Mercedes....but no Benzes
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2007
1
7
30
Trip End
Apr 05, 2007
Mercedes,
Argentina
Monday, January 15, 2007
However, i wasn´t that sad, Mercedes is a quaint little town with a subliminal mediterranean feel....minus the fresh fruit, feta and olives. Our diet thus far has been rather carbo-loaded ( toasted baguettes with jam being standard breakfast fare, we usually dont get round to having lunch, and then eat way too much (portions are GIGANTIC here)...usually meat and carb...again at night). I think by the end of this holiday we will have consumed our red meat quota for the year...maybe even two! Family will find this hard to believe, but Loo can probably also count on one hand how many times she´s actually managed to source a cup o tea, since arriving in S.A! For somebody who drinks btw 10-15 cups a day, i reckon she´s been remarkably good humoured about it all. The coffee´s been really disappointing too...mostly instant powder stuff with a slight arsenic flavour.....but hey. Before i start sounding like a whinging gringo, we´have just had a fantastic few days in the Estoros del Ibera (comparable to the Brazilian pantanal but in north-east Argentina). We´ve spent the last few days doing some serious ´twitching´´....the abundance and variety of birdlife quite staggering. I´ve had some brilliant photo opportunities on our boat launch trips, getting within cm´s of capyburas, caimans, and southern screamers (a bird which looks much like an overgrown turkey but with dagger like protusions under its wings which it uses to defend its territory and against other males), whilst Jules & Loo have been madly ticking birds off their list to the amusement of our guides. I have to say, Jules has really surprised us with her bird-spotting abilities. She´s become a right twitcher, binocs in hand and really good at remembering all the names. I have some fab pics (sorry lots o birds and butterflies but you can get remarkably close to them here for some reason....and i only have a smallish zoom) which ill upload soon.We met a really kewl dutch couple at the place we were staying (he was a male nurse), so dinner time convo tended to be either surgical or political in nature.
NOBODY (did i mention, NOBODY) here hable de Ingles. Loo is getting pretty good at understanding what they saying but communicating what we want gets interesting. I´ve taken to providing a full charade show in most bus stations, hotel receptions and restaurants.
Anyway, i better get going now, but check the site in the next few days as i´ll def upload photos when i get to BA
