San Martín de los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina
This blog is an occasional dumping/sharing ground for random thoughts and ideas, mainly relating to birding, photography, travel, the English language and the teaching thereof and assorted verse and doggerel. I am a retired teacher/lecturer and now work as a language and education consultant with an interest in evaluation and testing, quality assessment and moderation. I divide my time between homes and families in San Martín de los Andes, Patagonia and Manchester, UK.
Another long hard drive, ending up in General Acha. A variety of weathers, ending in a tremendous thunderstorm as I approached General Acha.
A frustrating drive as I passed vast swathes of grassland and wetlands with thousands of birds –excellent birding– but couldn’t stop because of the traffic. I did sneak one picture for my bird of the day – an American `Wood Stork, very much in evidence by the side of the highway.
Made a detour to a Toyota spares dealer in Trenque Lauquen only to find it was closed for stocktaking – decided to leave it for SM.
In two days or three will be in SM, depending on how tomorrow pans out.
A hard drive today, with little to report other than a warning light that came up on the dash to change the transmission belt. Lost a few hours locating a new belt and a willing mechanic but eventually was back on the road with my wallet US$100 or so lighter.
No hotels at all on or near the RN14 until I finally spotted a YPF Motel at Cuatro Bocas.
Nothing here other than a service station and no cooking facilities so I guess it’s fast food tonight. Or I could open a jar of Rabbit Escabeche I bought out of curiosity a few days ago.
We’ll see. Bird of the day, spied from the car window, a Maguari stork.
Left cabin in San Ignacio for the first of three Jesuit ‘missions’ in the area – there were many more, but these three were handy: San Ignacio, Loreto and Santa Ana.
San Ignacio is the best preserved/reconstructed, with much ‘replacement’ stonework robbed out of the other two sites.
The entrance to the main ‘temple’ is perhaps the most known Mission archaeology in Argentina, being reproduced frequently, but the whole site is rather splendid.
There were dozens of grey-breasted martins nesting in and flying around the inner walls of the temple, making the species an ideal choice for bird of the day.
I only visited these three missions, but there are/were many more:
Loreto was interesting to me, as I had visited Loreto in Corrientes, whence the population of the Loreto in Misiones had fled to get away from slave-traders.
The ruins here were only partly uncovered, making the overgrown site a more natural place.
Similarly with Santa Ana, although there was a little more original stonework there.
The plan shows the original layout. All the missions (also known as ‘reductions’) had the same features – main temple, chapel, workers’ quarters, Jesuit quarters, orchard and vegetable garden, cemetery, etc. – but the layouts varied considerable.
I then spent a couple of hours chasing an endemic bird (yellow-headed blackbird) but he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, so I dipped again. You can’t win them all.
Spent the night in a quite cabin just outside Posadas. It was a long way from anywhere, so I cooked myself some onion soup for supper.
Tomorrow the journey south continues, with intentions to spend the night somewhere near Bonpland, Corriente. The hard driving commences too, but hey, I have to get home.
Strange noises in the night turned out to be a nest by my bedroom window – can’t identify the species.
A picnic breakfast of leftovers and a visit to the humming bird garden before leaving Puerto Iguazú.
It’s a very small garden but is full of birds, mainly humming birds.
Here’s one of the humming birds in the garden – there should be between 10 and 16 species if you know how to distinguish them (I’m learning!).
So I don’t [yet] know what kind of bird that is, and won’t have time to work on the 250 photos I took until the journey is over.
My bird of the day is a thrush-like wren that I spotted high in a palm tree in the street outside – not a great photo, but a lifer.
I liked this sign in the bird garden …
… and I made friends with a turtle there (no idea what species).
After nearly two and a half hours I had the final remains of my picnic breakfast and drove on to San Ignacio, to the friendly hotel La Toscana where I was ready for a siesta.
Tomorrow I hope to visit the Jesuit ruins at San Ignacio and if time Loreto and Sta Ana before continuing south.
First stop of the day was the Güira Oga rescue Centre, fortunately just around the corner from my cabin.
I had been there before a few years ago, but it has been ‘improved’ in the sense of the whole experience, with much more information provided by the guide, the whole trip being more of an educational experience.
As before we set off in a train to see some of the animals that cannot be returned to the wild: those intended for rerelease are kept on an island 40 km away.
Different animals from my last visit, with more birds than I remember. From these I chose my bird of the day, a bird I had not seen before: the macuco, English name solitary tinamou.
There were other animals too – I liked the jaguarundi …
… and the southern tamandua – the last one I saw was a road casualty.
On to the Iguazu Falls which were as splendid as ever, from a distance …
And close up.
I was hoping to get a picture of the great dusky swift – but dipped this time. It would have looked like this (Park publicity photo).
Some of the walkways have been improved at the falls since my last visit. It was very hot, and I was glad to get back into the car and drive on to the point where RN 101 enters the National Park. This is a famous birding strip and I was interested to see the someone had built a hide a couple of kilometres in (forgot to take a photo).
Then back to the cabin for a second night. Tomorrow I start the long journey home.
A day of bad weather and journey changes. Started with a good breakfast alone in a huge dining room with five staff attending me.
Good coffee and lots of fruit. I stole some cheese and ham and a banana for lunch and set out into the fourth (or is it fifth?) day of heavy rain. Misiones much tidier, more civilised than Chaco, with countryside completely different and excellent roads (highways at least).
Drove up to the border with Brazil at Bernardo Irigoyen …
… a busy, bustling border town full of discount shops for Brazilian tourists …
… and drove on. I had arranged to stay two nights in the Karadya Ecolodge (photo from previous visit) …
… but there was a misunderstanding with the encargardo and it was not to be so I drove on. (I received an email from the owner in the evening, apologetic, offering to refund my reservation fee – he seems to have difficulty communicating with his employee too!).
Karadya is one of a number of lodges within a 10-12 km defined eco-corridor, in the middle of which is a rather wonderful ecobridge.
I took the RN 101 for Puerto Iguazu, which took a lot of finding, and drove west on a rough, muddy dirt road through the Iguazu National Park. Here I saw a number of animals including this (I think) agouti …
… and my bird of the day, a giant wood rail.
Arrived in Puerto Iguazú late afternoon and found a cabin for two nights, very comfortable and with basic cooking facilities.
I’ve lost the two days planned for Karadya but will use them to get earlier to San Martín (or for anything interesting that suggests itself, perhaps one or two Mission sites). I do have a full day of activities planned for tomorrow, to be reported in due course.
Left Ituzaingo after early breakfast. Went to YPF to fill up with diesel and found huge queues so left till later, trusting to luck and my jerry cans. Stopped at second YPF along the road and was limited to 40 lts – seems fuel is in short supply in Misiones.
In a last ditch attempt to score a monjita dominicana digressed 1k km down the RP41 towards Pelligrini …
… but nothing doing birdwise, so came back and drove on to a new province, Misiones.
… and on to the town of Santa Ana. The weather was vile all morning, torrential rain still, so I chose an indoor activity – a butterfly house …
… where there were not too many residents owing to the time of the year, but all bright and colourful on this miserable day.
I rather liked the colouring on this one …
Drove on to Oberá as the rain began to ease off and visited a ‘bird garden there…
… where the steep and uneven walkways would never pass an H&S check. The number of birds was very small and some were in very small cages; not a wonderful collection, though the park was lovely.
One example was this red-breasted toucan …
But this was not my bird of the day – instead, a campo flicker, shot from the car window in a moment when the rain eased off.
Found a pleasant looking hotel in Obera, with individual cabins spread across a park. – aptly called the Hotel Cabañas del Parque. A huge complex, it seemed empty other than me. I ate in a large and empty dining hall that reminded me of ‘The Shining’. My cabin was fine though (at the back in the picture below).
A good supper (chicken and salad), and a cold evening. The last two nights have been quite cold – something I don’t associate with Misiones. Tomorrow north, towards Iguazu.
After a leisurely breakfast left for Ituzaingo, still a little bemused by the splendour of my hotel.
Stopped for good coffee at an ACA service station which was full of Brazilian bikers. I see quite a few on the road: big, heavy and expensive bikes, usually in groups of four or five.
As I drove away the heavens opened and I had torrential rain until just before Ituzaingo, as I approached the Cambyreta Portal to the Esteros de Iberá.
I went a few kilometres down a side road in search of the elusive Monjita Dominicana, once again dipping. I did, however, see a number of birds and chose for my bird of the day: the Black-collared Hawk.
The rain shortly returned, accompanied by cold – the coldest day so far. I’m back at the Casa Bonita, dry and comfortable. Scheduled to meet Alejandra tonight for dinner, and a debriefing on my Tantanacuy experiences.
I’m driving tomorrow to Posadas and possibly on to Obera. Will sleep on it.
Left the comfort of my hotel after a leisurely breakfast, feeling slightly discombobulated by the spider in my bathroom as I paid a last visit. I would think about two inches long.
My first objective of the day was to find a replacement cable for my Apple laptop charger which had become unusuable. Couldn’t do that, but with the help of a friendly electrician I was able to invent a replacement (don’t tell Apple!).
Then I took a few detours on country roads near Roque Saenz Peña looking for early morning birds. My bird of the day, a guira cuckoo, comes from these early morning wanderings.
And just as well I went off looking for birds. I arrived at Quilitipi to find they were just ending a three piquete (that’s when citizens block highways). Guess luck was on my side; I could have been stuck on a hot highway for hours.
The short drive to Resistencia was otherwise uneventful. I passed lots of wood sellers on the road …
… and was tempted to buy one or two bits and pieces for my new house.
Alejandra Boloqui had arranged tonight’s hotel for me and it turned out to be quite palatial, both outside …
.. and inside
I ate in the hotel, and intend to leave early tomorrow for Itzaingo.
