Colonia Carlos Pellegrini

The Iberá marshes were for centuries a refuge of the Guaraní, who gave them their name, ý berá, bright water. The village of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini was established in 1927, named after the former Argentine president, on a peninsula reaching into the Laguna Iberá. For most of the 20th century it was a remote settlement in a region of cattle ranches, where poaching, ranching and logging threatened much of the wildlife.

The wetlands came under protection in the early 1980s, when Corrientes created the Iberá Provincial Reserve of about 13,000 km², still the largest protected area of its kind in Argentina. From 1999 the Conservation Land Trust, a foundation set up by Doug and Kristine Tompkins, bought former cattle ranches inside the wetland and removed most of the cattle and internal fences. In 2007 Tompkins Conservation began a rewilding programme to bring back animals lost during the 20th century, and in 2015 the land was donated to the state.

Congress created Iberá National Park on 5 December 2018, beside a provincial park of similar purpose. The programme, now run by Rewilding Argentina, has reintroduced giant anteaters, pampas deer, tapirs, red-and-green macaws, giant river otters and ocelots, and jaguars bred in large enclosures have been released into the park, eight of them by early 2022. In 2025 the village was chosen as one of UN Tourism's Best Tourism Villages.

Colonia Carlos Pellegrini belongs to the countryside culture of Corrientes. Guaraní words and the region's distinctive accent run through everyday Spanish, and chamamé, the accordion-led folk music that UNESCO lists as intangible heritage, is played at family gatherings and local dances. The Gauchito Gil, the folk saint whose sanctuary lies near Mercedes, is honoured with red flags and small shrines along the roads.

Many families have lived from cattle and from the wetland for generations, and riding, mate and the asado remain part of daily life. The rewilding initiative set out to shift the local economy towards tourism, in order to keep the returning animals safe.

The pace is set by the light and the heat. Boats go out in the cool of the morning and late afternoon, and evenings are spent on porches, at the lagoon shore watching the sunset, or around a fire. Visitors are expected to take the same unhurried rhythm, greet people in the street and respect the quiet of the place.

The village had 1,113 inhabitants at the 2022 census, up by about 30 per cent from 890 in 2010. Hotels, cabins, guesthouses and two campsites, Iberá and Cambá Cuá, serve visitors, and boat safaris by day and night, horse rides and walks on the trails start from the village, while much of the land around the reserve is still private cattle ranches. A few shops serve the small rural community.

Remoteness shapes everything. The nearest town with full services is Mercedes, about 120 km away, much of it along a gravel and clay road that slows traffic and can be difficult after heavy rain. There is no fuel station on the way, and cash machines are scarce, so residents plan trips to town carefully.

Days begin early and slow down through the hot middle hours. Children walk or ride bicycles to school on the sandy streets, and in the evening neighbours gather on doorsteps and at the shore.

Food in the village is the plain country cooking of Corrientes. Beef from the grasslands is grilled over wood as asado, often with chorizo and morcilla, and milanesas and empanadas are everyday meals. River fish such as surubí, a large catfish, and dorado appear grilled or in stews, and mandioca, boiled or fried cassava, is the usual side.

The influence of neighbouring Paraguay is strong. Chipá, small cheese breads made with cassava starch, are eaten for breakfast or with mate, and sopa paraguaya, despite its name a dense cornbread with cheese and onion, and chipá guazú, made with fresh maize, appear at family meals. Mbeyú, a cassava-starch pancake with cheese, is another regional staple.

Yerba mate, grown in north-eastern Corrientes and in Misiones, is drunk hot as mate and cold as tereré through the heat of the day. Sweets include dulce de mamón, papaya cooked in syrup. Most meals for visitors are eaten at guesthouses, lodges and a handful of simple village restaurants.