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IN THEIR OWN WORDS: written by Edith Lowe, granddaughter of the founder:

Estancia Las Mercades came to be after my father died in 1995, he was a New Zealand immigrant. His father set up a thriving dental clinic in Buenos Aires in 1908, investing in land in the province of Misiones, where he and his son (my dad) Robert went into growing, harvesting and drying Yerba Mate our wonderful green tea, Iilex Paraguayensis. My father fell in love with Misiones, the jungle, the climate (sub tropical without a marked dry season). He built a house that kept getting larger as his family grew.

He married an American lady from California, who was a friend of the family in Buenos Aires, brought her to Las Mercedes and they lived there for 57 years.

The House:
Made of wood in a style that reminds people of a New Zealand sheep farm, with 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a large living room with a fire place that is used all winter long, dining room that sits 10 people comfortably, a large screened veranda where breakfast, lunch and tea is served, (weather permiting), dinner is served in the dining room, with the lovely family dishes and silverware.  The beds have very good matresses (new) 100% cotton sheets, every room is equipped with hot/cold air conditioners. Two bedrooms are connected and share a bathroom, we call it the "apartment" for familys that want to keep close to the children. Of course there is constant running cold and hot water, all baths with tubs and showers.

Food:
Breakfasts with coffee, tea, mate and fruit juice ( orange, mandarine ) toasted white and brown home baked bread, eggs, jam, home made maramalades and jams, cheese etc.
Lunch: usually home grown beef, we do breed cattle, Braford stock, We serve "asado" barbeque of different cuts, local sausages, various salads, desserts coffee.
Tea: cakes pies and cheese buns (all cooked at home)
Dinner: For starters, a dish of cold meats and salad then a main course of surloin steak with cooked vegetables, potatoes a la cream, and the likes.

All services are taken care of with our supervision, guests are treated as visitors always taken care of by one of the family, Cristina, Edie, her brother John and nephew Marcos.

Activities:

• Riding, with Engish speaking guides on very well behaved horses. Normally an outing will take a couple of hours, working the herds or riding thru rainforest, along the lovely river that borders the ranch.
• Canoeing: with what we call Canadian type canoes, for 2, with paddles, also acompanied by a guide but the guest must do the rowing.
• Cycling on trails around the property.
• Walks in the forest for birdwatchers.

The property has 650 hectares of forest, pine plantation with grazing space between the trees, open pastures, horses, (we breed our thoroughbred stock with a Quarter Horse stallion), there are 5 water buffalos, around 400 head of cattle.
 
Our guests have written wonderful things about Las Merceds, the best one is: a little bit of heaven in this far away place.

We are 100 kms. from the Iguazu Falls, 150 kms. from the Jesuit Ruins of San Ignacio, 1200 kms from Buenos Aires.

NOTE: it is possible to see and possibly participate in a game of "pato", the national sport of Argentina, in the weekends.