We came back down to the coast after exploring the Valle Europa and decided that it was time to find a nice beach to rest up on for a couple of days.

We drove into a peninsula called Porto Belo in search of our perfect beach. The first town is Porto Belo itself where the beach front is built up and it’s pretty difficult to get near the beach itself. Despite help from the local tourist information office we couldn’t find anywhere near the town to park for the night.

We explored a narrow road up a peninsula with little Mediterranean-esque villages. It was very pretty but we were much too big for the road so we headed back to the main road.

We visited a town on the other side of the peninsula called Bombinhas  which was a bit bigger but there was no camping here and it was still difficult to access the beach. We kept going and eventually ended up in a really quiet area called Canto Grande.

To our surprise we found a full service RV park which was completely empty. There was even a big building at one end with grills, sinks, table football and a pool table. We enjoyed having the place to ourselves and making it even better was a lovely deserted beach only 100 metres away.

We spent a couple of days in Porto Belo and then drove a bit further South to the Island of Florianopolis. The bridge over to the island has the city of Florianopolis on either side and this is the capital city of Santa Catarina with over a million people. We took the opportunity to stock up at a big supermarket but didn’t hang around in the very busy city. Instead we drove to the Eastern side of the island and found a campground on a causeway cutting a big lagoon in half.

Oldest Church in Florianopolis

Unfortunately soon after arriving on the island it started to rain – hard.  This meant that when we went to explore the island the following morning there was some flooding. We didn’t have a problem with the water but all the cars had to turn round.

The island has some beautiful beaches but we couldn’t find any deserted beaches with no buildings to camp on or next to, so in the end we didn’t hang about in these areas for too long.

While walking on one of the beaches in Florianopolis we were joined by the scary looking dog pictured below. Fortunately he was perfectly friendly and befriended us for the whole walk.

German Church in Valle Europa

We left the little Ihla de Sao Francisco and headed slightly inland to a rich fertile valley called Valle Europa. This region of Brasil was settled by German immigrants in the 19^th century after immigration to the USA became more difficult and consequently has a distinct German character, with German as likely to be heard on the streets as Portugese. In fact as late as the 1920’s 70% of the population of the region still spoke German as their first language.

Pomerode Town Gate

We first visited the small town of Pomerode which is considered the most German town in Brasil. It’s a quiet little town with not too much to recommend it. It seems prosperous but most of the buildings are fairly recent.

Jaguar at Pomerode Zoo

We visited the Pomerode zoo which had a good selection of animals in fairly good conditions.

Wunderwald meal

The highlight of our visit to Pomerode though was our visit to a traditional German restaurant. This was an absolutely excellent meal at the restaurant Wunderwald.  The food was German but with a Brasilian influence.   Our meal was a big platter to share of Duck, Ham Hock, sausages, gammon, sauerkraut, red cabbage, cassava and a whole bunch of sauces coupled with some local brewed German beer which was also excellent. Communicating with the waitress was interesting but we managed in a mix of Spanish, German, English and even a few words of Portuguese from our phrasebook.

In the morning we drove into the biggest town in the Valle Europa, Blumenau. It was Sunday so the traffic wasn’t too bad and we managed to find somewhere to park right in the middle of town. This allowed us to explore the centre with its odd mix of European/German architecture and Art Deco. It is however a slightly Disneyland version of Germany !

The Valle Europa is a very pleasant area that deserved more time than we gave it. Suprisingly although not very high it was a few degrees cooler than the coast and gave us a very enjoyable night’s rest.

After leaving Igaucu we wanted to drive to the coast to spend some time checking out Brasil’s famous beaches.  The only problem was that the coast is A 500 Mile cross country slog away. We managed to drive this in two days stopping off at one of Brasil’s amazing truck stops for the night.

Of all the countries that we have driven through Brasil definitely takes the prize for massive number of trucks. There are loads of them and sometimes it feels like they are the only things on the road. The plus side of the vast number of trucks is that there are lots of truck services as well – every town seems to be brimming  over with mechanics, truck washes, spare parts and other services.

The trucks also mean that there are lots of petrol stations with big areas for overnight parking – we’ve even seen nice parking areas with picnic tables and grills. They also have showers for truckers and good restaurants. These are good places to spend the night and free.

When we finally hit the coast we drove straight onto the Ihla de Sao Francisco which is a small island separated from the mainland by a narrow channel which is bridged by a causeway.

We drove straight across the island to the beautiful East coast where we parked up for the night along the beach front at Praia de Enseada.

We were parked opposite a café and straight away noticed a small band of monkeys on the roof. The owners were feeding them fruit and the hung around until dark.

The beach itself was beautiful and mostly empty giving us a great sunset.

In the morning we had a lazy morning on the beach before driving to the main town on the island, Sao Francisco do Sul. This is an old colonial town, our first for what seems like a long time, and although small had a very relaxed vibe to it.

Igreja Matriz in Sao Francisco do Sul

The town was very pretty and despite the narrow streets we had no problems as there wasn’t much traffic.

Once in Brasil we headed straight to Camping International which to our surprise had a number of large American style RV’s in residence. This was a much better place to stay than anything we had found in Argentina and even had a swimming pool.

In the morning we headed off to the Brasilian side of the falls which is much smaller than the Argentinian side and took us only 2 hours to visit all the attractions. It is also much cheaper which was appreciated.

The entrance to the national park is some way from the boardwalks and this necessitates a short bus ride which is included in the ticket price. Then there is a boardwalk which hugs the cliff with small viewing platforms every few hundred metres.

The viewing platforms are very small and can easily be overwhelmed so it is important to try to get inbetween the large tour groups to get them as empty as possible. However there were not too many people on this side and certainly much less than on the Argentinian side.

The best bit of the Brasilian side of the falls comes at the end of the cliff side boardwalk where a long lone boardwalk heads out across the river in the shadow of a long waterfall into the mouth of the Canyon of the Garganta del Diablo. Here the spray and thundering of the waterfalls is awe inspiring and the view up the canyon is beautiful.

After enjoying the Brasilian side of the falls we visited Parque das Aves which is just outside the entrance to the National Park. This is a bird park with lots of stunning parrots, toucans and other local birds.

There are a number of walkthrough cages here that allow you to get up close and personal with the birds. Sarah got very close to one parrot that landed on her head and started to peck at the clip in her hair. Fortunately one of the park workers saw this and rushed to her aid.

The Brasil side of Iguacu gives much more of a panoramic view of the falls despite being smaller. The final boardwalk into the middle of the canyon is also very spectacular and puts you in the middle of the fury of the falls. All this coupled with the lower number of visitors made this side my favourite. However this is not to take away from the Argentinian side which is magnificent in its own way – just with a lot more people.

On arriving at the Argentine side of the border we were directed to the bus area where we parked up. Those in cars can drive straight to a window and do the border very simply.

As usual, we first visited Migracion where our passports were stamped (in around 30 seconds) and then we had to find Aduana which was not immediately obvious.

However after asking a couple of people a woman wearing an Aduana jacket took us straight to the office and got the right person to help us. We handed over our TIP and we were on our way.

On the Brasilian side of the border (which is on the other side of the Rio Iguazu bridge) we were directed to drive through and park just beyond the border offices.

We went to Migracion where a very friendly English speaking Brasilian woman stamped us into the country after we had filled out an immigration form. She then, very helpfully, walked us to the Aduana office!

At Aduana there was a very friendly and chatty young guy who spoke excellent English and processed our paperwork within 5-10 minutes.

This was again a very easy border with very friendly people and we were grateful they could speak English because as we have discovered, Portuguese is a very different language to Spanish.

On the border of Argentina and Brasil sitting across the Rio Iguazu, lies perhaps the most impressive set of waterfalls in the world, Iguazu Falls. The falls can be viewed from both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side, each with a different perspective but equally as stunning.

The falls are surrounded by a large expanse of protected rainforest which is thick with wildlife.

On arriving at the Argentinian side of Iguaza we had some difficulty finding somewhere to stay. After visiting a couple of places we followed up a lead from the local tourist information office and went to the ex- municipal campsite. The site is now owned by the local basketball club but they were happy for us to camp there for the night. They seemed a little concerned about our security and at first suggested we park inside the building where the court was, later directing us to park under a light.  It was a last resort and too late to look for anything else but the night passed very peacefully.

In the morning we set off early for the falls to get there as they were opening (the entrance to the falls is roughly 20km from the town of Puerto Iguazu).

The Argentinians have certainly seen having a world class attraction as an excuse to bump up the entrance fee. The fee for foreigners is 3 times that for Argentinians at US$40 per person.

Once inside the park there are three trails to walk. We started with Upper trail (Paseo Superior) which takes in the top of the falls first.

Then we walked around the longer lower trail (Paseo Inferior) which has better views of the lower waterfalls. On this trail we came across lots of coati who are clearly well used to people.

Unfortunately river levels while we were there meant that the crossing to Isla San Martin – which gives a great front on view of the waterfalls, was not an option.

As well as the big sets of falls which Iguazu is famous for there are also a number of smaller falls set in the rainforest.

We were glad to have done this early in the morning as the walkways are narrow and viewpoints small so doing it with the least number of people is definitely preferable. The temperature and humidity were also more bearable in the early morning.

The highlight of the park is the long boardwalk that crosses rivers to the Garganta del Diablo.  You can reach this lookout by taking a small train from the start of the two other trails or you can walk along a dirt road.  We took the latter option and were rewarded with the sight of a troop of Capuchin monkeys, hundreds of butterflies and numerous colourful birds.

The boardwalk out to the Garganta del Diablo is over 1km long and mostly exposed in the sun but also gives good wildlife opportunities. Large catfish swim in the river, as well as Caiman and small River Turtles.

At the end of the boardwalk there is large crowd of people stuffed into a small viewing area, made even smaller by the resident photographer. However the falls are amazing with a huge volume of water pouring into a cauldron from all sides. The main waterfall here is in fact the largest in the world by volume.

We took the train back to the entrance, and after a total of 6 hours at the falls we were done with the Argentinian Iguazu and ready to hit the Brasilian side.

They created new communities for Guarani Indians where they introduced modern technology and converted them to Christianity. They also provided protection for the Indians from the less desirable influences of colonial society. However the Jesuits were expelled in 1767 by King Carlos III of Spain and the missions quickly declined after this.  The jungle claimed much of what remained however there has been some restoration work carried out in the 20^th century.

We visited two of the missions. Firstly Santa Ana of which little remains standing. However the graveyard was used well into the twentieth century so is still in reasonable condition despite the open crypts and abandoned coffins.

Bigger and the most restored of all the Jesuit missions is San Ignacio Mini which housed more than 4000 residents at its peak in 1733.

The centrepiece of San Ignacio is a 74 metre long church designed by an Italian architect, Juan Brasanelli and its thick sandstone walls are highly decorated.

The Esteros del Ibera is a wetlands reserve of around 13000 sq. km. It is teeming with wildlife most notably Capybara and Caimans.

At the gateway to the village there is a visitor centre for the reserve – although there isn’t much to see. There is a short walking trail in the woods here where there is a chance of seeing Howler monkeys but unfortunately there were none around when we were there.

On arrival we made for the municipal campground which was completely full as it was Semana Santa (or Easter weekend). It didn’t really matter to us that it was full because a height restriction on the entrance would have prevented us going in anyway. It didn’t stop us camping outside the gate and using their facilities for free though !

Tours of the Laguna Ibera and its surrounds leave from the campsite and we booked one for that afternoon.

The tour lasts just over 2 hours and skirts the edge of the Laguna and its embalsados (floating islands of vegetation). We saw Capybara, Deer, Caimans and a variety of birdlife. Unfortunately our boatman was more interested in chatting with one of the Argentinian guys on the tour about anything other than wildlife in Ibera and didn’t seem to do as good a job as other boat men. Sometimes you just don’t get the luck !

After a very hot night in the camper we kept heading North on what turned out to be a very bad road. There were a few sections we were very glad of high clearance and 4-wheel drive.  Fortunately the bad road only lasted 50kms.

At one stage we had to stop to let a caiman cross the road ahead of us, much to our amusement.

We just happened to be passing Mercedes which is the final resting place of Gil and the site of a very large shrine to him.

Antonio Gil was born in 1847 and joined the army to fight in the War of the Triple Alliance. Once the war was ended he deserted from the army and turned into a cattle-rustler who stole from the rich landowner’s and shared his ill-gotten gains with poor local villagers. The villagers in turn gave him shelter and protection.

Eventually the law caught up with him and he was hung by the feet from a tree and then beheaded.  However before dying he warned the sergeant in command of the police that his son was very ill and that he would only recover if the sergeant buried Gil after he was dead (it was the custom not to bury army deserters).

As the story goes, when the sergeant returned home and his son was indeed ill, he quickly returned to the site of Gil’s execution and buried him. The son recovered and so was born the legend of Gaucho Gil.

The site of the execution is now a major destination for Argentinians with a shrine surrounded by gift shops selling Gaucho Gil related memorabilia.

Around the shrine and in separate buildings close by, are walls of plaques thanking Gil for performing life-changing miracles for those who have petitioned him.  There is even one from an Argentinian football player thanking him for making the squad.

As well as plaques, there is also a room which displays the gifts that have been given to Gil as offerings over the years. There are a number of guns, knives and even swords amongst these gifts.

There is even a campsite at the shrine to allow pilgrims to stay overnight. We took advantage of the campsite and visited the shrine rubbing the head of the small statue of Gil for luck.

Moonrise in El Palmar

At the end of a day’s drive from Buenos Aires we reached Parque National El Palmar. This park consists of the original flora of the area before man’s clearance for agricultural purposes.

On the road into the park we saw our first Capybara, the largest rodent in the world, just grazing on the verge.

The road ends at the Rio Uruguay which is the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay. There is a really good campground here. The campground has many fenced off areas which surround the holes of Vizcacha. As dark falls the vizcacha would come out of their holes and snuffle around the truck.

Near the campground is a great viewpoint over the river where capybara liked to hang out in the evening.

We explored some of the roads in the park (there are only a couple) but they were a bit small for us and didn’t really lead anywhere too exciting.

However we did find a nice walking trail down the river which passed by some ruins and accessed a small but gravelly beach.

El Palmar was the perfect place to relax in warm weather with relatively cool nights after our hectic visit to Buenos Aires.