Al Garete

The Paraná River defines Posadas in a way few cities can claim of their waterway. The Misiones capital grew up facing that wide, brown mirror that separates it from Encarnación, Paraguay, and for decades the relationship between the city and the river was more functional than celebratory. Al Garete proposes something different: boarding a catamaran at sunset and rediscovering that connection from the water.

The offering is a monthly cultural experience departing from the Misión Paraná port, combining scenic river navigation with live music, onboard dining, and historical narration about the Paraná and the surrounding region. The initiative emerged from a partnership between the river operator Misión Paraná, the provincial Secretaría de Estado de Cultura, and the Municipalidad de Posadas — giving it a dual nature: a tourism product with cultural ambitions, backed by institutional support.

The inaugural sailing was scheduled for Sunday, April 13, 2025 — Palm Sunday — at six in the evening, aboard the catamaran Mburucuyá Connection. The departure time is deliberate: the low-angle light on the Paraná is one of the experience’s central arguments. For subsequent monthly editions, the launch Entre Ríos, with capacity for eighty-five passengers, is planned to join the fleet, expanding the reach of each outing.

Specialist guides accompanying each crossing provide historical context about the river, its banks, and the shifting landscape of the Misiones littoral. That narration coexists with live musical performances and onboard service, without any single element overwhelming the others. The stated intention is for the Paraná to stop being background scenery and become the afternoon’s protagonist.

The logistics of access are also addressed: travelers arriving from downtown Posadas can use La Jangada, the free shuttle service connecting the city to the boarding point. That operational decision matters in a city where the riverbank was for many years less accessible than its tourism potential suggested.

The dual public-private backing speaks to the project’s ambition. That the provincial Culture Secretariat signs alongside Misión Paraná signals that the cultural navigation is intended to endure and grow beyond the first sailings. The availability of translated tours also suggests the project is designed from the outset for a mixed audience: international visitors and local residents alike.

Al Garete fits into a broader shift reshaping Posadas’s experiential offering: the cultural and tourist reclamation of the Paraná riverfront as an active stage. For the traveler arriving in Misiones via Iguazú Falls and using Posadas as a transit hub, or for those exploring the provincial capital in its own right, this experience offers something rare in the regional circuit: real time on the river, with interpretation, live music, and a proper table — unhurried.