Lots of highs, few lows: a trip round-up

I've been back in the UK for six weeks now - six weeks which have flown by just as fast as the six weeks I spent travelling and the weeks in Rio. Every time I've seen a friend for the first time since returning they've asked me what the best bit was, usually prefacing with "how was the Olympics?" At that point I've usually gone "oh yeah, the Olympics, I did that too". The travelling part of the trip, being more recent and immediate, had somehow taken priority over Rio in my head.

I blogged about both the Olympics and Paralympics earlier and the memories are still strong. The ones I've been dragging out when people ask tend to be:

• the lovely chat I had with single sculls champion Mahé Drysdale before racing started, because it genuinely was just a nice conversation with a nice guy;
• watching the GB women's eight win silver, because over the years I've known a number of the women who have been fighting for that medal for so long; 
• being in the athletics mixed zone on the night of the men's 100m final and squishing into the front of the agency pen to grab Usain Bolt's quotes (that man is TALL - my arm was aching from holding my phone up to record);
• the many, many incredible stories from the Paralympics, but maybe most that of Australian para-canoeist Curtis McGrath. We sat in the shade in the boat park and he told me, with perfect clarity, about the moment on 23 August 2012 when he'd lost his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan. It was only moments later, being stretchered to the helicopter, that he told his mates they'd see him at the Paralympics. Some of them were in Rio to watch him win gold four years later. It was hard to listen and ask questions without getting emotional.

The Lagoa at dawn

But those are just a handful of the many moments I'll remember from those two and a half months in the Cidade Maravilhosa, shared with a great bunch of colleagues and friends.

When it comes to best experiences from the travelling, the Salkantay and Machu Picchu probably top the list. I had such high expectations from the trek and they were met almost entirely, which is saying quite a lot. Iguacu Falls is also up there as one of the best bits of the trip. The sheer power of all that water was just astounding - and I got to go to Argentina for the day!

But I also loved Ilha Grande and wished I'd stayed there longer; I was very pleasantly surprised by Lima, which everyone had said wasn't that great a place; I chilled out with the locals by Lake Titicaca; I was awed by condors in Colca Canyon; and saw pelicans in a place that looked like the moon in Paracas. I stuffed my face with steak in Brazil and with livelier fare in Peru, and drank somewhat more than my fair share of capirinhas and pisco sours as well as plenty of ice-cold beer.

With my Lake Titicaca homestay host Calixto

Along the way I encountered all sorts of interesting people, from the wonderful locals who were my guides and hosts, to other travellers. Young couples taking career breaks, older solo travellers looking for something new, backpackers from all over the world stretching their money as far as it can go. And of course in Rio a whole host of fantastic cariocas who were so generous with their welcome to their city. 

In many ways it's odd looking back at the journey. At the beginning of the year I was tired, trying to give as much time as I could to work and to rowing and not quite succeeding on either level. I felt like I'd been operating at maximum capacity for far too long. And I really wanted to work in Rio, having spent the best part of four years looking back wistfully to the London Olympics. When the offer came through I was on a long weekend break in New York, seeing my brother and sister-in-law and enjoying a brief few days of travel - it seemed appropriate that I spent much of that weekend buoyed up with anticipation over Rio too.

It was difficult in some ways leaving my job. I worked with an awesome team and the job itself was interesting, varied and challenging. But I'd been there a while and the changing shape of the world of business media was getting me down. Taking the leap into Rio, travelling and then the challenge of trying to go freelance was absolutely the right thing to do. Writing this now, despite the fact I haven't really put much effort into getting work yet, I feel refreshed and excited about next year. Planning is overrated - I'm going to see what happens and seize any opportunities that come. It seemed to work this year, after all.

Thanks for following my travels with me. Until next time!

Iguacu and Iguazu Falls

I love a waterfall. I always try and hunt them out when I'm travelling or walking and have especially fond memories of an awesome day waterfall-hunting in the Catlins, New Zealand. There's something about the simple primal force of a lot of water falling off the edge of a cliff which fascinates me.

So when I was researching this trip Iguacu Falls very quickly made it on to my list.

Iguacu is widely regarded as being one of the world's greatest waterfalls and rightly so. It's not one fall at all, but 275, strung out along kilometres of cliff edge and spanning the Brazil-Argentina border. Technically I think Argentina has the greatest volume of falls of the two countries and certainly it takes longer to see the falls from that side. Both sides have walks and boat tours; Brazil takes you from the visitors' centre at the entrance to the falls in double-decker buses and Argentina takes you in a little narrow-gauge train.

Brazil side - Iguacu

The Brazilian side of the falls is a bit more modern and professional than the Argentinian side, and it is from Brazil you get to see the full scope of the place. There's one key trail, the Trilha dos Cataratas, which runs about 1.5km along the cliff and gives you a great view of most of the Argentinian falls and culiminates in a viewpoint right below the main fall, Devil's Throat, where gallons and gallons of water pour into the abyss.

A bad selfie. It had to be done.

The best time to go from an aesthetic point of view is in the morning when the mixture of sunshine and spray create stunning rainbows. Sadly this is also the worst time to go from an experience point of view, as the rest of the world also turns up then on buses and the place is packed. As there's basically one trail there's not many places for people to go to and the major viewing spots on the morning I visited were just packed with tourists, mostly taking selfies, as we live in a very narcissistic world these days. Mind you I took one too, just because.

Most of the views on the Brazil side are views from a distance but the walkway also takes you right up to the Devil's Throat (take a raincoat, or buy a plastic poncho for R$6). It's pretty cool to stand there underneath the waterfall.

At the end of the trail there's a panoramic elevator for people who can't walk up the stairs/are too lazy to walk up the stairs, and more views from above. And the obligatory café/restaurant complex, where I had a surprisingly good coffee.

Argentinian side - Iguazu

I did a whole separate blog post about getting from Foz do Iguacu to Puerto Iguazu by public bus, because online information is limited, and because if you're reading this to look at pretty pictures of waterfalls you don't need to know that I missed my stop coming home and had to walk an extra half an hour.

The Argentine set-up is similar to the Brazilian one but the park covers a lot more ground and there are more trails to walk. I spent most of the day in Argentina and only a couple of hours on the Brazil side of the falls. It feels less polished somehow and because there's more to see the crowds are thinner. I'd say that the Argentinian experience is more up close and personal while Brazil is the overview.

Annoyingly the longest trail, which is where they say you can see some wildlife, was closed so I couldn't do that but I did see a few birds and animals anyway - a wild toucan from a distance, some monkeys, and lots of other birds.

Like the Brazil side there are lots of coatis around. These racoon-like animals are quite cute to look at and voracious scavengers. They love human food and there are signs everywhere warning you not to feed them - although people were. When I stopped for a bite to eat there was an Argentinian couple nearby with a plate of empanadas and a bottle of Coke on their table. A coati prowling the food area spied the empanadas, jumped on to the table, grabbed an empanada and spilled the Coke much to the anger of the couple. The man was so angry or possibly distressed he flung a chair at the poor animal (and got Coke all over his shorts. I couldn't help smiling). Another coati promptly arrived to lap up Coke from the ground. It's definitely not good for them but they do seem to love junk food.

I also did the boat ride on the Argentinian side, a short and very very wet baptism. Basically they drive you into two pretty sizeable waterfalls including the one on the left of this paragraph. And then they do it again. It's cold and the power of the water, even at the edge, was crazy. Everyone in my boat squealed a lot including me. It was crazy and fun and worth the money I spent on it (450 pesos, or about £23).

The day finished up at the Devil's Throat again, but this time from above. Literally all you can see is the edge of the cliff, which is a U-shape, and a few metres of water before a cloud of spray. I knew from the Brazil side how high the fall is but hadn't appreciated how high the spray reaches. Everyone on that lookout point was soaked (hurrah for my rainjacket).

Iguacu extras

There's not much to Foz do Iguacu apart from the falls and, if you're into that sort of thing and have space in your bag, cheap shopping at the duty free shop between the Argentine and Brazil borders or in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, which is literally just the other side of the river.

Two extra things I did do:

The Parque des Aves is right next to the Brazilian falls visitors' centre and was superb. This bird sanctuary looks after and breeds a whole range of birds, mainly native to South America. The best bit about it was their huge aviaries which you can walk inside and really see the birds close up, without cage wires in the way. I especially loved seeing a toucan right in front of me and the macaw aviary, filled with beautiful parrots.

Itaipu Dam was voted one of the seven modern wonders of the world and they have a busy tourism (or, as the Lonely Planet quite accurately put it, propaganda) machine to go with the generation of 75 per cent of Paraguay's electricity and about 15 per cent of Brazil's. Due to a string of minor events I failed to get on one of the 'special' tours which take you inside the dam, but managed to do a 'panoramic' tour which drives you round the outside in a double-decker bus. They didn't mention the impact building this massive dam must have had on the Parana river and the people who lived in the area. The reservoir covers an area that's bigger than New York City or Rio de Janeiro - it's massive. A little research reveals that the creation of the dam destroyed the Guaira Falls, which sound like they were even more impressive than Iguacu. So generating clean energy had major environmental repercussions, and that's not touched on at all on the tour. Still, it was interesting to see the dam and it filled a morning I had to fill.

How to get from Foz do Iguacu to Puerto Iguazu and back on a public bus

This blog is a bit of a PSA. I spent HOURS trying to verify details of the public buses between Foz do Iguacu in Brazil and Puerto Iguazu in Argentina (and on to the Iguazu Falls). There is very little information online but it's actually fairly easy so long as you're not in a rush.

To get to the park on a public bus from Foz do Iguacu in Brazil is entirely possible: the buses leave from outside the local bus terminal, on the corner of Av. Men de Sa and Rua Taroba. The bus stop has both the Brazil and Argentine flags on it.

There seem to be at least three companies running the Foz-Puerto Iguazu route: Rio Uruguay, Crucere del Norte, and Itaipu. I think the Itaipu buses are supposed to be at 30 minutes past the hour and I got the '7.30' bus which arrived at 7.40ish. However I'd say get the first bus which arrives. It's R$4 single at the moment.

At the Brazilian border the bus will probably stop to let someone off or pick someone up. If you're foreign you need to get off and go through Brazilian immigration. Now a Spanish couple on my bus didn't, and I saw them later at the falls so they evidently got into Argentina. I don't know how having Argentina stamps in their passports will affect them later without the corresponding Brazilian exit stamps, and frankly I don't think it's worth the hassle not to do it.

If you're on an Itaipu bus, get a pass off the driver to get back on again. The bus won't wait. Just complete the formalities, and then go back to the bus stop and just catch the next bus which arrives, which will probably be a different company and you'll probably have to pay another R$4 - but if you wait for the company you started out with you might end up waiting a while. If you have the pass from Itaipu and you end up on a different bus for the Argentine bit of the journey, hang on to it as it may come in handy on the way home!

At the Argentine border everyone has to go through immigration and there's a cursory bag scan, but the bus will wait for all passengers here and it takes no time at all.

My bus driver stopped on a corner in Puerto Iguazu opposite a stop for the falls, but you can also pick up a bus for the falls at the bus terminal. Either way, they're run by Rio Uruguay, they're about every 20-30 minutes, and I was charged A$65 each way. My whole journey including immigration and waiting for buses took less than two hours.

On the way back to Foz just repeat the process in return but with one important caveat: get off the bus in Foz at the Brazil-Paraguay stop which is opposite the terminal on Av. Juscelino Kubitschek. I was on an Itaipu bus and expected it to turn right into Mem de Sa to stop at the place I got on. Instead, the bus carried on and looked as though it was heading to Ciudad del Este and I had to jump off in a random place and find my way home.

If all this sounds like too much of a faff, then I understand taxis aren't too expensive and the driver will help you through immigration. There are also plenty of tour companies doing the trip, but that does tie you down to a specific timeframe at the falls.