I’m not a happy camper today for several reasons. First our final scheduled activity, horseback riding, has been abandoned due to the ongoing extreme weather conditions. Second I’m enduring an itchy nightmare after last night’s mosquito orgy at my expense, and third the service at the ‘luxury’ Rancho Ibera continues to be lackluster to say the least. For all these reasons I suggest to Christi that we cut short our visit to the Ibera wetlands and return to civilization. Proof yet again that Christi and I are not true backpackers. We really don’t enjoy discomfort and deprivation! Don’t get me wrong the wildlife hereabouts is spectacular and I love photographing it. I just get antsy when the wildlife, in this case the hordes of mosquitoes, fight back.
Unfortunately, escaping C.C. Pellegrini during this severe weather is easier said than done. The regular bus is not running due to the rain and associated flooding, but Graciela (our fixer in Mercedes) is able to organize a 4×4 rescue back to civilization. Power at Rancho Ibera is intermittent at the moment, so we pack quickly when the light pops back on. Although our room was clean when we arrived, no staff has been in to change the linens or clean the bathroom since the first day. We even have to ask for more toilet paper when we run out. Perhaps there’s a reason we are the only people staying here. Our 4×4 rescue transport arrives promptly at 4 pm and we leave the Rancho Ibera without regret.
The road out of town is treacherous, but turns out to be another wildlife safari. Our driver is happy to stop and let me photograph marsh deer and a 6-foot long yellow anaconda. This and many capybara sightings are fantastic. It continues to rain hard, flooding the road, while lightning and thunder pound our 4-hour ride back to Mercedes.
Graciela takes our disappointment personally and does all she can to help us with our immediate onward travel for we have no desire to spend a cold, wet night in Mercedes any more than we did in CC Pellegrini. Escaping Mercedes aboard public transport is not that easy at night, however, but Graciela finds us two tickets on a bus to the tiny hamlet of Paso de los Libres two hours to the south-east of Mercedes and within spitting distance of the border with Brazil. We arrive at the Paso de los Libres bus station near midnight. You might think the place would be closed and dark, but you would be wrong – this is Argentina after all. We arrive at the same time as two domestic tour buses. And the tourists want their dinner. The servers are run ragged over the next 2 hours until the restaurant closes at 2 am. Supposedly our onward connection departs at 2.20 am, but torrential rain to the south delays its arrival until 3.45 am. This long, weary day finally ends at 4 am when we collapse into our cama seats and fall instantly asleep, leaving the bus to continue its overnight journey north.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching ride.
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