Esteros del Ibera, Argentina

Here are my photos from my visit to Esteros del Ibera, a marshland reserve in northern Argentina, which I visited a few weeks ago (losing track of time). It is comparable to the Pantanal in Brazil, with one of the worlds most diverse range of animals & birds. Mostly saw birds (there are over 300 types here), plus plenty of capybaras (worlds largest rodent), alligators, and a small cat. There are also monkeys, different types of deer, and much more.

Waiting for the bus to come at 3AM to go back to Mercedes:



















This guy is full on gaucho. Hat, knife, pants, shirt, belt, boots:


The 3 hour ride there from Mercedes is on such a crappy road he had to tighten the lugnuts halfway through. This is the crappiest bus I have taken.


Might as well have been camping at this hostel, talk about basic services:


This bird saves energy by riding on the capybara, while eating insects off its back:


Took a boat ride through the marsh:

The professional Siesta

Having got sick with the flu or something simliar here in Mercedes, Argentina, town of 40,000 people in northern Argentina, and thus staying much longer than I had anticipated, I ended up getting to know some of the people in Rotaract on more than a few occasions.

I finally got a clearer insight onto the siesta last night when it was explained by Ileana. I went out to dinner with Ileana from Rotaract and two of her friends. All three lawyers in their 30s, quite a hilarious experience, me being a 25 year old engineer from the 'big city' in the US.

Anyways, for example, last night they picked me up around 1030 to go to dinner. We didn't start munching on anything until 1130 at least. The place had some really typical live music from this region of Argentina as well. However, it was me who threw in the towel around 1240am, mostly because I was still feeling effects from my cold.

So the next day, they all have to be in to work by 7am. That's not much sleep. They work until 1pm, then shut everything down. Go home for lunch, and probably lunch until 2pm or so. Then, sleep until 4pm. I suppose that puts them at the 8 hour mark in 24 hours for sleep. Then they go back to work for at least 2 or 3 hours.

Kind of weird to think the whole town is sleeping between 2 and 4pm. No wonder I couldn't find a single place open the other day when I was hungry and looking for food!

Eating dinner in Mercedes with Ileana & her friends:


In other notes, Wednesday night got to meet a bunch of people from Rotaract at a meeting. Then Thursday two of them picked me up at my hostel and we walked around the city for a few hours. Nonetheless I saw most of the city in this time. The city is full of gauchos (cowboys). Stopped in a few gaucho wear stores, I really want to purchase one of these hats. For 12-15 bucks, I think thats a go. I look like an idiot, but who cares.

They told me the name of the hat 30 times, and I still can't remember it.


Street (really?):


Main Plaza:


Rotaract meeting:


Old building plus women carrying baby on bike:


Mate from Corrientes (the state that Mercedes is in). Gauchito Gil is like the Argentinian equivalent Robin Hood.


Gaucho sighting:


Baby on Bike:


Gauchito Gil:


Trying on Gaucho hats:


Off to Reserva Esteros del Ibera tomorrow until Monday morning.

Definition of a Crappy Hostel

So, I got to this town Mercedes yesterday in northern Argentina, after spending some time in the cities Santa Fe & Parana, 8 hours south by bus. I'm really only here as a stop to get to this National Park called Esteros del Ibera, which are supposed to have some of the most diverse wildlife in the world after the Pantanal in Brazil.

Anyways, its a tiny little town filled with Gaucho's (Argentinian cowboys). They are also professionals at the siesta here. Yesterday, I went hungry from 1-4pm cause the whole town was shut down.

It's actually not that bad of a town. Anyways, I got sick a few days ago, I think due to the cold air Friday night in my room, and it came to full fruitation as I arrived here yesterday. Instead of a 1 night stopover, I'll probably stay here 3 or 4 days now to recuperate.

So the hostel I am staying at, I can't tell if its just really crappy, or it is just that I am in the middle of nowhere and this is kind of how it is. For example:

-Kitchen faucet squirts water in my face
-Shower curtain has hole causing water to drip into bathroom floor(bathrooms normally have floor drains and floor squegee here so not the end of the world)
-Had to ask them to turn the water on to flush the toilet (valve was closed)
-Had to ask to shower with hot water yesterday, no problem. Today, however, something is broken, and it's been 6 hours with no fixture, so no shower.
-Had to ask to get gas turned on to cook today.
-Teapot in kitchen had paint chips in it. Glad I looked first.
-No can opener. Glad the can happened to have a tab on it yesterday.
-The rest of the pots and pans look like they are from WWII. Although from other hostels I am now used to pots with no handles, saute pans with no handles, etc. I could probably cook with any piece of semicircular metal at this point.
-I'm used to bread and jam/butter for breakfast now, Argentine style. But this place gave me 10 peices of a small biscotti like bread. Maybe it used to be fresh, and got a little hard. I did have a small amount of jam and butter to go, though. No dulce de leche.
-Stretching it a little, the mattress is quite thin.


However, it is not tourist season here, so there is nobody in my dorm room, which is great, because I was able to hack my lungs away and blow my nose out as well last night. There is a really picturesque court in the middle, and the building feels like a ranch house, so quaint would be a good word to describe it. Also, the internet is actually pretty good here, so I can write really uplifting blogs such as this! All in all, kind of a crappy hostel, but what can you expect from a Gaucho town in the middle of nowhere in Argentina. It happens. Long trip.

From Rosario

Rosario is about 4 hours by bus from Buenos Aires. It sits on the River Parana. It has always sat in the shadow of Buenos Aires. Three times they tried to become the capital, each time succeeding in vote, but getting vetoed by the President in Buenos Aires. It also seems to me that is the start of a somewhat tropical feel that will just continue as I go north. The river has some pretty decent vegetation on the other side, and although winter is approaching, it is sill 60-70 degrees.

It is known for several things. First being the birthplace and city where Che Guevara grew up. I walked by the apartment building. There was nothing more than a sign outside indicating this was the place. For all I know, there probably is someone living in the apartment he grew up in. I suppose I was looking for a museumm or some information, but maybe it is good that they aren't totally exploiting this fact.


The other thing it is known for is a COLOSSAL monument to Manuel Belgrano, creator of the Argentinian flag. Here, he first raised the flag in 1812. This guy was important...there are streets named after him in every city. The monument has three parts. The first is a HUGE monolith. Then, there is a Greek palace type area with columns, a giant courtyard with steps, and finally a bridge leading to this.







The colors at night make are like the flag:


There's even a nice fire in the middle of the columns:


So I spent a few days walking around. On Monday night, I headed to a meeting of the Rotaract club, with was good because I got to meet some people from Rosario. After, we went out to dinner.

Cheesy photo:



Tuesday night, I went to a couchsurfing meeting called the 'Polyglot' meeting. It was basically for everybody to come and speak a lot of languages. I was impressed that about 40 people showed up to this, from places like Israel, Australia, Germany, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Italy, and different parts of Argentina. So, it was great, because basically it was a bunch of people practicing languages and correcting each other. Of course, English and Spanish were the default languages. There were plenty of people fluent in English, but I was able to help some people as well (in addition to being corrected myself in Spanish most of the time). One random random thing that happened at the couchsurfing meeting was I bumped into a girl and guy from Long Beach, CA. Well anyways, they were Rotary scholars, studying in Rosario, and so of course they report to Jorge in Chicago who coordinates the Latin America programs (for people who don't know, Jorge was President of Rotaract Chicago while I was Vice President). So that was just a realllly random run-in. Also, the couple I met from Lima knew the guy I stayed with there way back in February, so that was just another odd coincidence.



I went up the Obelist (flag monument), for some good views of Rosario:




I went to a history museum. They had a collection of High Roller Mate's from the 1800s or so. Nothing like drinking mate out of solid gold and silver:


This is something I found very funny. This electric water heater has a temperature setting for Mate. They really are serious about the temperature, can't be too hot, can't be too cold:

Toilets & Birthday Parties

I always like seeing the toilets in different countries, different hostels, and different houses. The flushing mechanism is always in a different place. Pull Cords, buttons on all sides, levers, and anything you can think of. However, this one takes the cake. Cut a hole in the wall above the toilet where the plumbing is and pull up on the lever!


On a side note, Uruguay and Argentina seem to have bidets everywhere, literally, but I didn't notice any in Brazil or Lima.

I don't know how I always manage to get myself into these great situations, but last night I went to a birthday party in Maipu, Argentina last night with about 30 Argentinians, in the front yard of someones home. There was a great asado with various cuts of meat and chorizo, a 20 pack of silly string involved for some post asado chaos, music and dancing, and lots of beer and Fernet provided. Hadn't had Fernet before, but they mixed it with Coke and it tasted like cough syrup. No English speakers present, but all super nice people. Needless to say, I was dropped off at my hostel at 6:30 am the next morning. Phew.

With Ulises (from Rotaract), post silly string.


One of the hosts, who was most certainly hammered and very jolly:


Argentinian Fernet:


Chaos continues, I certainly was not exempt from this:


In all his glory (Ok, he posed a bit for this, but still, its funny):

Untitled

Sitting here in the lobby of my hostel in Mendoza waiting for a guy I met today from Rotaract Mendoza to pick me up to go to a birthday party tonight. Its nice to finally be re-submerged in totally Spanish speakers.

I've been in hostels since last Sunday and have been able to speak reasonable amount of Spanish, but in general, people speak English at them. You always bump into people from Europe, Canada, & Australia, and they speak to each other in English. In some ways, it is great to hear about what other people did, where theyve been, etc, and get tips. Sometimes, though, it is just a broken record, because everybody is going to the same places on the gringo trail. Needless to say, I really like staying with people through Rotaract/Rotary and couchsurfing when I can. There are plenty of people in these hostels with their checklists out...I'd like to at least meet and make some new friends while I am at it instead of speed racing to some goal of checking all the places off lonely planet tells you to go. I've been doing a pretty good job of that I think, thanks to couchsurfing & Rotaract.

So I returned to Mendoza last night after 3 days in Uspallata, which is roughly two hours away, but literally in the middle of nowhere in the Mountains. Very calm & peaceful. The hostel there had a creek behind it and was surrounded by towering Andean mountains. It was a beautiful and blistering 1-1/2 hour walk into town (a whole 3 or 4 blocks of shops, haha).

The first day in Uspallata I rented a bike and biked my brains out in the desert-like mountains in the area. I hiked up a few small peaks to catch a view of the green valley below. It really is amazing. Desolate doesn't begin to describe the area outside the town. It was even cooler just being all alone in a giant valley:



The next day, I took a breather and just relaxed. I walked to town with a a girl from Buenos Aires and a girl from Canada who I more or less kind of was travelling with for a 4 or 5 days. She was also in English Opens Doors, and we bumped into each other in the hostel in Mendoza 5 or 6 days ago. Anyways, the girl from BA knew nada English, so I really got some good practice in and we talked about things for 3 or 4 hours.

Finally, I ponied up and took a tour on Friday of some of the sights in the area. We went to the border with Chile & Argentina, up a hairy 300+ turn dirt road, up to view a Christ statue at 13,000 ft(suprise, my 3rd christ statue this trip, but this IS South America, afterall, land of the Catholics). We also went to a few other places, including Puente del Inca, a natural land bridge formed in the glacial period, and of course got many looks at the Aconcagua, the western hemispheres tallest mountain, at almost 23,000 ft.



The road up:


Puente del Inca:


Christ statue. My first steps into Chile, then back:


Me & Aconcagua:


After my return to Mendoza, I finally got to meet up with some of the Rotaractors from a club here in Mendoza. I walked to meet Ana, the girl I had been talking to, and we walked to a members house, where the meeting took place. It had been since last Sunday or so since I was part of rapid fire group Spanish, so again, now I only got about 50% of the stuff :( Anyways, tonight I'm going out to this birthday party with one of the guys in the club, and tomorrow afternoon I'm going with the club to take some mate and relax in a park.

With the club members of Rotaract Mendoza Norte at the house for the meeting:


I've also decided that Uruguayans and Argentinians have lost their heat sensors on their tongues. The water they use in their mate is fresh off the the stove and while I wince at taking scalding, boiling water down, none of them seem to think about it for a second. It always takes a few days for my tongue to recuperate.

Finally, I have decided to go to Santiago on Monday. I still quite nervous after the last big aftershock (err, earthquake) a few days ago. But I've been talking to a few people I know in Santiago and all seems well there. I take a bus there Monday, right over the Aconcagua, then and fly out to Easter Island Tuesday morning until Friday. The airline wont refund me, so it's now or never for Easter Island. After that, I don't have a real plan, but I probably will head south, through Barriloche, Argentina (might take a week of classes there), and see if I can make it to Patagonia before the chill sets in. Then maybe make my way back up the east coast of Argentina, possibly Paraguay pending a few things, and definitely Bolivia, northern Chile, and Peru...maybe even Ecuador and Columbia. Unfortunately, I may have to avoid southern Chile cause of the quake action.