Date: Friday 16 September 2022

Trajectory:  Ituzaingo – Don Luis

Distance covered: ±60 km

Breakfast in Casa Bonita and then met Alejandra at 09.00. 

First we went to visit the bird centre she manages in Ituzaingo, an imaginative and well laid out project. There I saw lots of photos of birds I would like to see, but realistically knew I would only see a few. `With luck!

I spent some time with Ale at the Bird Centre, planning the next couple of days. She is high up in local tourism circles and set up a number of future stays and attendances for me.

I then went with Arturo, one of the guides at the centre, to Santa María – a nearby reserve with boardwalks and an observation tower. A nice visit and an informative guide, but sadly low on birds …

… as happens from time to time. I particularly liked the sentiments expressed on this sign: rough translation “although you may not see them these grasslands have many inhabitants’.

After lunch I met Alejandra again and [slowly] we drove out to her lodge San Luis (see the red dot in the map above). A 38 km drive through rough tracks, mainly sand and wetland embankments, eight separate barred gates and a lot of birds.

One of those was the Iberá seedeater, only recently discovered and endemic to the area. An obvious candidate for my bird of the day. 

The site of Don Luis is quite wonderful, with its buildings scattered wide across a large area. I was assigned to a cabin called Tyto alba 1, which fittingly had a nesting box inhabited by a barn owl.

As the sun was setting it was time for a cold beer and then supper ( a local fish called ‘boga’, as we planned tomorrow’s activities.

To bed, happy and with several lifers in the bag.

Date: Tuesday 13 September 2022

Trajectory:  Mburucuyá – Loreto

Distance covered: 130 km

Left my cabin home at Mburucuyá after two comfortable nights …

… at about 08.00 and had a very leisurely drive to Loreto. I was a bit birded out today and decided on a quiet day and a novel to relax with. Thank goodness for the KIndle Mimi gave me to replace the one I left in a BA remise. 

Although today was to be a non-birding day I did need a bird of the day, so snapped this great egret as I was leaving Mburucuyá.

On arrival in Loreto I went to the Tourist Information to locate my new cabaña (the electricity was down in the whole town). I found a little wildlife park there:

… and statues through the town to this guitar hero.

I never researched his story, because it was time for a beer …

… which kimd of segued into a great lunch of chicken and green pasta. I like the polystyrene coolers for the beer and bought myself one as a souvenir.

Then to my new cabaña, not at all unlike the other one but much cheaper, although without cooking facilities.

Tomorrow I hope to meet my friend Horacio who is starting up an eco-lodge near here.

Date: Monday 12 September 2022

Trajectory:  Mburucuyá

Distance covered: 60 km

Early breakfast of coffee and biscuits and off to the Mburucuyá National Park, some 22 miles away. The last part was eleven kilometres of sandy track, and I remembered on my previous stormy visit how lucky I was to get away through the mud.

I had a choice of paths and chose the Yatay Trail, a seven kilometre walk through different kinds of vegetation.

I was completely alone in the park (it isn’t easy to get to) and had a great sense of space …

… seeing the odd deer …

… and learning about animal tracks

There were a number of black vultures at the end of the trail, which for some irreverent reason reminded my of Disney’s ‘Jungle Book’.

But my bird of the day was the masked gnatcatcher, whom I watched as they performed their courtship rituals.

Then back to my new home for two nights, where I cooked for the first time in weeks.

Spent the rest of the day reading and catching up with emails. Tomorrow I return to Iberá on the western side, from the Loreto Portal, where I’m meeting an old friend from San Martín de los Andes.

Date: Sunday 11 September 2022

Trajectory:  Mercedes – Mburucuyá

Distance covered: 220 km (with side trips)

Left Mercedes hotel after miserable breakfast and undrinkable coffee – for what I paid I expected better. Hotel curious for staircase (no lift) with steps whose height and spacing seem to have been designed to fail to meet human expectations, so going up and down was a most laborious and disconcerting affair.

First stop of the day was supposed to be the urban reserve Aka Pita, which took forever to find – Mercedes could work on its Tourist information. Or maybe the reason it was unsigned is that it was closed today, for no reason the custodian could give.

I drove on, and found a jewel – completely unmentioned by the Tourist Office. It seems that the Gaucho Gil, a C19th Century Robin Hood like religious folk hero was probably born near here and most definitely died and is buried here. More on my Facebook page. Here a statue:

…his place in the Mercedes City cemetery …

… and the entrance to his sanctuary/shrine, a few miles outside the city.

It was a shortish drive to Mburucuyú, shorter perhaps than the time it took for me to learn to say it. I was stopped by Gendarmes and asked where `I was going. I slobbered out Mumburoocooyoocoo a few times and finally had to spell it out for them. I then had a brief pronunciation lesson from three gendarme teachers and spend the next twenty minutes repeating over and over again

As I approached the town I saw crowds of people at another religious/folk festival, this one involving horsey activities. All of the gauchos, man and women, had put on their best finery: the older men, competing in gaucho skills and dressage …

… the younger men, sporting a mixture of traditional gaucho and modern style gear …

… and fine ladies on fine horses, in their best gaucho chic.

I stopped and watched for a while, impressed by the high level of horseriding skills, and finally entered Mburucuyá, the home of chamamé.

Almost forgot my bird of the day – cattle egrets, doing what they do:

Tomorrow I’ll visit the nearby Mburucuyá  National Park.

Date: Saturday 10 September 2022

Trajectory:  Carlos Pelligrini – Mercedes

Distance covered: 180 km (with side trips)

Left Carlos Pelligrini still feeling under the weather to drive to Mercedes. I had been told to look out for Pampa Deer (a species I hadn’t seen) at a particular place on the way. I did find two deer in the right place but could only get a glimpse and a ghost photo. It could just as well be a female Marsh Deer. I guess the jury’s out on it.

Drove slowly from Pelligrini to Mercedes, looking for birds and other wildlife, and got to Mercedes at lunchtime to find it was the biggest party of the year, the Annual Agricultural Show. That explained why it had been so difficult to find a hotel on the Internet and it took about three hours to find a suitable place. 

I ended up at the Hotel Ivyra Pyta, in a room for five people – the last room available there and possibly in Mercedes. Pricy by local standards, bit in GBP easier to digest.

I then went for a drive to see a local geological phenomenon, a large stone formation called Itá Pucu (Guarani for ‘large stone’). I included a man in the picture to give some idea of the size.

The drive there was long and difficult terrain, and put the SW4 through its paces – it performed admirably.  On the way I passed a dead snake (no idea what kind) …

… and a dead cow (no vultures for once) – a very typical sight I am beginning to realise, and an explanation for so many cattle bones just lying around.

Also my bird of the day, a Greater Rhea (Rhea americana), not to be confused with the Lesser Rhea we see in Patagonia.

It was getting dark by now so I headed back to the hotel to write this entry and get some supper. Tomorrow to the Mburucuyá National Park.