Animal farm

Dear future me,

The sun found her way back to me, so I had plenty of light to behold the treasures of Corrientes and Missiones in Argentina. And it opened the opportunity for me to see Ibera National Park, the wetlands of Corrientes. You see, I thought I had to pass this animal kingdom because the main road, all dirt, was too dirty due to heavy rainfalls. But it was accessible again for terrain cars, so I promoted myself to a lazy tourist and let Juan drive me (ehm) forth and back, Seeing the mud, I was thrilled with my decision and saved my energy for the boat tour. Taking a million photos and videos of caimans, crocodiles, plenty of birds is already a hardcore sport. But jumping up and down as a kid to see the Capybara for the first time in my life was almost exhausting. Plus to spot them all the way back to the little village of Mercedes at the foot of the national park, kept my very busy while Juan was cheffing the car as a pro on the bumpy ride. We counted 28 of them, while the sun was throwing an extra handicap into the game by disappearing behind the horizon.

Leaving the animals behind, I stepped into old footsteps of people on my way to the north. I visited the birth ground of General San Martin, who was a leader in the independence of Argentina. As a 3 months dweller in Argentina, even for me the stop in Yapeyú to honor this guy is a must. And from there I got a glance into the life of the Jesuits that build their missions and combined western religion with the local culture of the tribes. Providing them with a social and economic system. A whole province is named after this, as I entered Missiones and visited an amazing night lightshow in San Ignacio. Even though the visitor group was huge, because a busload of teenagers was dropped of at the site, I had the chance to establish that all Argentineans have the same height. Which is two heads shorter than me. While only the first row was able to see the enchanting story at the ruins of the Jesuits, I had a full panoramic view. It gave me plenty of practice to use this same ability at my next stop: the waterfalls of Iguazu.

Some might say this wonder of nature is a tourist trap, because even in off-season, the place gets packed. But I think it is just a zoo where animals lure us to and provide a distraction for us (walking over boardwalks, sitting in trains, all to gasp at the force of water falling down). While they position themselves to feast on the food we drop and the bottles of lemonade we leave behind. At several points they even put us in cages to eat our lunches. Very smart of them! Meanwhile I was observing this by walking behind big groups of people, trying to get some opportunity to get clearance to watch the power of gravity by myself. It helped that I didn’t take the train, so I was just in between the arrival schedule at the Garganta del Diablo. And what a throat (garganta) it has! Wow! But I also enjoyed the South American Coatis, the Black Capuchin Monkey, the Red Brocket Deer, the Plush Crested Jay and the Stenoterommata Iguazu. People avoided me when I was playing the paparazzi for this last lovely creature, since they didn’t understand why I would want to be so close to this big spider. I guess they haven’t been to Aussie land yet.

With this spectacular highlight Argentina decided to say farewell to me and pushed me on a small ferry to the mainland of Paraguay. Brazil, just on the other side, didn’t want to see me yet as I have important stuff to do in Paraguay. First of all, my bikey need some attention after another 16.000 km of dutiful service. Secondly, I need to face the unthinkable act of, I can hardly say it, sell my bike. Everything screams in me, that I don’t want to part with my preciouszzz just yet, but sometimes you just have to let go. But this for later, as I really don’t want to talk about it. My main goal was to get me and my bike over to Asuncion. The chain on my bike was so happy that it started to jump up and down all the way to the main capital of the country which nobody really visits. Somehow all travel stories of most travelers skip this part, either because they didn’t get here or didn’t find stuff worthwhile to mention. Well, not for this Nennie! No, I was blessed with the hospitality of a friend of a friend, who not only let me stay in here house in Asuncion, but also didn’t stop me from visiting her on her farm in the Chaco. In this order I got to spend time in Asuncion to not only find the best caretaker of my bike, the Kawasaki dealer, visit the old and new center of the town and an amazing museum of contemporary art. But also to start triggering my inner defense system to the allergic hell I would get myself into visiting a farm.

Margot, a real Twentse (region in Holland), couldn’t believe that I was actually wanting to visit a cow farm in the green hell of Chaco, while I was fully allergic to all animals and mostly to cats and horses. Because every decent cow farmer has plenty of those cats and horses as well. I didn’t dare to tell here that I am also very afraid of barking dogs. But I was very grateful to see the life in the Chaco, as farming is a big part of not only Paraguay, but also all the other countries I visited. I passed many campo’s or estancia’s in South America, but never had the chance to see the heart of it. And it is beautiful! Thankfully I was not only witnessing the work on the farm and drinking all the beer and wine of my host, but I could also give a hand to free the calves who just got vaccinated and marked. Libre is my new favorite word now, as I also felt pity for the young cows booing for their mama’s while their mama’s where booing for their kids. I loved the place and tried to hold on by leaving my phone behind, so I had an excuse to go back. But no, Margot found out and drove the whole way back again by herself on the dirt track when we had to leave because of incoming rain. Waiting for her at the Bahia Pa’I Puku diesel station, I wondered why the signs say Bienvenido al infierno verde. To me the Chaco was a temporary heaven and I’m sad to leave it again. But my trip continues, heading for Brazil!

See ya later,

Annemieke