Wednesday 29 February 2012

Iguazu-Argentine

The next day we crossed the border and came to see waterfalls from Argentine. I know sometimes people argued from which side you can get a better view. But they are so different! From Brazil you get a panoramic view from afar and then slow come to the highest point and from Argintine there are a lot of side walks so that waterfalls could be seen from various points and mainly from above.
At first we embarked on the small train and got to the furthest point, to the Devil's Throat.
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All this water is streaming and rushing to the waterfall.
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To get anywhere you walk on such platforms and bridges. Here is my husband tries to see a fish.
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And there is a fish! Some quite large black catfishes, and even small alligator!
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Now we are getting close and could see all the might and power of the the Devil's Throat. No comments.
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After that feeling a bit dizzy we decided to slow down a bit and went on small boat tour from this waterfall to the low part of the cascade. No motors just slow drifting with the water. Our guide talked a lot about ecological issues of the region but unfortunately we do not understand Spanish. So we just enjoyed the peaceful slow glide towards the fall trying not to think that all this water is going to fall down very soon! We saw a lot of birds and butterflies but they are so difficult to make a picture of! I saw some familiar plants which usually are houseplants and growing in the wild here like this brugmansia.
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Now we are far away from the largest waterfall and taking side walks to see the smaller ones.
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You can see how close people could get to the waterfalls! Tell you the truth I did not get that far (or close!) as this young man on the second picture! I am afraid of hights...
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And some peaceful and idyllic pictures at the end.
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There are some more pictures here Iguazu-Argentine

Tomorrow it will be Bird Park of Iguacu!

Здесь на русском

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Iguacu Waterfalls

The very short factual information: up to 300 waterfalls 60-80+ meters high with the main fall is "the Devil's Throat", which is U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide, and 700-meter-long. Detailed information is here in
Wikipedia and on numerous internet cites, because Iguacu Waterfalls is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world. Water falls from Argentine to Brazil so views are very different from both sides.
It is only 90min. flight from Sao Paolo and after arrival by very early flight we are going to National Park. Entrance to it is only 1 km away from our hotel and even I can walk this far!
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Inside the park you are getting close to the waterfalls by bus and here is the first glimpse of what is ahead.
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"Impressive!" - it was my first thought but it was nothing compared to what was expecting us later. We followed narrow path and with every new turn we got even more magnificent view!
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In some places there are such platforms on stilts to get better view:
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Gradually we are getting closer to the main waterfall - "The Devil's Throat"
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Water mist and spray were so powerful there that I was wet through!
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And rainbows were everywere!
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Some more pictures:
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More pictures are here Iguacu-Brazil
Waterfalls from Argentine side tomorrow!

Здесь на русском

Back from Brazil

Dear all! You must have noticed that recently I was irregular with answering your nice comments and rather neglecting all lovely blogs I am following. I do apologise for that and promise to catch up with everything, but there was a reason! I was away for 25 days and without reliable internet connection sometimes. I have been to Brazil! My husband is on sabbatical leave there and I came to visit him. It was very interesting and exciting trip and I am going to write some posts about it. It was a holiday for myself but not for him so I needed to get my priorities right. Here they were:
- I wanted to see some of natural wonders (which Brazil has many!) and we went to see Iguazu waterfalls;
- I dreamed of having short beach holiday and we spent a few days at Atlantic coast;
- the final and may be the most exciting part - browsing craft shops and do some decoupage shopping in Sao Paulo.
I will sort out my pictures and write next posts about all this.

If you are interested but prefer to read in Russian this is a link Here
Девочки, кому интересно, вот ссылка на русскоязычный блог, я там буду писать то же, но на русском. Здесь

Sunday 26 February 2012

A Gift for the Gardener

We are nearly in March now and all my thoughts are about gardening! Just before Christmas I bought lovely napkins with botanical prints on them and could not wait to put them to use. Here is a gardening set of seed box and string tin!
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Tuesday 21 February 2012

Lace and Porcelain

I am not sure these are "pot holders", more like just "holders"! Holders for brushes and other accessories in bathroom or bedroom on the dressing table. Anyway I wanted them to look feminine...
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Tuesday 14 February 2012

Magazine Holders

I have been to IKEA recently and came back with new blanks. The first ones to make were these magazine holders - one for gardening magazines and another for some general reading. For the second holder I used cutouts of decoupage paper for outside and napkins for inside decorations.
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