Argentina - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 82

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frequently impassable in the wet (3 buses weekly with
Nordestur, 5-6hr; AR$140 one-way; T 03722 445 588).

of kilometres away, where a sandy beach
offers wonderful views across the river to
Paraguay. With a bit more time you could
also head to the Parque Provincial Teyú
Cuaré , some 10km south of the village
on a good, unpaved road. Here there are
camping facilities and you can seek out the
Peñón Reina Victoria , a rock face said to
resemble Queen Victoria's profile.

INFORMATION AND TOURS
Tourist information Mercedes has a helpful tourist
o ce (daily 8am-noon & 4-8pm; T 03773 420 100) and
you can also arrange private 4WD transfers from here,
through your accommodation in Colonia Carlos.
Tours Guided tours are highly recommended - and
obligatory for visiting the lagoon and wetlands. Best
organized through your accommodation, they are often
included in the price. A variety of trips is on offer, by boat
(you'll be poled through the marshier sections, where
a motor is useless), on foot or on horseback. There are also
moonlit night-time boat tours (Sat nights only) and walks
to see the nocturnal species.

San Ignacio Miní
SAN IGNACIO MINÍ (daily 7am-7pm;
AR$60; ticket valid for 15 days) was
one of many Jesuit missions set up
throughout Spanish America to convert
the native population to Christianity.
Originally established further north in
what is now Brazil, the missionaries
gradually moved south to avoid attack
from Portuguese bandeirantes (piratical
slave traders), eventually settling here in
1696. The mission became a thriving
small town, inhabited by the local
Guaraní, but, following the suppression
of the Jesuits, was abandoned in the early
nineteenth century. Rediscovered around
a hundred years ago, the ruins are now
among the best-preserved of their kind
in Latin America, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site with some spectacular
Baroque architecture.
At the entrance, at the northeastern
end of the village, an excellent Centro de
Interpretación Regional looks at the
life of the mission and its Guaraní
inhabitants. Rows of simple viviendas
(stone-built, single-storey living quarters
that once housed Guaraní families)
lead down to a grassy Plaza de Armas,
overlooked by the church that dominates
the site. The roof and most of the interior
have long since crumbled away, but much
of the magnificent facade, designed by
the Italian architect Brazanelli, still stands
and many fine details can be made out.
Twin columns rise either side of the
doorway, and the walls are decorated with
exuberant bas-relief sculpture executed by
Guaraní craftsmen.

ACCOMMODATION
The best accommodation in the village is provided by
a handful of gorgeous posadas: they also provide food
(often on a full-board basis) and organize tours.
Don Justino Hostel T 03773 499 415, E ibertatours
@hotmail.com. Good-quality budget accommodation
with both private rooms and dorms. Rooms h ave a/ c
and pric es includ e breakfast and towels. Dorms AR$70 ,
doubles AR$210
Posada Ypa Sapukai T 03773 420 155, W iberaturismo
.com.ar. The most affordable of the posadas (cost includes
full board/person), this charming lakeside place has a
small pool, lookout tower, impeccable rooms and beautiful
garden. Excursions can be organized for AR$95 upwards.
AR$200

SAN IGNACIO
The riverside town of SAN IGNACIO is
home to one of the major sights of
northern Argentina - the dramatic
remains of the Jesuit missions at San
Ignacio Miní . There's little clue of that
in the centre, though, where this is just
another hot, sleepy town. If you time
the buses right you can visit the missions
and move on the same day, but there
are a couple of other attractions worth
visiting should you be staying longer.
The main street south will lead you past
the Casa de Horacio Quiroga (daily
8am-7pm; AR$10; T 03752 470 124), a
museum to the Uruguayan-born Argentine
writer of Gothic short stories, who made
his home here in the early twentieth
century. The same road continues to
Puerto Nuevo on the Río Parana, a couple

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
By bus There's no bus station as such in San Ignacio, but
all buses drop passengers off at the western end of the
main avenue, Sarmiento.