Hot, hot, hot in Brazil

Greetings from Iguazu Falls! The falls form the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

I arrived at the Argentinian side so went to visit the National Park directly from the airport. The falls really are stunning and cover a huge area so you get different perspectives from all different angles. I spent about four hours hiking the various trails which enable you to view the falls from across, below and above. It is seriously hot and humid here so it was nice when you could get close enough to the falls to get cooled from the spray.
After the park I crossed over into Brazil where I´m staying. So far I´ve been happily muddling along with my basic Spanish but as I haven´t a word of Portuguese this could be more fun - I think there´ll be a lot of smiling, nodding and pointing over the next few days!

Today I went to visit the Park on the Brazilian side of the falls. You get more of a panoramic view of the falls from this side with less walks available but still the chance for getting soaked to cool down. In the afternoon I went to the Bird Park close by which has an amazing collection of parrots, macaws, toucans, eagles, anacondas and all sorts of other feathery things. (Yes, I know anacondas are not birds but they were in the park so thought I´d mention them.)

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Lovely day for a GUINNESS

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Nice and cool under the canopy of the jungle walks. But if I´m finding it hot in t-shirt and shorts I don´t know how the poor Santa is fairing in the supermarket down the road in his big red suit with snowy lining and great big fluffy white beard. Somehow I think the southern hemisphere should invent a new image of Xmas more suiting to their climate!

Next stop Rio for an overnight before I board the Tocorime tall ship. We´re sailing from Rio down the coast to Paraty stopping at various locations along the way. Not sure if I´ll be near an Internet connection anywhere but if I am will try to post an update. If you want to see more about the boat here´s the site http://www.tocorime.net/. I´m really looking forward to it.