Estero de Iberá, Argentina - May 3-6

Toward the northern border of Argentina, these wetlands have more crocodiles, birds and "carpinchos" (the world's largest rodent) than you can shake two or three sticks at!!!  It was all great, but the crocodiles really caught my interest!  Sadly, my pictures of baby crocodiles didn't turn out, but it was super cool seeing them!

You gotta love a bird named Southern Screamer!  Being protective of their babies, this mom and dad let us know why they got their name, too!

A relative of the guinea pig among other rodents, these gus can weigh 60 kg.  I thought the definition of rodent included 'small'.

We took a 10+ hour overnight bus, then a bumpy gravel road for 3 hours to get there.  This place hasn't hit the main tourist circuit yet, which makes it even better.  There are a handful of very decent places to stay but we opted for the very nicely situated campground, right on the water, right in site of crocodiles.  I decided to believe that they don't hurt humans, or I wouldn't have been able to sleep.  And, of course, yet another dog befriended us at the campsite.  Even though we never fed him.  This dog had a collar which means he has a home, so I am happy.

There are boat tours that get you close and personal and you can go out in canoes which feels even closer...

There is a pet fox at the ranger station, a trail where monkeys are often seen, very tame deer walking around.....

Might be hard to see the dad in the tree here, but...  We got to see a family of howler monkeys playing around in the trees.

 
Most people retrace their steps to get back to civilization.  But for anyone who can't stand going back the same way, there is the option to continue on what becomes an even worse road going north.  Guess which way we went!?