Chaco National Park,
Argentina
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Where better to escape to after a busy polluted city than a beautiful, wild park, all fresh air and peace and quiet? Caught a rickety old bus out to the one horse town of Capitan Solari (well I actually counted five horses but you know what I mean). We set off along the dusty red track to the park and were thankfully picked up by a couple of Rangers almost straight away as 5km with a large pack on in the heat of the day can seem a hell of a lot further. The campground was almost deserted, only a French couple who didnīt seem too friendly. Spotted a ridiculously large number of gorgeous birds before we had even set up the tent. Headed off at a leisurely stroll down to the river for more wildlife watching to return soon after at a heck of a pace and with a huge cloud of ravenous mosquitoes following us. Never met mosies quite like these, they donīt give two hoots how much deet repellent you have on or how many layers of clothes. My leg now looks like someoneīs pumped it up to twice the size. Not too horrifically itchy though so we managed to last a couple of days.
Headed off on the second day for a 10km hike out to (an almost dry) lake to spot crocodiles - fat chance, saw a LOT of mosies though. Never say die though, we stuck it out at the lake for a few hours to be rewarded with a visit from the cutest little armadillo out snuffling for dinner. Absolutely enchanting and well worth all the mosie bites.
