Today we checked out of the hotel, and headed back down to Foz ready for me and Laura to get the bus back this evening from Puerto Iguazu. We took a few detours along the way to look at a bit of the scenery, and the edge of the forest before heading back to the [Carima Hotel] where my parents had booked their last night. Surprisingly when we got to the room, the brochure had had the price of the buffet changed to the 19 real that they had charged us the previous time - don't know if this is because they knew we'd check or not though ;). We then chilled by the pool and had some drinks there before heading back. Unfortunately, the painter had just been round touching up the chairs, and my trousers got lots of white paint on them. We complained at reception, and they said they'd send someone down in the next half hour to clean them in the room (this was about 45 minutes before we needed to leave). After going back to reception once more to clear things up, eventually they sent someone who didn't really understand us, and took the trousers off to the laundry. Then the phone rang to say that the Laundry was closed. We went back up to reception to try and get the trousers back, as I needed to where them to travel in. After lots of complications we were escorted down to the laundry to get them back, and we headed off to Puerto Iguazu in a taxi (25 real). We opted for the taxi as aparently the bus doesn't always wait for you at customs and you have to wait for the next one.

We had an early start today, and headed out through the town to a place called Santa Helena, on the edge of the reserviour We had a picnic lunch there and then went to have a look at some of the artificial beaches along the edge from there before heading back. In the evening we had dinner at the hotel, which was nice, although the 'Brazilian wine' turned out to be a not to nice Uruguayan wine, and the food seemed to cool off too quickly with the air conditioning But the food itself was really nice.

We planned to go to the [Itaipu Dam], but spent too long thinking about it and getting ready before realising that they had set times for the tours - 8, 9, 10, 2 and 3. We checked out of the [Carima Hotel] and found that they charged us 19 real for the buffet instead of 14 as it said in the brochure in the room. When we questioned it, they didn't seem to care that the brochure was wrong but that the price was 19 no matter what. Also some how they manage to run the hotel without a manager on Tuesdays! After checking out, we went to the supermarket and then on to have lunch near the dam before waiting for it to open. After lunch, we went on the free tour of the [Itaipu Dam] - which was well worth going on, it's an incredible size construction, and interesting to hear about the building of it. After we'd finished the tour, we headed upto Cascavel where we were to stay the next 2 nights at the Deville Express Hotel there. We checked in and then headed into the town, which was much bigger than we'd expected - We thought it was a small town, but it was more like a city. We had dinner at McDonalds (I had a Salad and grape juice - which was lovely although different to the salads in Chile or Argentina.) and then drove down the main street. The main street is curvy all the way through the shopping areas, presumably as some sort of traffic calming, which was different. After this, we headed back to the hotel and found the entrance and front car park full of football fans and security guards outside the entrance to the annex where the rooms are. I guess the team were staying there or something.

Today we planned to go to the falls in the morning and then see how much there was there and decide the rest of the day based on that, however we found out that the park is closed on Monday mornings. We investigated the prices of helicopter rides over the falls, and found that it was too expensive, so that ruled that one out. Instead we decided to go to the bird park where they have lots of birds both native to the area and not. The leaflets say "birds in their natural habitat without the restriction of netting and cages." However a lot of the birds are in fairly small cages. It is well worth a visit though as there are also huge aviaries where you can go inside and see the birds close up. It was really great to be able to see the toucans, and amazing how close they would come to you - They look like cuddly toys with a very furry looking body and amazingly blue eyes. Once we'd finished there, we had some lunch in the cafe and headed on to the falls. It was nice to see the falls again from a different angle, although there wasn't much more there. The views were good though, and a couple of coyotes strayed onto the paths around. Annoyingly though (as at the bird park) people were ignoring the signs and petting them.

Today we checked out of the youth hostel and got a taxi across to Brazil to stay at the [Carima Hotel] where we relaxed until it was time for Dad to go and pick up the hire car. We spent most of the time by the pool, had a swim and cocktails which was really nice, although I got a nasty sunburn across my back :(. After Mum & Dad set off to get the car, we had lunch in the hotel coffee bar. In the afternoon we tried to go out to the [Itaipu Dam] (the biggest hydroelectric dam in the world), but found that it is closed on Sundays. However on the road to the dam there is also an 'Eco museum' which tells the story of the dam and how they have protected the wildlife and replanted trees to make up for the flooding of the area. After that we headed out to the Brazilian three frontiers park, and had a look at the monuments from there. We found the Geocache that was there which hasn't been found for almost a year, so we were quite pleased about that.

Having a lazier day today, caught the bus out to 3 frontiers, where you can see three posts coloured to match the flags of the three countries on the banks of the rivers in the respective countries. On the way back we went to a Orquidario which my parents had seen a sign for before when they were staying at the hotel up the road. There there were loads of local plants and birds including someof the 'air plants' that grow on tree bark. The lady there also told us about the garden of Hummingbirds, which was another hidden beauty. So after lunch, we headed up there - it was a family garden, but they'd arranged it so as it attracts hummingbirds. There must have been hundreds of hummingbirds come and go in the time we were there. It's well worth a visit if you're ever in the area. In the evening we went back (with Mum & Dad this time) to the 'Corner Restaurant' for the buffet.

Today we went to the park again and had a bit of a less hectic day. We started off by doing the high tour around the tops of some of the falls - which was lovely apart from the annoying hoards of tour groups there. After that we had pizza for lunch and went back out to the devils throat to take the ecological tour boat back along the river. That was really nice and peaceful, and we saw 3 turtles, an alligator and a black splodge which was supposedly a toucan. After this we took a bit of a walk down the Macuco trail to try and see some monkeys - there were lots of giant ants, and we saw something that looked cat like but unfortunatley no monkeys. In the evening Laura & I went to the "Corner Restaurant" and had a lovely all you can eat buffet (15 pesos including desert!)

We arrived today after the overnight bus, and jumped straight in to doing everything on the first day - we checked into the youth hostel and headed straight to the park. Once there, we set off on the lower trail and then went on the boat ride under the falls and got drenched - but it was fun! After that we went across to San Martin Island where we got some lovely views of the falls from. After we'd finished the lower trail, we got the train out to the devils throat which was just amazing- you could see the waterfalls all round and the big gorge with water pouring in from all sides. There were loads of butterflies all over, so hopefully I should have some nice photos of them here soon.

We had a nice chat with Marcelo yesterday, and learnt a few more interesting bits about Uruguay. The conversation started of with whether or not there is freedom of religion in England, and then went on to Politics, Computers, Voting and various other bits and pieces to compare. Here voting in the elections is compulsory, and if you don't vote there are financial sancions - loss of social benefits. It was also interesting to here how in the financial crisis here a couple of years ago, all the political parties joined together to sort things out, before seperating again once things were sorted.

It's back to school time here in Uruguay, most of the kids go back to school today, but some went back on Monday. They've just had their summer/Christmas holiday and it's time to start the next school year, assuming they passed the last one -as here they have to repeat the year until they pass it. As it's back to school time, there's lots more stationary around in the shops, and school uniforms in many windows. But the number of people in the office shop yesterday was crazy - 4 queues to the counter filling the shop, and they'd employed 3 or 4 security guards especially for the occasion. Everyone was getting their supplies! At the weekend, we gave the kids from Escuelita books for school, and on Monday it was nice to see some of their work in their books.