4Runner Roadtrip – Argentina and Iberá Wetlands

After crossing back into Argentina via the super fun ferry from Paraguay, we headed to Posadas for a two day respite in a really cool cabina. I didn’t want to leave; it didn’t hurt that they had upgraded us from just a room to an actual cabin. From there we spent a night in a little village called Mercedes, best known for its Santuario del Gauchito Gil where the Argentine faithful gather every January 6-8 to ask for protection and favors. You can read more about the pilgrimage here. Also, in Mercedes we found an epic spot for dinner called Pelito Gourmet, well worth a visit.

From Mercedes we headed up towards the Iberá Wetlands and a town called Colonia Carlos Pellegrini. There had been a pretty massive wind storm that had knocked out power to a lot of the region and we were hoping that the little village would be ok. As it turned out, they had not been spared but they had a generator and supplied power to the town in regular intervals which worked out just fine for us. The drive from Mercedes to Pellegrini is on a mostly dirt road with a few pretty rough sections. It also happens to pass by Rincón del Socorro, an exclusive resort/lodge where rooms start at about $600+ per night. It is located somewhat inside of the wetlands and offers a lot of wildlife viewing options. That was a bit rich for us and they don’t accept dogs so we continued on to our more modest accommodations in Pellegrini.

As we got closer and more into the wetlands we started to see our first creepy caimans and our beloved capybaras! We love those goofy guys.

The first hike/walk we did was on the Laguna Iberia trail, essentially a walk around a small lagoon. Dogs aren’t allowed so Shani and I took turns. On our way to the trail we saw a deer, supposedly a very rare sight. Once at the parking and while Shani was out hiking, Sebastian and I saw two does as well! Shani also saw them on the hike along with quite a few capybaras.

Part of the price of our lodging included an excursion for each of us. As dogs aren’t allowed on the excursion we took turns for our boat ride and tour of the wetlands. We each saw an impressive amount of two types of caimans and a bunch more capybaras plus quite a few interesting types of bird and even another deer.

Shani opted for two additional nature walks very near the visitor center, one of which had a family of monkeys. She also went on a guided kayak tour of the wetlands while Sebastian and I took naps.

After the wetlands we were back in Mercedes for a night and so of course we had to go back to Pelito Gourmet. You can’t imagine what a bargain this place is.

From Mercedes we were off to Parana and then to a super cool spot just north of Cordoba. The apartment near Cordoba was new and modern and also had a big “dog bed”? Sebastian sure thought so. The area has several golf courses and the village is walkable with a lot of shops and restaurants. It seems pretty upscale.  We went out to lunch, originally at a place stupidly busy which we took as a good sign. Seemed not touristy and mostly locals. However, they had no gluten free food which seems impossible in this day and age, especially in Argentina. As a side note, Argentina has to be one of the easiest places to be gluten free, everything is labeled and all the restaurants we visited have been super aware of gluten issues. There are also a lot of gluten free bakeries that sometimes have empanadas and other treats. Some markets also have fresh gluten free pasta and raviolis.

We ended up at a spot called Alma De Pueblo and boy am I glad we did! I had a giant rib eye steak that was cooked absolutely perfectly; certainly one of the top 5 steaks I’ve had in my life. Even Shani, who prefers not to eat cow had to admit it was pretty damn delicious. The only bummer was they ran out of red wine by the glass halfway through our meal and I had to switch to beer.

Our next destination was Villa de Merlo, a little town we had visited the last overlanding season and quite liked. If you look on the map the distance from Cordoba to Merlo doesn’t seem very far as the crow flies. In reality it took us nearly 4 hours to make the 160 mile drive. It is a lot of twisting and turning and slow going, like quite a lot of our drives in Argentina actually.

The apartment in Merlo that we stayed at was out of town and felt like the middle of nowhere, just what the doctor ordered! It was so tranquil and relaxing we ended up extending our time there several times and ended up staying almost 3 weeks. Thanks Diego!

While in Merlo we had intended on doing a couple of hikes but sort of got stymied while trying. We drove up to the trail head only to find that there was some sort of festival going on and so we rejiggered our plans and decided to continue our drive up to the Condor Mirador, one of Diego’s recommendations. There were several other hikes en route to the mirador but we had no cell reception or offline maps and couldn’t figure out where any of them started. The Condor Mirador had some pretty epic views of Villa de Merlo. It also happened to be a spot where paragliders launched and we got to see a few guys take off and soar with some condors. Once back into cell reception we realised that we could have taken a little side road to find the hikes, one to an abandoned mining town and another to a waterfall. Maybe next time.

While in Merlo we did manage to dip our feet in the creek one day, though the creek was barely a trickle.  

Stay tuned as we find some blooming cacti, continue our explorations of northern Argentina’s rugged and beautiful landscapes and find ourselves at some of the highest wineries in the world.