I was chatting online to Luigi in Quito and told him I was heading to Sao Paulo and said that I should stop and see João and Elliot who lived on the way. They have ridden from Alaska to Argentina and just finished doing a round the world which João has written two books about (if you can read Portuguese his website is www.trilhasdomundo.com.br). So I stopped in to see them and they insisted that I stay for the weekend. They also had Alexander (from Ecuador) staying and they took us for pizza for dinner. Here they have sweet pizzas. I thought they would be like crepes but they have cheese on them. I never would have ordered chocolate and cheese pizza but it turns out it was really good and now I don’t know why they don’t do it everywhere.

Everyone says that the Argentina side of the falls is better than the Brazilian side. We had a sunny day so it didn’t have the excitement of seeing the falls in a storm but it was still pretty impressive Though they had closed the top walks around Devils Throat due to the overflow of water but it was ok as that is the Brazilian side.

On the way was stopped at the bridge which marks the divide between Brazil and Argentina and you can see Paraguay from. There was also a lot of anteaters and big ants walking around.

After the Three Gorges Dam in China (installed capacity 22GW) Itaipu Dam (14GW) is the world’s second largest dam supplying 90% of the energy in Paraguay (6 million people) and 20% of the energy in Brazil (180 million people). It’s water flow is 40 times that of Iguazu Falls. The photos are just of the overflow.

I was suppose to go with Alex but his bike wouldn’t start today so I ended up catching the last tour by myself. After a fruitless search for an ATM. Turns out that even HSBC doesn’t have an english option on their ATMs. Only one of the banks I found did and that one didn’t work. I felt bad until an Australian who has been living here 11 months said that it is difficult to get a foreign card to work in a Brazilian ATM.

The Austrian rider mentioned something about it raining in Brazil and we found out what he meant the next day. Apparently Brazil has been getting abnormally excessive rain for this time of year so Iguazu Falls was thundering. We almost didn’t go as it was absolutely teaming down by the time we reached the viewpoint. But it was pretty exhilarating being close to all that water in the pouring rain.

Falls Comparison
Iguazu Falls (Brazil/Argentina) – surface area 40Ha, peak flow 6,500m3/s
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe/Zambia) – surface area 55Ha, peak flow 9,100m3/s
Niagara Falls (Canada/USA) – surface area 18Ha, peak flow 2,800m3/s

Bonus Question: what famous painting does Alex look like in this photo?

Alex (a Dutch guy on a TT600R) was passing through Asunción so we decided to ride together to see the falls. We first met up in Colombia and were going to ride together but lost each other. Then met up again in Quito and went for a day ride and got lost. So we decided to make an effort andstill got separated right away but managed to find each other.

On our way east we passed an Austrian on a new Yamaha Tenare going the other way. We stopped and chatted for an hour and even though he was deaf and only wrote in German he still managed to dominate the conversion. Very expressive and impressive. His blog is markoxt660z.blogr.at.

I ended up couch surfing with Adrian after all. It was brilliant! BBQ on Sunday. A lovely latte made by his mum in the morning. Lying around on his couch watching episodes of heros, writing up my blog and once a day Adrian would take me out on his scooter so show me a bit more of the city.

I really like it. Asunción reminds me a bit of Auckland. Quite spread out, a bit muggy, lots of different types of modern architecture for the houses. I found a place that did the best Korean BBQ I have had outside Korea (my favourite food). I think that the countryside is a bit like Northland (where I am from in NZ), very green and with cows. All this might be because I am missing home.

Everyone speaks Guaraní­ (the native language) and Spanish too fast (which means I can’t understand it). It seems safe even though it has more warnings than Colombia. It is also this weird mix. Near the new parliament buildings is a slum and on the roads with cars are horses and carts. Friendly people.

I am glad I came.

The next day was pretty much a write off but I had a nice hotel so it wasn’t too bad. I also met up for lunch with Patricio (a fellow biker) who showed me a couple sights of the city.

I was going to couch surf with Adrian when I got to Asunción but he was working when I arrived so I checked into a hotel and he came around after work. We ended up going out with another couple of French couch surfers and a few friends of Adrians. I haven’t seen the sunrise after going out for quite a while. Putting on my British hat I will blame it on the French even though I was wearing a French cap. Brilliant night dancing.

After arriving in Asunción I was walking around town and ended up bumping into a fellow kiwi at the tourism office. He is currently on a mission to work on every continent in the planet but is having a hard time getting even a voluntary position in the Antarctic. His website is hapworkingtheworld.com.

That thing we are both holding is this jug of water with a cup attached is this cold tea called Tereré which everyone drinks here (I saw 11 people carrying one in 10 minutes in the middle of Asunción).