Caiman and Capybara
Because my sister Amanda was only in Argentina for 10 days, we thought it best to limit our stops to just a few points of interest. Our first stop after Buenos Aires was the Reserva Natural Iberá, a gigantic marshland preserve located in the province of Corrientes. The only village inside the reserve is called Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, an 8 block x 20 block town with dirt roads, three restaurants, and more people traveling by horseback than car.
It was raining when we arrived to Pellegrini, so after checking into our rustic hospedaje (family run hotel), we went out to dinner, got some groceries, and called it a night. The weather the following day was cold but rain free, and we were able to go on a nature hike and boat tour, during which we saw capybara, monkeys, tiny deer, caiman (small freshwater alligators), and a plethora of exotic birds.
The day after that we were off again, headed north for Posadas, though our final destination was Iquazu falls. We didn´t expect to spend so much time on buses, but we´d better get used to it. Down here the points of interest are a challenge to get to, but absolutely, positively worth the effort.
Early morning in Mercedes.
Badass transportation option.
Say QUESO!
This is a group of amateur and professional photographers that we shared the transfer to Colonia Pellegrini with.
On the way.
Every corner of Colonia Pellegrini looked like this.
¨Princesa¨ the horse heard that our room had a spare bed.
Argentine home cooking
Capybara
Cutest rodent ever?
The floating islands.
Why is that irregularly shaped rock moving?
At this point I asked our guide, “Possibilmente va mas circa?” (Can we go closer?)
Si, mas circa.
What other creature has teeth coming through its own snout?
When I asked our guide, Alberto, if he thought the caiman were beautiful (as I do), he said ¨Si, Mis amigos¨ (Yes, they´re my friends.)
Alberto
When you´re told that caiman are “small alligators” you sort of don´t expect that to mean 5+ feet long, like this one.
Yes, I was really this close to it. No, that wasn´t a very good idea.
Caiman, The Next Generation. There are seven of them in this picture, each about 10 inches long.
Heading back.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
[…] middle of nowhere and we had taken a bus to get there. In fact, I recognized the park, it was the Reserva Natural Ibera that we went to in Northern Argentina. The season felt exactly like the season is now, in fact, […]