On the road less travelled…
Aug 15, 2005 – Mon
This morning, I went about town early to change money and to find the tourist info office, since everything was closed yesterday. Well, everything was closed today, too! I went to find the tourist office in the Plaza, but was not able to find it. I walked a block away to find the Regional Chaco tourism office. It looked bleak, but there was a lady inside, so I opened the door.
She looked kind of surprised and asked me what I needed, so I aksed if she had info and a map of Resistencia. We sad down, and then she got really excited. I asked her for info about the Parque Nacional Chaco, Isla del Cerritos, and the bus schedules for Salta. The lady gave me more than enough info, and was so excited that I wanted to visit the Chaco province. She also gave me info on a city called Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, a city of about 8,000 people with suburbs that include about 100,000 people. In that city, there are the most important mineral baths in Argentina, and one of the biggest zoos in the country. My Footprints guide says it is a reasonable place to stop over, but that´s all it says.
The lady wished me well and gave me a pen from the Chaco tourist office as a present. So far, she´s been the most helpful person for finding information out. She also told me that today was a Feriados, or a holiday — La Muerte de General San Martín — that´s why a lot of businesses are closed today.}
I decided that I wanted to check out the Parque Nacional Chaco, which is 115km from Resistencia. I had all the info I needed to know about how to get there. Sounds simple…not quite! Little did I know that I was in for an adventure…
I went to the bus station and bought my ticket for Capitán Solari through La Estrella bus company. My bus was to depart at 12:30pm. The return would be at 4:50pm. 115km doesn´t sound that far, so I thought about 1.5 hours of transit…boy was I wrong! When 12:20pm came around, an Estrella bus pulled up…then another pulled up…then 2 more came. There was mass confusion as to which bus to jump on. I went to the bus with less people and asked the driver. He told me to hop on board.
This bus is really old and rickety and crappy. And little did I know that this is a local bus and stops in every town and traverses every street. We also had a long stop in a village called Elisa. I was really worried about the time, seeing that it was taking so damn long to get to Capitán Solari.
The bus ride ended up taking 2.5 hours. The driver dropped me off and pointed down a dirt road for Parque Nacional Chaco. I looked around, and it was desolate. My book says you can take a remis (taxi) and the lady at the tourist office said you can take a combi down to the park entrance, which is 5km from the road. There really was nothing there — a few houses, a few horses, and no people. Capitán Solari is a tiny town.
What to do, what to do. I decided, to hell with it, I started walking. It was extremely bleak. To the left of me was a huge cotton farm. To the right, grassy land. One car came towards me and stirred up so much dust that I had to look down, shield my eyes and nose until the dust settled. I walked on. Another car passed me up, and again, I hat to protect myself from the dust storm they produced. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I thought, as soon as I get to the entrance, I´ll have to turn around and walk back.
I walked quite a ways…then my saviors came. As I was walking, a dump truck was on the road behind me. Three big guys in the truck and one guy riding in the dump part (there was nothing in it). The driver slowed down and asked me where I was going. I told him to the Parque Nacional Chaco. He asked me if I needed a ride. I was desperate, so I said yes.
Now this is not a normal occurrence…this was actually the first ride I hitched in South America. Some people probably think I´m crazy for taking a ride like that…I asked if they wanted me to ride in the back, the dump part, but they motioned me to sit in the cab. A bit akward as it was full with the 3 big guys. The guy that was in the middle moved closer to the driver, so that the gear shift was in between his legs, the guy on the right side got out and let me in, and then squeezed himself back in. It was extremely tight quarters. Good thing I´m small!
These guys ended up being really nice guys and helping a girl down on her luck. They drove me to the park entrance and to the rangers station, which was quite far (to walk on a time crunch!). I offered them money but they refused. I think they were just happy to help. And surely, now they have a story to tell their friends.
It was about 3:15pm when I got to the rangers station. The ranger was there on a bike. I aksed for info about the park and told him that I needed to catch the 4:50pm bus back to Resistencia. A short visit indeed, but I had no idea that the bus would take 2.5 hours and that I´d be stranded on a dirt road for a while!
A little background about the Parque Nacional Chaco…The park was created in 1954 and encompasses 15,000 hectares. It is a protected area of one of the last remaining untouched areas of the Wet Chaco. The flora includes tall quebracho colorado trees, caranday palms, and ralera trees. The quebracho colorado trees were put at risk by deforestation in the region, but are now protected in the park. The fauna includes pumas, coatimundis, carayá monkeys, turtles, parrots, and a myriad of butterflies. The climate is subtropical and humid so mosquito repellant is extremely essential. The Río Negro runs through the park as well as several lagunas. Indigenous populations of the Tobas and Mocovíes and descendants of the first Creoles to inhabit the area live in and near the park.
The ranger gave me a loop trail that I could do with the given amount of time I had. Because pumas live in the area, I wanted to rend a bike (since I can ride one, yay!) or a horse as I was on my own. Well, all the bikes were too tall and there were no horses to rent. He said I had time enought to hike it. I was to meet him back at the ranger station at 4:30pm.
Pumas…hmmm…well, I finally got there, so I couldn´t not hike the trail! I went on the trail — the only person in sight. I crossed a swing bridge that went over the Río Negro. To my left, the river was covered with bright green lilyponds, and to my right the river opened up. I stopped in the middle of the bridge to admire the sounds of nature — fish jumping out of the water, birds singing, and more noises from the trees (not sure if they were monkeys or not, but I did not see any). It was very serene and peaceful to be there.
Once I crossed the bridge, I encountered the sendero peotonal loop trail. I was not sure how long the trail was, so I hiked it pretty swiftly. I heard a few rustling noises in the bushes and I was on full alert. Kind of like an adrenaline pumping hike. Puma encounters are rare…but this IS their land…
I complted the loop trail, came to the bridge where I once again stopped on it to admire the sounds of the nature in this unique environment, then headed back.
Tags: Resistencia, Travel
Marisa