Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
et and possibly proof of sufficient funds (a credit card may do). You can try going
through without stamping in, but you risk a fine if caught.
You can also visit the ruins from San Ignacio: get the bus to Corpus, then cross
to Paraguay on the ferry (8am to 5pm Monday to Friday). They'll usually let you
pay for a day entry (US$15) so you don't need a visa. Various tour operators in
both Posadas and San Ignacio offer day trips to the Paraguayan ruins.
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San Ignacio
0376 / POP 6300
The best preserved of the Argentine missions, San Ignacio Miní is the central attraction
of this small town north of Posadas. You could visit from Posadas or on your way to
Iguazú, but a better idea is to stay the night. The hotels are comfortable, and you'll have
a chance to check out the excellent sound-and-light show at the ruins. San Ignacio is a
good base for visiting other mission ruins, both in Argentina and Paraguay.
San Ignacio is 56km northeast of Posadas via RN12. From the highway junction Av
Sarmiento leads 1km to the town center, where Rivadavia leads six blocks north to the
ruins.
A TRIUMPH OF HUMANITY
For a century and a half from 1609, a great social experiment was carried out in the
jungles of South America by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Locating them-
selves in incredibly remote areas, priests set up reducciones(missions), where
they established communities of Guaraní whom they evangelized and educated,
while at the same time protecting them from slavery and the evil influences of colo-
nial society. It was a utopian ideal that flourished and led Voltaire to describe it as
'a triumph of humanity which seems to expiate the cruelties of the first conquer-
ors.'
For the Guaraní who were invited to begin a new life in the missions, there were
many tangible benefits, including security, nourishment and prosperity. Mortality
declined immediately and mission populations grew rapidly. At their peak the 30
Jesuit reduccionesthat were spread across what's now Argentina, Brazil and
Paraguay were populated by more than 100,000 Guaraní. Each mission had a min-
imum of Europeans: two priests was the norm, and the Guaraní governed them-
selves under the Jesuits' spiritual authority. The Jesuits made no attempt to force
 
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