Don Tomás Park and estancia La Malvina

Don Tomás Municipal Recreation Center is situated almost within the boundaries of the City of Santa Rosa, just twenty blocks from both the City Hall and the shopping center. To get to this site, visitors can take the main avenue, whose first stretch is called San Martín and then changes into Gral. Roca. At the end of this avenue, visitors go straight to this 500-hectare park where green areas abound and there is a large lake in its center.

This is a place chosen by a large number of denizens who spend long time outdoors enjoying leisure activities and practicing sports. It provides many grills, an incredible tree grove, stores, a swimming-pool, football and softball fields, volleyball and basketball courts, a health circuit, a playground for children, a running trail, bike paths and even a tourist train known as El Puelchito, which departs from San Martín Square and goes past this recreational center.

One of the first things which captivated our eyes was the construction of a mega stadium. It is really magnificent due to the size of the construction which is being built along the lakeshore.

In the Isla Grande Recreation Center, not only can we find a viewpoint in front of the birds’ island but also a recreation area for kids called “The Kid’s Island”, which provides information about the native fauna and vegetation through a video they may watch in the Interpretative Center.

The water body is a great spot to enjoy fishing and sport activities such as windsurfing, kayaking, canoeing, water skiing and motorcycling. This park offers boat, canoe and water bike rentals. This is an incredible lake for fishing pejerrey (Neotropical silverside) and carp. The favorite bait of pejerreyis the mojarra (common two banded or silver sea bream), shrimp, pejerrey fillet, carp or chicken entrails. Anglers can practice long-distance surfcasting from the shoreline. The proper time for fishing depends on the weather conditions and Mid March and July or August are the best months for fishing.

The lagoon has a pier and a ramp for motorboats. Getting on board the “Salitrero”, a modern vessel which sets out from the municipal pier every weekend to tour around the lake for about half an hour is highly recommended.

From the viewpoint named “Mirador de la Cruz” (Cross Viewpoint) on, we took a detour that led us up to the main house in estancia La Malvina, once owned by the founder of this city, Mr. Tomás Mason. Once recovered from the ruins, this venue is worth a fifteen-minute visit. Nowadays, this building houses a cultural center and it is a historical icon.