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sustainable tourism - Argentina - Esteros De IberaSecond stop in my adventure in Argentina was up north in the middle of nowhere, well in the middle of Esteros de Iberà, in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini a town of 683 inhabitants. Esteros de Ibera is a wetland, actually is the second wetland of  Latin America, the first one is the Pantanal in Brazil. I had very relaxing time at Ecoposada del Esteros, the place where I understood I am not an adventurous traveler, at all.

Susana, Florie, Ale and I left Buenos Aires during the night, thanking advantage of the night bus service to do the long distance we had to cover.

sustainable tourism -Ecoposada-del-estero-ibera-argentina
Welcome to the Ecoposada del Estero with Ale, Florie (hopineo) & Susana (viajero responsable). Thanks hopineo for allow  me to use this photo!

Ecoposada is a wonderful place where you can relax, you can do activities discovering the surroundings, all the activities are included  in the fee and that’s why in this wonderful place I also started to reflect about which activities I wanted to do and which not.

The fee includes every meal, stay and a very incredible environment where to relax. Incredible because it is not only beautiful but nature is everywhere, animals are free to come and go.  When we arrived, for example, the first things I have seen were a couple of horses eating near the pool,that was amazing for me because I am from a beautiful area, but very urbanized. The meetings with their horses was just the beginning.

sustainable tourism - Argentina - Esteros De Ibera - capybara

After recovering from the long trip (9 hours by night bus from Buenos Aires, plus 4 hours by daily transfer – bus again- from Mercedes) and when the sun was less burning, the group was ready to do the first activity: visit to the interpretation center of the Iberá Natural Reserve and the black howler Monks Path ( Sendero Monos Carayas).

Almost at the end of the path we saw a couple of them, beautiful monks: a cub, a female and after a while a male, checking if everything was ok for his family. It was a huge emotion, they were the first monks I have ever seen in my life and they were free!  Only after a while I realised there were caimans sleeping under the sun, not far from our car ( in my opinion, it is never far sustainable tourism - Argentina - Esteros De Ibera - monksaway enough from caimans). They are strong and wild animals I respect, but I am happy not to meet everyday.

The visit continued with a walk along the wooden walkway leading to beautiful corners of the lagoon where a family of capybara was peacefully swimming. Our guide was Alberto, he speaks only few words in English but between our knowledge of Spanish and his understand of Italian we made it very well. Alberto is very knowledgeable, amusing and ironic, with a scared person like me made a lots of jokes regarding caimans especially.

Second day started with a visit to the ranch, it was a unique occasion we had because that day the gauchos had to castrate some of the steers, that happens only once a year. It was interesting to visit the ranch, but I did not appreciate so much the castration. I decided to stay far a way from the place where the animals were stopped, to see it from a good distance.  The farm is property of Andrea’s family, she was very patient with me, she introduced us to her mother and offered us shadows and fresh water. I realised how hard can be life in this beautiful but very rural places and I felt so happy I have the opportunity to chose this life, if I want to but I able to live a different life. That morning I though a lot about equality, opportunities and life choices, thinking about the other side of agricultural jobs in Italy, where many immigrants are currently working, not always in good conditions.

sustainable tourism - Argentina - Esteros De Ibera - gauchos

The great thing of Ecoposada activities organisation is we had  time everyday to relax, reflect, write notes or just to sleep while we had everyday something interesting to do, always with amazing local guides: Andrea and Alberto. Around 5 pm we were ready to go, boat tour with Alberto, looking for caimans! I can barely find words to describe the beauty of the lagoon, even in Italian is very difficult. We have seen lots of plants & birds, it was a great emotion! Florie took photos and shoot for hopineo, I am sharing the video she made and a couple of funny photos with my new favourite animal (joking!)

sustainable tourism - Argentina - Esteros De Ibera - boat trip

Video by Hopineo.org

The third day was all about kayak and horse reading, I avoided the kayak, I was so nervous even thinking about it, in the evening I tried to approach the horse I was suppose to ride, but I was so scared, nervous and I felt also stupid I couldn’t make it. I ended up taking a relaxing bath waiting my friends to come back.
I know I missed 2 opportunities that day, but we are not all the same, some people likes adventure & challenges, but I am not that kind of person. Ride an horse without self confidence can make you in trouble, like do kayaking surrounded by caimans, it is just not for anyone, not for me at least.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the rest of the activities, only I know I have same limits that I don’t feel like to cross.

What about you instead? Are you an adventure lover?
I’d love to know about you and your scariest travel experiences!

Discover Ecoposada

Are you interested to know more?
Ask  #STouW by Sara Vitali about: 

#sustainabletourism consultancy,
#socialmedia strategies for tourism sector & linked sustainable, responsible, green or eco businesses;
#sustainabledevelopment through tourism.
http://sustainabletourismworld.com/sara-vitali-stw-founder/