Iguazu Falls

Hi folks

Well it´s been an incredible few days here in Argie. On our last day in Buenos Aires, we caught a train to Tigre, about an hour outside of BA. It´s a town used by BA residents during the summer, and situated on a delta to the north of the city.
Here we took a 2 hour cruise around the delta, hoping to see lots of wildlife and impressive scenery. But most of the delta has been settled by people, so it was basically a tour seeing lots of houses along the rivers and inlets. At one point, we could see Buenos Aires to the south:

Buenos Aires from the Tigre delta

The delta also has quite a few wrecks along the shoreline.

We then high-tailed it back to BA to catch a 18 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu, which is the main town on the Argentinian border that is a base to visit the famous Iguazu Falls.
18 hours wasn´t too bad though. The buses here are like business class flights. Fully reclining uber comfortable seats, dinner, breakfasts, drinks (alcoholic and non).. brilliant. All for about 30 squids.

The town itself is charming, with open streets, good cafes and a positive vibe. Whilst at an internet cafe, I saw a local man walking the streets selling hand made crafts. So I ran after him, bought a little something from him, and tried to engage him in conversation. Of course, with me speaking little to no Spanish, it was dificult, but he explained his carvings, and the significance of each sculpture and how it related to his religion. Pretty interesting stuff. Of course, I had to take a picture of him, as he was incredibly photogenic:



We checked into Hostel-Inn, which is basically a small resort. It´s been said it´s the best hostel in Argentina. Whilst I haven´t travelled around all of Argentina, I must admit that´s a big call. Still, it was prety good, with a great party atmosphere, and excellent food. The BBQ.. God!!

The next day, we caught a 9am shuttle bus to the National Park, about 10 minutes away.
And we were just blown away. Each view of the falls got more and more impressive. Fran has a video of me with my jaw open at the first lookout point. We were in awe. Little did we know at that point that the day would reveal even more impressive views of the falls. The sheer power of the water was mind-blowing. Here´s a pic taken from the Argentine side looking at a fall known as the Devil´s Throat.

People from the Brazillian side are afforded a different view

From what I´ve heard though, the Brazillian side is impressive, but not as good as the sheer variety of what you see on the Argie side.

There was plenty of wildlife around the area as well. Coati´s (think of a racoon), Vultures (hundreds riding the thermals overhead) lizards big and small, tropical birds (no Toucans I´m afraid!!) and thousands upon thousands of butterflies. I hear there were also monkeys and Jaguars in the area but we saw neither.

We also took a powerboat ride on the river, which takes you right up to a couple of falls. Jesus, we got drenched! It was like the air had turned to water. Brilliant fun.

By the afternoon the light changed to something much softer. It was gorgeous and really showed off the beauty of the place.

Like a scene from Jurassic Park

Anyway, by closing time, we´d seen so much and taken our time doing it that we realised we couldn´t make it in time to see the Devil´s Throat up close. So.. we went back the next day. And I´m glad we did! It was incredible. A walkway takes you over the river and right up and close to the edge of the falls. This is the main section and the power from this spot was awesome. But probably my favourite pic from this location was not of the main falls, but of falls just off to the side. Again, very Jurassic Park to me. I love the mood in this one:



After seeing the falls, we caught another bus, this time for 20 hours and arrived in Cordoba yesterday. Seems to be a nice city, but there´s more to do outside the boundaries than in, so we´ll be doing a few excursions to see what´s around the area shortly.

Anyway, all pics are in my galleries below. To my photographer friends, please don´t be too critical! I´ve no software to process the shots and the vignettes can´t be helped. CPLs + Lee filter kits = trouble. You know it!

http://adamlawler.smugmug.com

I hope everyone is well. I hear folks at RBS had to be evacuated? Please let me know if everything is okay there.
Also Stu - can you send me the name of the track I listened to of yours? The Solaris one?

Much love folks!
Adam