Mercedes - expectations dashed

For some reason the name Mercedes conjured up a sophisticated and romantic place. Well it certainly was not that. It was a quaint little town which turned out to be the only one of a decent size between Carlos Pelligrini and Buenos Aires. It was a centre for cattle raising and being right in the country it is a traditional place with numerous ipeople wearing gaucho clothes with wide decorated belts and wide flat hats or berets with wide bands worn right down on the head. The outskirts were very depressed and poor with rusting cars and small and dilapidated homes. Surprisingly there was a nice modern hotel close to the town square so we walked around a bit before dinner. There'd was an old and once grand theatre in the town so it has been something in the past - maybe the 1860s but nothing much seems to have happened since. Dinner was at a pizza place again but I had a salad and a water con gas and it only cost 14 pesos - around $2.50! One of the benefits of staying in the country.On the way in to the town we took a look at a spooky place in a nearby settlement. It is a shrine to a man called Gaucho Gil. He was a deserter from some war in the past and was described as a Robin Hood type giving things to the poor (they could do with him now)! Anyway he was captured and hung but before he died he told his hangman that when he got home he would find his son was ill but if he prayed for his soul then his son would be healed. So he was and now if anyone has a sick child they pray to Gil. There are walls of plaques saying thanks and people have given all sorts of strange things including football boots, wedding dresses and bicycles. There are tacky statutes of Gil. To be bought and other souvenirs of one's visit. There is a tree stump painted a blood red from which he is meant to have been hung and the candles and other souvenirs are all in this same colour. I haven't seen anything like it before and it is odd to think that this cult has a strong following even today. There must be lots of desperate people around there I think.