Iguazu Falls - straight out of a Phantom comic

Apologies in advance - there's a lot of photos in this post. And there are thousands more on the internet of Iguazu Falls. But as good as my photos are (!!), even the professionals' photos, they just will never be the same as seeing this place in person. I was blown away by the beauty, peacefulness, raw power and (dare I say it) serenity of this natural wonder. Yes all those different adjectives were apt in describing this special place on the border of north-east Argentina and southern Brazil.


It was hot and steamy while we were there, but it was totally fitting for the tropical jungle setting and it would have been almost disappointing if otherwise. I felt like this is what Lee Falk was picturing when he created the Bengali jungle, the home of the Phantom. An intense tropical jungle paradise full of exotic flora and fauna, and a huge powerful series of waterfalls to endlessly gaze at.


Most people that have visited other famous falls such as Niagara or southern Africa's Victoria falls comment that these are by far the most spectacular. Unlike the others, Iguazu is split into about 275 discrete falls across a wide area, which affords better access and walkways with spectacular panoramic views. The walkway at the garganta del diablo (devil's throat) was literally hovering over the precipice while millions of cubic metres of water gushed by all around you. Luckily both the Argentine and Brazilian governments have not ruined this place with over-development (but I wondered if they would be interested in my idea of an extreme tourist attraction there - waterfall bungee jumping?).

I came up with the idea of the freefall-over-the-edge-then-saved-by-bungee-rope (copyright) adventure business because it was so damn hot there and you're constantly looking at/surrounded by/walking over beautiful, clear and clean water - but there's nowhere to swim! I was dying to just jump off the walkway and float down the river for a while, and was kind of curious to also know what the feeling would be like to actually fall off the edge of the waterfall... am I crazy? Surely with the thousands of tourists who flock there each day there would be a few likeminded adventurists who would pay big money for that adrenalin kick? I sure would.


Anyway, aside from that stroke of genius business idea, I was intrigued by the advertisements of the boat trips that claimed to go "under" the waterfalls. I loved the sound of that, but when I watched one boat, it turned around when it got to here:

... but the salesman was assuring us that it went under the fall in the background of the above picture, and that we would "certainly get wet". Hmmm, I was doubtful for sure but went ahead and joined the Danish friends in our group who had already paid up.

Well, I was "certainly wet" - from head to toe and every orifice in between was absolutely saturated. We went in, around, up and down the lower part of the river, and then under some smallish waterfalls before the big climax of driving the oversized rubber ducky directly into the maelstrom of whitewater under the big waterfall. The above pic shows another boat doing the same thing that we did (you can hardly see the boat through the mist and whitewater). And although I obeyed their orders of putting cameras into the waterproof bags supplied (sceptically too I might add), somehow my camera still got wet and to this day the screen still does not work. Ah well, I got wet and that was what I wanted!!


The group for the 4 day, 1400km road trip from Corrientes to Iguazu was myself and Marcela, Marcela's parents, Marcela's host family from Denmark who were here for a 2 week vacation, and a friend of Marcela's mum. L to R: Tim, Henrik, Bjorn, Marcela, Ruth, Quique and Silvia (Marcela's parents).


There was some pretty interesting wildlife in the jungle beside the walkways too:

An armadillo...

... some funny little critters called coati ...

... a huge goanna type reptile...


... your standard snake - nothing new for Australians I suppose...

... even an alligator! (What it is doing right next to massive waterfalls I don't know)...

...and wild dogs! No wait, I'm kidding - this is Gina, Marcela's family pet with her 1 day old puppy.... awww.

PS: I have the whole idea of the freefall water bungee in my head if anyone is interested. Logistics, structures, merchandise everything...

Christmas in Northern Argentina

Christmas celebrations here are on the night of the 24th, and just as in Australia, is spent with family, presents, lots of food and drinks, and the continual effort to seek refuge from the oppressive heat and humidity. But after midnight it is totally different as all the "youngies" leave the family house and head out to massive parties or nightclubs to celebrate with friends. From midnight to 5 or 6am (maybe later) the streets, pubs, clubs etc are buzzing with the sounds of frenetic youth partying - kind of like New Years back home. Pretty crazy. Then there is the firecrackers and fireworks that can start to be heard in the afternoon of the 24th (the first one scared the sh@t outta me as I happened to be plugging in the christmas lights at the time!), then it gradually increases to Baghdad-like warfare in the streets for the entire night.


We had a big dinner with Marcela's family and also some visitors from Denmark (Marcela's host family from when she went on exchange there as a 17 year old were visiting for 2 weeks). Unfortunately the goat stayed in the freezer to be saved for another occasion, but we cooked a whole lamb instead (it was slow cooked in the local bakers oven in the afternoon then finished off on the open flame brick bbq by Marcela's old man). After dinner, drinks, presents and then a few parties we got home about 5am and just spent the 25th recovering and relaxing in the local pool - the perfect recovery and refuge from the northern Argentine heat.

The key to a successful asado (bbq) is totally dependent on the fire - you have to have steady, even heat for the many hours it takes to slow cook the meat. To achieve this, the fire is started in the afternoon to warm the coals up. When the coals are white-hot they are ready to be evenly placed under the grill, but the fire is kept going on the side in order to prepare more coals for later.

Quique tests the warmness above the grill (which is expertly placed on some broken bricks).

Many hours later and Quique is still labouring away over the grill. The lamb in the foreground was already started in the oven of the bakery, and is about to be finished off on the grill.

This is one of the more interesting firework type things for the Christmas/New Year celebrations - its a mini hot air balloon made of very thin paper. When successfully lit at the bottom it can fly away to great heights - and to the great amusement of the many (drunk) people who send them on their way.

This is a popular drink in the hot climes of Northern Argentina - its called tereré and is the cold equivalent of the most popular hot drink here - maté (a herbal tea drunk through a metal straw in a communal cup that gets passed around amongst friends). Tereré has the same communal cup of herbs as maté (but is usually just in a glass and not a specific maté gourd), but has ice cubes and is filled with cold fruit juice instead of scalding hot water for maté. Very nice and refreshing.