Christina, the friendly manager of the Rosario hostel where we stayed during a recent trip to Argentina, highly recommended the Kayak tour of the Paraná River. "Everyone I've sent has loved it!", she said. We did too, but as often happens, it was the unexpected discoveries that made it especially sweet.

We thought it would be a great way to see the Paraná. The tour was supposed to be 2 to 3 hours long and an early morning start left us plenty of time to kayak and still catch our late afternoon bus to Puerto Iguazu. We were curious to learn more about the river that connected the mighty Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires and is also the second longest river in South America after the Amazon.

Our first surprise was to learn that our Kayak trip would not be on the Paraná river at all, but on a tiny channel running parallel to the Paraná on the edge of a vast delta of islands, lagoons and wetlands that runs from about 100 miles north of Rosario south to Buenos Aries.

It is difficult to see the outlines of the channels and islands of the delta on a map, even with Google Satellite, because the sediment-rich brown water is so similar to the land, but click on the map to the right for a clearer example of the extent of the delta across from Rosario, where we kayaked and for the location of the honey.

This is the only delta in the world that is formed upon entry to another river rather than a standing body of water like a lake or ocean. It is one of the largest coastal wetland areas in Argentina with an ecosystem rich in plant and animal life.

This delta is approximately 17,000 sq. kilometers and 300 km. long, yet it has only about 3,000 permanent residents…

Beekeeping on the Delta

A few minutes later we saw a house with a sign that declared "Miel"…

Beekeeping is actually Luis' second profession…

Willow blooms three times per year…