Sharon and Andy's World Tour 2006

Tuesday 25 - Saturday 29 July

Our next stop, Mercedes, was really just an overnighter to give us chance to arrange an onward journey to the tiny town of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini from which access to los Esteros del Ibera - a marshland nature reserve covering 13,000 square kilometers - is gained.

Mercedes is another charming Argentinian town, and we spent a sunny Tuesday just exploring and unwinding.

But after a great time spent at las Aurora del Palmar we were keen to do yet more 'outdoorsy' stuff. With now customary Argentinian helpfulness and efficiency, our host in Mercedes - Graciela - arranged our three-day trip to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini (hereafeter CCP), including accommodation and activities and presented us the tickets without batting an eyelid.

One terrific steak supper and a bottle of wine later, we settled in for a good night's sleep.

Wednesday 26 July

The road to CCP is 120km of bumpy, potholed red dust only traversible by 4x4.

With the midday sun beating down as we travelled, we had the car windows open but hastily shut them every time another vehicle passed to avoid being engulfed in the ensuing thick red cloud. We shared the journey with a nice-enough young American couple who had met whilst travelling. They seemed preoccupied with furthering their acquaintance and so chat was minimal.

Arriving in CCP, we dropped the couple at their campsite on the edge of one of the many lagoons which comprise los Esteros, and continued on to our accommodation - a beautiful pousada owned by our driver and run by his family.

We spent the afternoon settling in and relaxing in the large garden, spotting some of the diverse range of birds for which Los Esteros are famous.

In the evening, our Spanish skills were again tested - none of our friendly hosts spoke English - but we enjoyed the first of many terrific (and huge) home-cooked meals before retiring to our comfortable room.

Thursday 27 July

At 8 o'clock this morning we were picked up by a local guide in his battered Citreon 2CV and driven across the rickety wooden bridge

which connects CCP with the rest of Argentina, to the Visitor's Centre.

From here we began a two-and-a-half hour walk through an adjacent patch of forest, spotting monkeys high up in the dense treetops and catching our first brief glimpse of a Capybara, the world's largest rodent. We thought ourselves really lucky to have spied this creature, assuming it to be rare and shy...

Several more spottings of birds such as the turkey-like Southern Screamer, various butterflies, plants and flowers and suddenly it was lunchtime.

As mentioned, the Esteros are comprised of a number of lagoons and the best way to explore them in detail is by boat; this afternoon was our chance.

Our particular lagoon was dotted with largeish green islands,and drawing close to them we had the inescapable feeling of being watched...

Alligator-like Caiman lurked on every shore, occasionaly slipping into the water to eyeball us more closely.

We landed on a (thankfully) Caiman-free island. The islands are naturally-occurring and are composed of densely-matted vegetation. Walking on them is a bizarre experience; a bit like walking on foam rubber - if you jump up and down you can feel the island vibrate!

Here, our notion that Capybara are shy was completely dispelled - the little devils are absolutely everywhere! A family of three happily munched the nearby vegetation, seemingly oblivious to us even when we virtually stood on top of them.

Less forthcoming were the graceful Marsh Deer living on the islands, which fled at the first sighting of a camera.

As the light began to fade and afternoon drifted toward evening, so we drifted back to our pousada to share a bottle of wine and enjoy tonight's full scale belt-busting culinary onslaught.

Friday 28 July

Another early start today as we were met by Andrea, a local riding instructor, who quickly allocated us a horse each and led us out for my third horse-riding session in a month.

The morning was hot, but the ride was a sedate affair taking us through the village of CCP and out into the surrounding fields to observe a few of the many species of birds found hereabouts.

In the afternoon, we decided to revisit yesterday's walk from the Visitor Centre in the hope that with only the two of us rather than a group we might see more wildlife. Alas the day was too hot and most of the wildlife, excepting some butterflies and the now inevitable Capybara, sensibly remained out of sight in the shade.

After one final sumptuous meal, we bid our hosts goodnight and turned in early on our last evening, since the return bus to Mercedes was picking us up at the ungodly hour of 4am the following morning.

Saturday 29 July

Bleary-eyed, we staggered onto the minibus in pitch darkness. Sadly, sleep was impossible not only because of the continual bumping of the minibus over the potholed road but also because of the incessant rambling of some bloke behind us.

Mercifully, some time after dawn broke we reached Mercedes and flopped into our hostel, not regaining consciousness until after midday.

We spent the rest of the day planning the next leg of our journey northwards, booking a bus trip to Pousadas for the following morning.