Not all those who wander are lost: Big in Brazil

En route to our next beach haven (or so we hoped), we made a brief stopover in Morretes, a little colonial town nestled between rainforested mountains. Because it was the last day of a Brazillian long weekend, the little town hummed with day trippers (mostly Brazillians), enjoying the sunshine and street stalls selling dried banana, super sugary sweets and deep fried pastries. There's a river that runs through the town which we had a much needed swim in, and then relaxed on the grassy banks to watch some local boys competing to see who could do the highest and most extravagant jump off the bridge into the (shallow) river. We also sampled the dish that Morretes is famous for, barreado (a meat stew cooked in a clay pot served with manioc flour, orange and banana), which is traditionally made a day before carnaval to give the women a break from the kitchen. Like pretty much all the food in Brazil, it was fantastic, cheap (at one of the local hole-in-the-wall joints away from the riverbank) and so big we staggered out struggling to breathe.

We then headed over to Ilha do Mel, a little island with no cars, deserted beaches, stacks of wildlife, and just a handful of pousadas and restaurant/bars. The island has a fort which was once manned by the Portuguese, but in November it's protected by about a million botucas - aggressive biting horseflies that seem to just bounce when you slap them instead of dying. Unfortunately both our guidebook and internet resources failed to mention this fact (well known to all the locals who just smile sympathetically at your red spotty legs, while they too stand around waving and slapping their arms in defense), so we never made it up to the fort. Instead we spent plenty of time hiding under the mosquito net or in a hammock nursing hands and feets swollen with itchy bites, opting for long pants, shirts and closed shoes at night. But thankfully there were parts of the island that were relatively botuca-free, so we did get to some cool beaches, up to the lighthouse and to most of the restaurants for tasty seafood (where prawns are cheaper than chicken!).

Next stop - the biggest, grandest and most spectacular waterfalls in Brazil/Argentina/Paraguay - Iguacu Falls. Our first day on the Brazillian side of the falls was stormy and grey, so we postponed our falls visit in favour of another big, grand and spectacular highlight - the churrascaria, or Brazillian bbq. If you think of as much meat as you've ever eaten at an Australian bbq, double it, double it again, add a buffet of salad, rice and beans, and dessert, and then give it a $10 price tag, well that's churrasco for you. The waiters come around and carve onto your plate juicy slices of roast meat, each more delicious than the next, and you eat until your heart starts faltering, or in my case, have minor hallucinations.

The next day we headed out to see the falls, which did not disappoint in the slightest. Big open air buses shuttle visitors through dense rainforest to the start of the path - like something out of Jurassic Park - and then you hear the falls before you see them. The falls are just massive - huge cliffs with an immense amount of water cascading down over multiple levels, culminating in a dense cloud of spray rising above the Garganta del Diablo (devil's throat), which you can get a great view of from the platform out over the water. If you only see one thing in Brazil, the falls would have to be it - they're simply spectacular.

Afterwards we checked out the Parque des Aves bird and reptile zoo next door, which again, is pretty spectacular. Here we saw numerous animals that we'd only ever seen on logos and in pictures and books - toucans, flamingos, macaws, exotic parrots, anacondas, caimans and more. The zoo feels like it's been built into the rainforest (it probably has) and has several walk through avaries where you can get up close to the birds.