around the nearby shops and bought some food for breakfast and lunch today.

In the evening we just went for some local Brazilian food at a nearby cafe. We had some prawn pie which sounds wierd but tasted delicious.

This morning we got up early to take the van up to see Christ the Reedemer. We were at the ticket office just before 8am when it opened and I made friends with a beautiful cat in the park.

We waited for around 40 minutes in the boarding area before realising we had to actually walk down to the beach to catch the vans to the monument – nobody told us, but we figured it out in the end.

When we did get to the statue itself it was pretty cloudy but we managed to catch the odd moment when the clouds parted and the sun came out.

Unfortunately the clouds also hampered the view down into the city – but I’m sure it’s lovely on a sunny day.

On the way back to the apartment we picked up our carnival tickets for the champions parade tomorrow evening.

Not sure yet what we’ll do tonight but we will probably do the walking tour tomorrow.

We got up for breakfast but then went back to bed as we were still tired from the night before.

We had a little wander around the coast and carnival route – it’s amazing how quickly they’ve cleaned up and started to dismantle all the camarotes.

We had a stroll around the Barra Lighthouse.

For lunch we had a traditional Brazilian dish – moqueca – a delicious fish and prawn stew.

Late afternoon we had a very heavy rain shower but because it’s so warm the streets had dried up in minutes.

Being Valentine’s day we watched the sunset with a beer, very romantic!

We didn’t do much during the day yesterday. We had a little mooch around the shops close to the hotel but we didn’t buy anything. We were looking for accessories for carnival but couldn’t find anything we liked.

In the afternoon we just sat out by one of the restaurants with a couple of beers and watched all the people go by. I got a lovely neck and shoulder massage – he clicked my neck and it felt really good.

And then in the evening we went to celebrate carnival with the thousands of other people. We had tickets for Harem Camarote which was down near the end of the carnival route so we had to walk through the crowds to get there. A camarote is like a massive secure area with a restaurant, a mixture of bars, their own DJs and a whole other area where live bands play – it’s like a mini festival within the carnival. You can also watch the trucks go past and go out onto the streets to join in the fun.

This time I took my phone with me (secure in my flipbelt) but the photos don’t really show the immense size of the trucks and just how busy carnival actually is.

This photo is looking out onto the streets from the camarote – as always there is a large police presence which makes you feel really safe.

This one is looking across the camarote out into the streets

And this is of one of the trucks going by

And the carnival route we were on (Barra/Odina) is just one of three different routes in Salvador.

I absolutely loved carnival – the music, the friendly people and the whole atmosphere.

The one bad thing is that a lot of people pee in the streets so the aroma isn’t great and you end up walking through puddles of piss. But the walk home yesterday was not as busy as the other night as all the trucks had got to the end of the route.

After participating in the crazy street party that was Carnival on Saturday evening we decided to take it easy yesterday and just spent the day on the beach. The weather was gorgeous with just one small rain shower and the sea was lovely and warm.

In the evening we just went for a little stroll around the streets near the hotel and then had some diner. The restaurant we went to was not the best – they didn’t have a lot of the dishes on the menu and when we did get our food each dish was probably enough to feed three people!

We met some guys all dressed in the old Salvador traditional costume and they are part of a large group that follow the traditions of Ghandi – love and no violence.

We had a fairly early night and got up early so we could go sightseeing.

We walked the 4km from Barra to the old part of Salvador- Pelourinha. We passed Forte San Diego and Forte San Antonia and walked along a bit of a dodgy road.

Once we got to the old part of town we took the Elevator Lacerda from the bottom to the top of the city – it travels 72m in 30 seconds.

Once at the top we were at the main square- the majority of churches and museums are shut because of carnival and the tatues and fountains are all fenced off too.

See if you can spot me in the Salvador photo above!

We wandered around the old town for a bit – it’s really beautiful with the old colonial houses. We managed to find a Carmalite church that was open so we went in and had a look and it was pretty amazing – and it had free water and a clean toilet!

We popped into a little cafe for lunch and met an English guy from Essex – Jake, so we sat and chatted over a couple of beers.

We then visited the Mercado Modelo which is a large indoor market selling handicrafts – it used to be where the slave market was held.

On the way home we ran into the two other carnival routes so had to take lots of detours. We got a bit lost but managed to find our way back to the hotel in the end. We got soaking wet too as we had a couple of heavy showers- but it’s warm so it feels ok.

After eventually making it back to the hotel we just chilled for a bit. We went for some snacks and beer at our favourite restaurant so far – Portal do Mar – and just sat and people watched.

After snacks we walked down to Barra Lighthouse where there was a massive outdoor party going on – it felt just like a festival! We danced on the street for about an hour or so and then headed for home!

I can’t explain to you how crazy Salvador Carnival is – words can’t describe the atmosphere or what it’s like to be there amongst it all. It’s chaos but kind of organised. There’s lots of police around so it feels pretty safe but the streets are jam packed, everyone is dancing and singing along to the music.

The carnival is basically massive trucks with bands on them and each truck has a cordoned off area around it known as a bloco. We had tickets for the Timbalada bloco and the music was amazing. Even in the bloco it was really busy and you get squashed a lot. But it doesn’t matter as everyone is having a great time. Our bloco had a group of male dancers who basically led the dancing – you just follow their moves. It is very hot and sweaty!

I had a lovely dance with a Brazilian guy, a policeman have me his number and another guy gave me a kiss. Faye was propositioned several times too!

One Brazilian guy, Kacias, took it upon himself to be out protector and made sure we didn’t get too trampled on!

We also saw a group of guys doing capoeira within our bloco – marshall art style dance fighting – which was really amazing to watch.

The whole route is around 5km and it took around 7 hours to dance to the end and then dance and walk back through the crowds.

I loved it, it’s super busy but it’s amazing, the music is a variety of traditional latin american with an African influence and also some more modern music. Everyone loves dancing – one Brazilian lady was impressed that two English girls could move like Brazilians!

I can’t wait to do it again later this week.

I have one photo of us before we left but we didn’t take our phones our with us as we wanted to just relax and enjoy ourselves and not worry about things getting stolen.

Carnival is definitelty the best street parties ever!