PV002: Iguazú, Argentina

Posted by Arlo on Aug 10, 2009 under Postcard Valet, PV-Podcast, Travel, Videos


Okay, here we go.  Oksana and I have started to explore how we want to do these video podcasts.  Our plan was to do no more than 5 minutes per episode, but in our first go with the waterfalls of Iguazú, we ended up recording over 40 minutes of voiceover material!  Sorting through that and 3 hours of footage made for a slow editing process.  (The good news is that, after this week’s “overview,” I’ve got material for 2 or 3 more “vignettes” from our trip through the park.)

We’re still firmly in the “Oh-no-I-don’t-really-sound-like-that-do-I?!” phase of recording ourselves and it’s very hard for us to be objective.  You could really help us out by giving us a little feedback as we go!  Just answer two questions for me:

1)  What did you like about this video?
2)  What didn’t you like about this video?

We are especially interested in the opinions of people who don’t know us personally!

The following is a transcript of the above video for Google’s benefit (ignore it, watch the video instead!)

Let’s call this a…
Postcard Valet
Temporary Intro

La Garganta del Diablo
Iguazú Argentina
November 2008

Well, Oksana and I went down to Argentina and one of the deciding factors was some of the natural wonders that Argentina has and the one that everyone knows about is the waterfalls at Iguazú.  They’re up in the extreme north of Argentina, by the borders of Paraguay and Brazil and the actual park itself is shared between Brazil and Argentina.

The park was really nice.  It was very well-maintained and there were a lot of Forest Service Guides-type folks and they were friendly, and they seemed really really excited to be there.

I think the way Oksana and I stumbled through the park was the perfect way to do it.

Well, we started out with a little off-beat trail…

It’s like a three-mile trail and we had it completely to ourselves early in the morning.  And then we went into the park; we caught a few glimpses of the waterfalls in the distance, but we still hadn’t seen them when we were looking at the coati and the lizards and everything.

Coati is this little furry creature that has a long tail and a very long nose… but it’s really cute and it kind of looks like a pet, but I guess they can be quite nasty if they get around food because they have pretty big claws.

After that, we decided to take the lower trail first and that led us past progressively larger and larger waterfalls.

And they weren’t just your normal trails, they were kind of like canopy-style metal that were right above the water and you could see the rushing water underneath the trail.

Then, we come out to this viewing platform where you can see the entire spread of Iguazú in front of you.  Blows your mind.  And we stayed there, at that view for, I don’t know, maybe an hour.

And then later, the next day, we did the upper trail and that’s where you get to walk along the upper edge.  Those views are just as spectacular, because you’re looking down — you get to see the height.

Finally, we went and saw the Devil’s Throat.  And that’s just the perfect pinnacle for the day.

The Devil’s Throat is the top of the largest part of the waterfall and it kind of looks like a sea and all the water pours down.  The ground drops dramatically and you can look pretty much over the edge.  The water doesn’t just fall down, it explodes back up.

When you get there and you stare down into the Devil’s Throat, as all that water plunges in and the steam flies out, I mean it’s just… It’s, it’s amazing.

(I like this place.)

La Garganta del Diablo
Postcard Valet
Episode 2:
Iguazú, Argentina

Overhead shot of Iguazú
from the Miami Vice motion picture
© 2006 Universal Pictures

Iguazú National Park map
© Argentina Excepción
http://en.argentina-excepcion.com

All other footage
© 2009 Arlo Midgett
http://blog.arlomidgett.com

Postcard Valet is a Travel Podcast by
Arlo Midgett & Oksana Midgett

If you enjoyed watching this, the best thanks you can give us is to show it to someone else! *

* (seriously!)