Day 184. Saturday 1st March. 2025. From Hotel Nova Geracao, Joti. – to – Hotel Bender, Pato Bragado, Brasil. 203 Miles or 326 K’s.

Well, that’s an interesting name for a hotel, Hotel Bender, but not a bar in sight. ..:)

Priding ourselves for being on the road at 9.15am this morning, turned out to be a nightmare, as 25min later, looking for a drink from my water bottle, realised it, Jen’s bottle and the Sawyer squeezable filter bag, were still in the fridge at the hotel!! So much for checking that we had everything! Nothing else for it, but turn around and head back. Back past all the trucks we had passed, and will no doubt, catch up with again. The bottles were at reception waiting for us to return. Not quite as cold as they were earlier!

Today we are heading for the Iguacu Falls. They are still 409k’s from the hotel. It’s a blue sky day which means it’s going to be sweltering a little later on.

Traffic is heavy, specially with trucks. Around 11am we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Stopping for lunch at 12.30pm under a shady tree, the temperature is 37.4degC. Certainly, we are heading south, away from the equator, but not fast enough for our liking..;)

Having crossed the huge Parana River 4880k’s long which merges with both the Paraguay and Uruguay Rivers and empties into the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean. We noticed the time had advanced an hour. So, not only did we waste an hour this morning, we lost one in the afternoon. So all in all it, was a loosing day..:) We are at one point only a few k’s from the Paraguay border.

Anchored and fishing the river as it flows past and under them.

Everyone respectfully crawls past the Police Station…

Diesel has been required on each of the last two days. Yesterday it costs us R6.99/Litre, today R6.09/L.

With 3pm now being 4pm, and still 120ks from Iguacu it was time to find a place to stop for the night. There are several camp sights within driving distance but we prefer a hotel/motel. Hotel Bender looks smart enough and it well priced at R200, or NZ$60 and it includes breakfast.

By the afternoon, cumulus clouds have formed on horizon and we narrowly avoid a deluge by a couple of minutes and some minor flash flooding.

Tomorrow, all things being equal, we should reach the falls. They at the junction of three countries, but more on that from Jen, in tomorrows blog.

A largely uneventful day. Sorry..:)

Sport – Cricket.

Tomorrow the Black Caps play India in an ICC Champions Trophy game to decide who goes through to the semi-finals. South Africa and Australia are already through. India are favorites for this game, but let’s see how it plays out. There are still a number of permutations. England though, have gone home already!!

Views: 52