Iguazu and cocktails at the Sheraton

On the bus to Iguazu-the bus was an overnight trip with a company called Barriloche I could not compare the trip with anything we have in England as I believe the commercial aspect from a European viewpoint is that it would not be economically viable ..with wide seating (reclining for sleeping) videos, both supper and breakfast taken on board with wine champagne and coffee. All five of us kept busy reading novels and old copies of the Guardian, sudoku, I was wring and Jon was watching the video.. We slept for the trip duration of sixteen hours but during the night changes of landscape were noticed from the urban sophisticated buildings through vast expanses of shrub land. The earth changed to a burnished ruby red, small palms and a variety of pine and deciduous trees, the colours of the leaves were emerald greens, ochre, and a nuance of red. We passed expanses of water lakes, rivers and brooks.. The tiny hamlets were one storey buildings some with red tiled roofs and others appeared to be straw similar to thatching.

At Iguazu we stayed at a cabino a sub tropical setting which had many varieties of birds, butterflies, and trees within gardens where we had parilla´s listened to Damian and Jon jamming and the girls sang along. The cabino hosted a card school and their was a fair amount of cheating (the card game was "cheat), bad language (the card game is called **** head), drinking red wine and matte. Afterwards Jon played his guitar whilst Damian was playing the beat with his arms and his legs sprawled out on the bed ( I think he was dreaming of his drum kit).

I met with my first humming bird whilst we were eating breakfast cakes, croissants and pastries on the first day at the cabino. A humming bird flew into the dining area it was trapped frantically trying to fly through a closed window. I stepped towards it and opened the window as siting the humming bird by gently waving my pink chiffon scarf to assist it to its freedom..

We made a decision over empanados and Qulimes that we would go in search of toucans Jon loves Tuca toucans..more later on the search of the toucan...barbecues more steak..

At Iguazu falls we would visit a National park prestigious falls above the gate we saw a type of Condor hovering above the gates of the entrance to the falls, and guinea pigs grazing at our feet.

We left the gateway walking through well marked pathways which were scented with Jasmin, butterflies hovered above and around us and we were aware of nocturnal animals sleeping in the undergrowth. As we travelled through the bamboo lined pathways a earthy smell was noticed and the flora now appeared as ferns and reeds- a distant roaring was to be heard. We walked towards the most impressive site I have ever witnessed in my life. The engineering skills that enabled travellers to walk to the sites of the waterfalls wide and high. The water levels were very high as a walker I felt fear and anxiety yet the butterflies, turtles, lizards and a variety birds lured me on to the viewpoint of "The Devils throat".. immense, impressive and scary.

The day continued along the superior trail taking in lunch where we were visited by a swarm of hornets.

The Sheraton Hotel was impressive and the gardens surrounding this had fig trees, bird of paradise flowers, poinsettia bushes also a variety of small animals. We celebrated with cocktails toasting our birthdays ...I drank Batida de maracuya.

Up early the next day to view the jungle on a four by four. We are informed you have to hear the a jungle to know a jungle.hhmm..mosquitoes buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..and they bite..the buggers.. The sub tropical jungle was explained to us it is an area of natural conservation it hosts endangered species.. the puma etc..The trees are both in primary and secondary stages of growth.

My senses were heightened I touched moist moss, tasted forest fruit, smelt dank forests and ionised water, we saw rainbows and beautiful butterflies, we heard babbling brooks and thunderous waterfalls. And most of all tensions of canyons and fear for endangered animals whose predator is man.

The next day we travelled along the inferior trail..I felt this was more impressive to the "superior trail" as we looked up and across to the falls we viewed St Martins island, visions of rainbows a hue of colours. A light lunch was taken and we then walked through the jungle a red dearth track in the secondary rain forest/jungle known as the Macuco trail. It led to an impressive small waterfall (may I add it is a beautiful high waterfall).

The jungle was easy walking, but we went to the base of the waterfall it was arduous trekking and its access would be difficult if wet. So walking down the craggy rocky terrain-Damian and Jon kept a watchful eye on me. At the bottom of the waterfall Damian and Katy paddled in the water whilst Penny and myself got bitten by mosquitoes .

After climbing back up to a view point above the waterfall. The subtropical jungle was impressive and a siting of a flock of toucans and a large tuca toucan saw Jon in ecstasy but it appeared as a blob on the photo. Other wildlife viewed was mainly ants, birds, butterflies ants and caterpillars and the endangered species slept at our feet.

Tired weary travellers we celebrated with steak and red wine..Damien Katy would depart in the morning. Penny Jon and myself would travel onto San Ignacio by coach breaking the longer journey to Buones Aires into two smaller distances. Our plan was to visit Misiones some Jesuit sites and visit the home of Horacio Quiroga ..