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Wednesday, 31 Jul
An early start to the day was needed to get to the airport on time for our flight, a very long 12 hours to Buenos Aires (BA). Once in BA, we made our way through luggage collection and customs, and then picked up our rental vehicle. Although a GPS was booked in advance, the rental car company had no charger to go with it. They assured us that the battery would last around 3 days, and most hotels would be able to loan us a charger. They also gave us a significant discount on the GPS rent and since there was nothing we could do about it, we accepted it. We programmed our destination and set off. Unfortunately, barely an hour into our journey, smack in the middle of peak BA traffic, the GPS started warning us about a low battery; cursing, we pulled out our map and tried to figure out where we were. By switching the GPS off when we were moving slowly in heavy traffic and only switching it on when we were expecting a turn we managed to find our way out of BA to our hotel in Campana, about two hours after leaving Ezeiza airport. It was around 2am SA time so we only managed to brush our teeth before collapsing into bed.
Thursday, 01 Aug
The GPS scare the previous night made for a rather unpleasant drive so now we were desperate to find a car-charger for the unit. After a lazy lie in we ate breakfast and packed up to head into Cmpana town to look for an electronics shop. We hung around for an hour or so waiting for the shops to open, but did manage to ID the first birds of our trip in a small park in the central square of Campana: Rufous hornero, Chalk-browed mockingbird and Eared dove. When the shops finally opened at 09:00, we managed to find a charger for the GPS, some food and water, then filled up the petrol tank and set off on the 700km drive to Esteros del Ibera, the second-largest wetland system on the planet! It was a long drive and we were worried about the last 100km of dirt road so we drove solidly and didn’t stop for birds en route, however sorely we were tempted. On Route 14 all went smoothly as the roads were empty and 2-lane “Autopista” almost all the way. But when we turned off Route 14 towards Mercedes, the road deteriorated significantly to a single-lane regional road full of huge potholes and very uneven surfacing, reminiscent of some of SA’s crappy back roads. In Mercedes we went looking for a bank to change money but found them all closed already so we simply had to carry on towards Carlos Pellegrini, a town on the edge of Lake Ibera and our base for the next three nights. The first 40km out of Mercedes is a brand new tar road and very pleasant to drive on but then we hit the dirt road and had to slow down. Luckily it wasn’t too bad and I was able maintain an average of 60km/h and in sections could go up to 80km/h. Although we were still in a rush to reach Carlos Pellegrini before dark (it was after 4pm already), we did manage to pick up several new birds on the way (Cocoi heron, Maguari stork, Red-crested cardinal, Giant wood-rail, Southern and Chimango caracaras, White monjita) and were delighted to see both a pampas fox and numerous capybara. We arrived at our accommodation, Irupe Lodge, just before sundown, and managed to pick up some exciting birds in the marshes in front of the lodge – Wattled jacana, Rufescent tiger-heron and Southern screamer being the highlights. Unfortunately we also seemed to pick up a puncture somewhere and had to change the rear left wheel in the dark as our lodge also lost electricity soon after we checked in. Being in a very desolate place at that point, the hard driving and misfortunes we had so far made for a bit of a depressing evening, but when the return of power was followed by a superb dinner of a vegetable kebab for starters, perfectly cooked chicken served on rice, smothered with some masterful mustardy sauce, our spirits perked up again.
Friday, 02 Aug
The day had rather a miserable start as we awoke to heavy downpours in the early hours. We headed off to breakfast with our binoculars, and somehow managed to eat something in between jumping up and down to look out the windows as new and exciting birds flew past. After breakfast we braved the freezing cold wind (ambient temperature, without wind chill was 10 degrees C) and sat on the covered patio, watching birds go about getting their breakfast, despite the icy wind and numbing rain. We discovered that the Southern screamers were pretty much resident in the private marsh in front of the lodge, but added a few passers by like Limpkin and White Cheeked Pintail. The trees and shrubs around the lodge were full of passerines like Green Barred Woodpecker, Spot Winged Pigeon, Unicoloured blackbird, Sayaca Tanager and the gorgeous Great Kiskadee. After lunch we decided on a short drive to see what we could pick up and slipped and slid our way around town, We did manage several more birds like the Tropical parula , Brown-and-yellow marshbird and Zone-tailed hawk but the muddy roads were so bad that we soon had to return. After another dinner worthy of Masterchef (superbly balanced potato and carrot soup, tender lamb and roast potato, red wine poached pear), we went to bed.
Saturday, 03 Aug
A strong breeze removed most of the cloud cover during the night and when we got up, a starry sky bode well. We had scheduled a morning’s birding with a local guide in a 4x4 and although it was bloody expensive, we thought it would be worth it. After a great breakfast we notched up the common birds around Irupe’s grounds before our guide came to pick us up. Unfortunately the weather had worsened again and heavy clouds drizzled as we left Irupe. Taking a slow drive out of Carlos Pellegrini we spotted two new birds: Yellow-winged blackbird and Whistling heron. The cold, windy and rainy weather didn’t really help and there were long stretches where we didn’t see anything at all. Then our guide turned down a farm road and we came upon a stretch of raised road running between chest-deep marshes covered in palms and reeds. This was much more fruitful and we added Ringed kingfisher, Spectacled tyrant, Chestnut-capped blackbird, Greater thornbird, Neotropic cormorant, Black-collared hawk, Savanna hawk and Black-crowned monjita. At the end of the farm road we reached our turn-around point and added one last lifer: Guira cuckoo. Our guide made quick work of the road back to Carlos Pellegrini where he dropped us off at 11am. It was still bitterly cold and rainy and we decided to watch a bit of TV before lunch. Another excellent 3-course meal befell us at lunch: parmeham, rocket and cheese starter, tomato and basil gnocchi as a main and a delicate fruit salad for dessert. Spending more than an hour in the dining room had other rewards too – a Long-winged harrier slowly circled past the marshy patch in front of the lodge and gave excellent views before heading off. With the weather still quite miserable, we spent a lazy afternoon on the covered and heated porch before dinner and then started packing for our departure the next day.
Sunday, 04 Aug
Following the advice of the locals, we decided to rather head back to Mercedes the way we came, then head east to Paso de los Libres and then north up the Route 14 to Puerto Iguazu. This route was more than 200kms longer than our intended route, but with two days of rain on the dirt roads, the locals just took one look at our car and shook their heads. So we needed and early start and after a 6am breakfast, we were on our way, still well before sunrise. The dirt road was wet but solid and we were lucky to see two pairs of Burrowing owls and a maned wolf running next to the road for a short distance. After sunrise we were a bit disappointed to see how thick the clouds still were, but we pressed on steadily and saw many of the now usual birds. After about 30kms of fairly easy driving, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. We now entered a section that was under construction and in preparing the road for future tarring, the entire road surface has been dug up and loosened so that it can be evened out and compressed. But with two days of rain, this turned into a quagmire of mud and clay and very quickly I had great trouble keeping the car going in a straight line and had to drop my speed right down to about 10km/h. This was OK for a while but it was obvious that at this rate it was going to take forever to finish the 80km to where the tar road started. After about 4 or 5km though, things got even worse when we got a particularly nasty patch. The car started fish-tailing, and even at 10km/h, I had absolutely no grip whatsoever and had to stop. We got out of the car to have a look. All four tires were clogged with mud and clay but the real problem was that the wheel wells were so thickly covered in mud that the wheels barely had space to turn. I took out the wheel spanner from the boot and started to scrape the mud away but this wasn’t very effective so very soon I was on my knees and scraping mud out with my hands. This worked and we were able to move on again but it wasn’t long before we had to stop and repeat the process of cleaning the wheel wells and tires. After the second stop I took my shoes off as I then didn’t slide around the mud so much. It was still very cold and windy outside so each of these stops were decidedly unpleasant. In one section we were only able to drive about 200-300 meters before we again had to stop. By now it was obvious that we were in for a long day – we weren’t worried anymore about what time we would get to Puerto Iguazu; we were now worried about getting out at all. We were in a very desolate place and hadn’t seen a single car since we left Carlos Pellegrini hours earlier. I had also started to keep a lookout for where we could see farm buildings in case we got so badly stuck that we had to go and ask for help. But with our continuous tire cleaning we still managed to make some progress and then to our utmost relief, almost 4 hours after we left Carlos Pellegrini, we finally reached the tar road. What an incredible joy to be out of the muck! It was immediately obvious that the car (and me, being covered almost literally from head to toe in mud) needed some serious cleaning since I felt one of the tires being very unbalanced the moment I went over 80km/h. But it was a Sunday and we had no luck. In Mercedes everything was closed, so we stopped next to the road on a grassy patch and tried to clean off as much mud as possible. This helped somewhat and at the petrol station we stopped to fill up, I was able to clean myself a bit as well. But now it was noon and we still had about 600km to drive so with Nicola plying me with chips, cookies and drinks, I hit the accelerator as hard as I dared and we made good progress, first to Posadas and then eventually Puerto Iguazu, arriving at our accommodation at 19:30. We were both absolutely exhausted but was so much perked up by our friendly and helpful host (although he didn’t speak a word of English) and an excellent self-catering apartment, that we felt very at home immediately and looked forward to the next few days. With the help of Google translator and our host guiding us around town, we found some dinner quickly and then had a hot shower and got straight into bed.
Monday, 05 Aug
We had lots to do in Puerto Iguazu, not least of these were having to fix our puncture, getting the car washed properly and getting some money. But these could all wait, because we were in Puerto Iguazu to see one of the new seven wonders of the world, a sight I’ve been dreaming of seeing with my own eyes ever since I saw The Mission, decades ago. We drove to the entrance of Iguazu park on the Argentinean side and paid the exorbitant fee (almost R600 for the two of us), and then took a walk through the forest to the Upper trail above the falls. I’ll be the first to admit the throngs of people definitely detract a little but when we emerged from the trail onto steel walkways and got our first look at one of the most spectacular sights on earth, I got a lump in my throat and felt tears welling up as I took in the vast majesty of Iguazu falls. It was everything I imagined and although it was obviously fantastic to share this with Nicola, I wished that my parents were also there as I know how much they would’ve appreciated such a sight. We walked every single bit of the Upper walkway, snapping away as we went, even though the light wasn’t too great. Since the Upper walkway isn’t particularly long (about 650m), we soon finished this and then headed for the train station to take us to Garganta del Diablo – the Devil’s throat. Waiting in line at the station, Plush-crested jays got so close to us that Nicola was able to get fantastic photos and before we boarded the train we also saw our first coatis (of the raccoon family). After the short train ride we followed the crowd out onto a 1100m walkway spanning half the Iguazu river all the way to where tons of water plunge into a tight chasm every second, creating so much cloud and spray, that you can barely take pictures at all. The noise was simply deafening – it’s like standing at the very lip of Augrabies falls in the Northern Cape back home when it’s in flood. It truly is spectacular and although Victoria falls we saw in 2011 were really awe-inspiring, it is simply dwarfed by Iguazu. Being so engrossed in the drama of the falls, we almost forgot to do birding. Close to and over the falls we added Black vultures, Grey-breasted martin, Grey-rumped swift, White-rumped and Blue-and-white swallows and in the foresty bits, Pale-breasted thrush, Saffron finch, Red-rumped cacique and the epitome of jungle birds – the Toco toucan! Returning from Garganta del Diablo, we had a picnic lunch on an open patch of grass before doing the last section of trail – the Lower track. This path had some more panoramic views of the falls and at the end, took you right up close and personal (and soaking wet) to one of the falls where it roars over a precipice. Extremely satisfied with our day, we finally headed back to Puerto Iguazu for dinner and bed.
Tuesday, 06 Aug
We had some chores to do today and the first was to get the car cleaned. Our host from our apartment had shown us a few car wash places, all of them looking rather scruffy, but there was nothing else so we pulled up to the first open one shortly after 8am and watched with wry grins on our faces as four youngsters jumped to work. Thankfully they had a high-pressure hose but it still took them the better part of 15 minutes just to clean the wheel wells. Huge clumps of mud kept falling off as they washed and in their fury from being dislodged from the car, they bonded instead to the concrete platform below. When the car was finally clean inside and out we left, and the poor youngsters set to work behind us, attempting to clean the mud off their platform – they are probably still at it. We headed off for the next chore, which was to get the tire fixed. Unfortunately it turned out that a whole patch of side wall was damaged so we got an inner tube put in as a cheaper alternative to a new tire. But this was quite quickly accomplished and we then headed off into town to attempt to get some cash. Irupe lodge could not take credit cards like we had hoped, so our cash supply had dwindled. After driving around to three different banks we accepted the inevitable, that no-one would let us buy cash off the credit card, instead we had to draw money from the ATM and pay the exorbitant bank charges. But we did feel a lot better with money in our back pockets. We then headed off home for the rest of the afternoon and had a relaxing afternoon doing absolutely nothing.
Wednesday, 07 Aug
The next morning, after changing some pesos to Paraguayan guaranis at a ridiculous “tourist” rate we headed for the ferry ride across to Paraguay. It was a short distance, and by 9am we were standing on Paraguayan soil. The ferry berths in Ciudad Presidente Franco, about 8kms from the centre of Ciiudad del Este, and since we couldn’t find a taxi from this deserted suburbian area, we started walking in. After a little more than a kilometer we managed to flag down a local bus which took us right to the market place we were planning on visiting. The market place (along Avenida San Blas) consists of hundreds of rickety stalls, crushed into every available spot on the pavement of both sides of the street. We wandered up and down for the better part of two hours, looking at stall after stall selling cheap clothing, shoes, torches, power tools, mopeds, electronics, ‘designer’ hand bags and just about everything else you can think of. We purchased a few curios as mementos of the day and then caught a taxi back to the ferry. Back in Puerto Iguazu, we spent the afternoon doing some more curio shopping, finding some very interesting masks and other items before going home for the night.
Thursday, 08 Aug
For our last day at Iguazu we were hoping to get across to the Brazilian side for a different perspective. This proved surprisingly easy as we drove to the central bus station in Puerto Iguazu and got a company that does a return trip all the way directly to the falls on the Brazilian side, and helps you to get through the immigration checkpoints easily too. The bus left at 08:10 and just before 9am we were dropped off outside the Brazilian Iguazu falls entrance. After buying tickets we were ferried onto another bus (free, part of the entrance ticket) that goes all the way to the end, stopping at several stops along the way where you can access all kinds of activities (unfortunately these you have to pay extra for). We stayed on right until the last stop and from there started walking back along the trails. Right away we saw the falls again in all its splendor, and from this side you definitely got a much better overall picture of the falls. We snapped away, walking up and down the walkways, taking an elevator to the lower section, got wet directly under the falls and watched spellbound as Great dusky swifts dove straight into the pouring falls to cling to the glistening rocks behind the water curtain where they nest. We spent a good three hours doing this before sitting down in the shade of a small tree for lunch. After lunch, we started focusing primarily on birding for the first time, and dug out the map to try and find good walking routes through the forest and hopefully away from the crowds. We saw that our only chance was at one of the bus stops further down the route so we hopped on the bus and headed for that station. When we got there we found out that the walk was part of a tour, which cost an additional R300 per person, so we opted instead to just walk out on the main road along which the bus ran. Since it was a good 2 kms walk, we were the only two walking, and therefore got some relative peace in between the regular passing of the buses. Because of this we did manage to find a few new birds: Chestnut-eared aracari and Rufous-capped motmot. We also got fleeting glimpses of a hummingbird but our eyes are not yet trained to pick the subtle nuances of the hummingbirds’ colouration in the seconds you have before it flits away. Once we reached the main gate, we visited the curio store and got a few mementos of our short time in Brazil, before catching the bus back across the border. We went back to our apartment to cook dinner and pack our bags since the next day we were leaving Iguazu falls behind us.
Friday, 09 Aug
An early start the next day saw us on our way to Concordia. Since it was a good long drive (about 900km) we focused mostly on getting there, and ignored the birds along the roadside. After a few hours Nicola took a turn at driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time. All went well until we were pulled over at a police checkpoint. The policeman who came to the window immediately heard we were foreigners and asked to see Nicola’s driving license. When that proved to be in order, they asked to see our emergency triangle, compulsory in Argentina. When they saw we had that, they then complained that our lights were off (in Argentina it us compulsory to have headlights on at all times of the day or night) even though the lights were obviously on when we stopped. But since I had to remove the car keys to open the boot to show them the triangle, the lights were off at this point. I tried to explain using sign language and a little Spanish, but I simply did not have the appropriate vocabulary and they didn’t understand (or didn’t want to understand) a word of English. They kept on insisting the lights were off and we had to pay a fine. I then tried to explain that I want to phone my embassy (when reading about the notoriously corrupt Entre Rios police, I noted that this could sometimes help) but this they didn’t understand either and it started to look like the policeman was getting pissed off with me. We were in a desolate place with no towns or other form of civilization nearby and the police had taken me into a building off the road, leaving Nicola sitting alone in the car outside. I wasn’t comfortable with the situation and decided to just pay the fine and get the hell out of there. I forked over ARS650 (just over R1000) in cash, actually got a receipt for it and then left, feeling really angry about losing so much money to a bogus traffic violation. Disgruntled and angry at Argentinian authority figures, we approached all subsequent checkpoints with extreme trepidation, constantly checking our lights, seatbelts, speed limit and trying to looko as innocuous as possible. Thankfully we didn’t get pulled over again until we reached our hotel just outside Concordia. It was a nice 4-star place next to the highway, catering mostly for business accommodation it seemed, but we had a nice apartment with a lounge, cable TV, free WiFi and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom!
Saturday, 10 Aug
It was still dark outside as we ate breakfast on our last full day. Outside it was freezing and the car was covered in thick frost. Our GPS failed as we drove into Concordia but luckily we got a decent map from the hotel and was able to navigate to the port at the Rio Uruguay. The launch site for the ferries across the Rio Uruguay was from inside a naval base of some kind and it took a significant amount of sign language and many of the 50 words of Spanish I knew before we managed to make them understand what we wanted to do. So we parked our car in a designated place and waited around until the “ticket” office opened – a table with two chairs and a lock box underneath, positioned outside the small immigration office. With our tickets paid for we went to get our passports stamped and ran into trouble. It seemed that Nicola’s entrance/exit stamps in her passport didn’t match up with what their system said, but since the stamps proved that she crossed borders legally all the time, it was obvious (luckily to the immigration officers as well) that there was something wrong in the system. We stood there waiting for almost 20 minutes when they finally managed to figure it out and with a thumbs-up, stamped her passport and off we went, running to the ferry that was now waiting just for us. We were the only foreigners on board as we made the 15 minute trip across the river and stepped onto Uruguayan soil. Passports stamped we walked off into the town of Salto, quite a pleasant, very European looking town. We changed money to Uruguayan pesos and then wandered up and down the streets, eventually found a tourist office where we got a map, and then decided to visit the local zoo. Although quite depressing by South African standards, this was apparently still one of the better ones in South America and we gawked at some interesting things like tigers, jaguars, pumas, forest cats and foxes, peccaries, llamas and a number of local bird species. We even saw a lifer up in a tree: Golden-rumped euphonia! Back outside the zoo we bought some empanadas from a street vendor and wandered back into town, got a few more bites to eat and then made our way back to the port for the ferry across at 14:30. We eventually made it back to the hotel by about 4pm, tested the Jacuzzi in our bathroom (was fantastic but leaked water all over the bathroom floor!) and then spent the early evening packing and getting our stuff sorted out. Nicola managed to fix the GPS (one of the thin wires broke off completely) so it looked like navigation won’t be a problem the next day. At 8pm we had proper Argentinian steak for dinner.
Sunday, 11 Aug
After we got robbed by the police on Friday, we now had very little pesos left, so we were very apprehensive of any police checkpoints as we left Hathor Hotel, scared what would happen if we had to pay another bribe. The 65km or so to El Palmar National Park was thankfully quite deserted so early in the morning and the few checkpoints we did drive through did not have a single policeman in sight. We arrived at El Palmar at 8am and paid ARS 100 entrance fee – we now had only ARS450 left to pay for petrol and tolls back to BA. El Palmar NP is a stronghold for Yatay palms and they were everywhere. Unfortunately it seemed that only Eared doves and Monk parakeets seem to like them as we barely saw anything else until we came to a more wooded section closer to the Rio Uruguay. Here we got American kestrels, Diademed tanager, Picazuro pigeon, Green-winged saltator and Black-capped warbling finch. At the end of the road was a sort of campground with a restaurant and horse stable but on this cold and cloudy day, so early in the morning, it looked a rather miserable place. We had to turn around now as we still had a 370km drive to Buenos Aires. Just before 11am we were back on the autopista and made good progress. Yet another problem befell us now. The GPS now failed completely as it wouldn’t even switch on anymore and this meant we had to contend with driving through Buenos Aires without its help. Luckily, due to the problems with it the previous day already, I had sat down and calculated coordinates for the important turn-offs in the city before we went to bed on Saturday. So we were able to use the hiking GPS and some written down instructions to make sure we got the turn-offs right. Only once we crossed the last big bridge over the Rio Parana and were outside of Entre Rios province were we able to relax a bit more every time we passed a police checkpoint. In Zarate we filled up for the last time and were able to pay by credit card so now had no more worries about our cash lasting either. We made it to the airport just after 3pm, dropped off the car keys and went through all the normal check-in and immigration procedures before relaxing in the lounge along with the Argentinian rugby team before the flight. The flight itself was uneventful except for a baby in the seat right in front of us that wouldn’t stop crying and yelling throughout the flight. Nicola’s dad kindly picked us up from the airport again before the long drive home.
A very memorable holiday indeed – here are a few pointers for others who want to visit the same places:
- The Ibera wetlands is an amazing place and absolutely worth the visit. But they lie at the end of (currently, from Mercedes) an 80km stretch of dirt road that becomes virtually impassible in rainy weather. We don’t know how long it will take to (or even if they will) tar the full stretch of road, but until they do, do consider the weather and climate before planning to drive there yourself. The other options directly from Carlos Pellegrini to Posadas (driving north east) would be a very bad choice without a 4-wheel drive vehicle.
- If you plan to visit any of the bordering countries like Brazil, Uruguay or Paraguay for just a day or two from Argentina, don’t plan on changing cash only when you arrive here. The so-called “tourist” exchange rates are ridiculously poor (for instance, officially you’re supposed to get about 800 Paraguayan guarani per Argentinian peso, but with the tourist rate, we could only get 480) and is more or less the same at all the exchangers. Rather buy your money back home right from the start.
- Food is surprisingly expensive in Argentina, even in a supermarket. Make sure you budget enough for this. The restaurant prices are not too bad though, all things considered. Buying any kind of food at the kiosks or restaurants inside the Iguazu national paks (both Argentinian and Brazilian sides) are a very bad idea – we paid over R35 for a 500ml Coke – so rather plan to take some food and drinks, including enough water, with you.
- To see Iguazu falls properly, you have to experience both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. In Argentina you get close to the falls and walkways lead to the top of several of the separate falls. From this end you also get into the teeth of the falls at Garganta del Diablo and must not be missed. In Brazil, you’re further away from the falls so you can get a much better overall view. In the mornings the sun is on your back viewing the falls, creating stunning rainbows all over. Both sides though are very expensive to visit for non-locals. Current entrance fees for Argentina are ARS170 (about R280) per person and ARS160 (about R265) per person on the Brazilian side (cheaper though if you can pay in Brazilian reais).
- To get to the Brazilian side from Puerto Iguazu is very easy: Crucero del Norte bus lines runs four times a day from Puerto Iguazu, through the border across the bridge and directly to the Brazilian Iguazu entrance for ARS60 per person (return). There are also four buses a day back. At the Argentinian border you have to present yourself to immigration but on the Brazilian side the bus driver collects all the passports and get them all stamped quite quickly.
- Iguazu falls must be a lepidopterist’s idea of heaven. In the area we saw 30+ different species without trying, by far the highest diversity we’ve ever come across. If you’re into butterflies, this is THE place to go! Birding though is not actually very good at all. Admittedly it is winter but Iguazu is still sub-tropical and we did expect to see more than we did. The crowds certainly play a big role in driving the shier mammals away and probably contribute the quiet bird life too but we also found that there isn’t all that many places where you can go and bird in peace and quiet. On the Argentinian side, there is dirt road that turns left off the airport access road about 3km beyond the Iguazu falls entrance road. We drove a short section of this one afternoon but the weather wasn’t great and we didn’t hear or see a single bird. But I suspect that early in the morning this drive could be good place to explore as it doesn’t have remotely the number of people on it than at the falls itself.
- If you want to visit Paraguay from Puerto Iguazu, take the ferry that leaves from the port. Its quieter, easier, quicker and cheaper than taking the road first to Foz do Iguacu in Brazil and then to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. The only problem with this route is that there isn’t a lot of easy transport from the Paraguayan port into town and you’ve got to walk to the main road in Ciudad Presidente Franco first (about 1km) from where you can flag down a local bus or moto-taxi if you can find one.
- Until our run-in with the Entre Rios police on the way back, we were never concerned about the numerous police checkpoints. Our driver’s permits, passports and car license were checked several times without any problems and we had the compulsory emergency triangle and fire extinguisher in the boot as well. But the notorious Entre Rios police got us. They made up a violation right there on the spot and being unable to converse or argue with them in such a remote and desolate place, we didn’t have a choice but to pay up. If you do ever plan to drive through Entre Rios, make sure you have plenty of pesos that you can pay if you have to. On our last day we were very stressed passing through every single checkpoint since we only had a few hundred pesos cash left with which we had to put in petrol. We didn’t want to dwell on the consequences of another forced bribe….
- Learn some Spanish. Outside of Buenos Aires, actually even just outside the airport, you can consider yourself lucky if you can find someone speaking even basic English. We carried Lonely Planet’s Latin American Spanish phrasebook and dictionary which proved very helpful and managed to pick up quite a few words/phrases along the way.
