Mercedes | trying to travel light

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) this shop in Mercedes selling my favourite Latin American chocolate was closed

On the way into Mercedes we passed the shrine to Gauchito Gil who is a bit of an Argentine Robin Hood and there are red road-side shrines to him all over Argentina. The one near Mercedes is at the place where he died though. He now is some kind of patron saint to transport so I bought a couple of red ribbons to tie on my bicycle and give to friends for their bicycles.

I stayed at a lovely little old guest house, and I was the only guest. The owner was away so I was looked after by her friend, who was also my guide for the trip to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and the Esteros del Ibera.

Crossing the rickety bridge to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini

The lake in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini

After enjoying a lovely breakfast surrounded by antiques in the shop attached to the guest house, we set off in the four by four, picking up a couple of teenagers along the way who were going to help with some work at the guest house that the owner had in the Pellegrini. It was a long and bumpy ride but we all had a lot of fun sharing the mate and talking along the way. Although I was a tourist I didn’t feel like I was on a tour as it was all quite casual and I got to chat to everyone on the way.

A boat trip to see wildlife is the main draw at the Esteros. Unfortunately we arrived late morning and the boats tend to go out very early morning or late afternoon. As I’d decided just to do a day trip it was looking like I might not get to go on a boat ride after all. But this is South America and anything is possible! After driving around the small town and asking a few of his friends when a boat might be going out again, my guide eventually found a boat going that I could join – result!

Considering it wasn’t the best time of day for spotting wildlife we saw loads of caiman, capybara, two wild deer, and lots of beautiful birds. The scenery was spectacular and so tranquil. After the boat ride I had my lunch at the picnic benches at the campsite where there was the most beautiful view over the Esteros. I made my way back to the little guest house, in the scorching heat, for a siesta. I’m terrible with siestas because left to my own devices I would sleep for four hours, or more! This time I managed a couple of hours and later found out that the boys and my guide had been down to the river for a swim as they didn’t want to come into the house while I was sleeping. I felt even worse when I got to chill out on the porch for a few more hours while the boys did more work cutting the grass. We all shared some ice-cold mate (and prepared some for the journey) before setting off for Mercedes again.

On the way we stopped to look around the visitor center and walk along the howler monkey walk (we didn’t see any…) and then headed along the rough and bumpy road back to Mercedes.

Can you see the wild deer?

One of many beautiful birds

Once again the scenery along the way was spectacular and sharing cold mate was the icing on the cake. We even saw gauchos (cowboys) moving their herds and when the boys spotted an armadillo at the side of the road we stopped to have a look. I wasn’t quite expecting that they would jump out of the jeep to go and catch the armadillo!

Unfortunately, I can’t remember all the details, nor find info in English on the internet, about the American guy that owns large parts of the Esteros de Ibera, which has been quite controversial. He would say it is to protect the landscape but local people feel the land is being kept from them and for profit. Obviously its way more complicated than this (I wish my memory didn’t fail me so much) but my guide did also explain that pregnant women from Pellegrini are taken to Mercedes to have their babies so that they are no born in Pellegrini and therefore have land rights. In less than 20 years there will probably be no more ‘native’ people from Pellegrini and the government could take the land and do with it as it pleases, forcing residents out to make way for developing tourism.

We got back to Mercedes in the evening so I could catch the overnight bus to Buenos Aires. Finally, on my last bus trip in South America, I took a bus that provided a pillow and blanket and had a steward on board who brought me dinner when I got on the bus and breakfast before I got off. Now I knew what I’d been missing (but also what the price tag was)!

Caiman

What a view whilst eating lunch

Protest bannar in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini (translation: we're never going to forget that eco-tourism and a yankie pirate can perform their business in the Ibera, the inhabitants of Pellegrini we suffer the violent development of the lake and loose our right of access)