You wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in CHIVILCOY , some 60km south of Mercedes on the RN5, but the town is worth a brief detour for the beautifully restored El Recreo , a traditional almacén situated to the northeast of town on the old Camino Real, which provided access from Buenos Aires to the west of the province. The town itself, an important farming centre at the heart of the dairy belt, has a rather sprawling, industrial feel, though its centre is attractive enough and dotted with some quite pretty little plazas. Should you get stuck, there are at least a decent number of hotels and an estancia not far out of town.

Chivilcoy's absolutely regular grid of streets is centred around the town's most attractive feature, the particularly large and lush Plaza 25 de Mayo , eleven blocks southwest of the bus terminal, to which it is connected by Calle Pellegrini. The town's four major avenues - Soares, Ceballos, Sarmiento and Villarino - converge on the main square. Around fifteen bus services a day run from Buenos Aires and Mercedes to Chivilcoy. There's also one train a day from Buenos Aires (Plaza Once), arriving at Chivilcoy's train station, thirty blocks southeast of the plaza along Avenida Mitre. There are various taxi companies, including Remis Soares on the corner of Avenida Soares and the plaza (tel 02346/433472). There's no tourist office, but the municipalidad, on the southwestern side of the plaza, may be able to rustle up a map.

Hotels , mostly catering to business travellers, are not hard to come by: one of the nicest in town is the Iglesias , Pueyrredón 115 (tel & fax 02346/422322; $30-45), which has slightly erratic plumbing but is otherwise clean and comfortable with a television in each room, private bathrooms and a good breakfast. Alternatively, you could try the Gran Hotel at Sarmiento 125 (tel 02346/430700; $60-80), which has a good restaurant and more upmarket rooms. The least expensive hotel is the Centro , Necochea 34 (tel 02346/422444; $30-45), with simple but acceptable rooms, though you should find that rates are generally negotiable in all the hotels. Some 18km southeast of town, along an unsealed road off the RP30, is Estancia La Rica (tel 02346/491246; $100-150, full board). All the more appealing for looking as though it could do with a lick of paint, the estancia has a long galleried casco and a surprisingly tropical garden, with a small swimming pool. Horseriding is also available. The estancia takes its name from the pretty nearby village of La Rica which, with its abandoned train station, exemplifies the declining fortunes of Argentina's rural settlements. To get to La Rica , or the "Estancia de López" as it is often referred to locally, you'll need to take a taxi from Chivilcoy.

As far as eating goes, Chivilcoy has a less convivial atmosphere than Mercedes. For drinks and snacks there's a pretty uninspiring bunch of cafés around the main plaza, the best of which is La Perla , on the corner of Villarino and 9 de Julio. For more substantial fare, El Pino , at Ceballos 157, offers a pleasant atmosphere and a reasonably priced menu with standard dishes such as grilled chicken with lemon; Don Pedrín , at Av. Soares 83, is a fairly similar affair. Out on the RN5, near the entrance to the town, there are a number of popular parrillas, dishing up hunks of meat to passing motorists and locals alike.