Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
10am-4pm)
. There is a frequent bus service south to Córdoba (AR$52, three hours),
stopping at all towns on the RN38, and long-distance service to Buenos Aires.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Jesús María
03525 / POP 31,600
Sleepy little Jesús María earns its place on the map by being home to one of the most at-
mospheric Jesuit
estancias
in the region - the Unesco-listed
Museo Jesuítico Nacional
de Jesús María
( 03525-420126; admission AR$10, Tue free; 8am-9pm Tue-Fri)
. The
church and convent were built in 1618 and are set on superbly landscaped grounds. The
Jesuits, after losing their operating capital to pirates off the Brazilian coast, sold wine
they made here to support their university in colonial Córdoba. The museum has good ar-
chaeological pieces from indigenous groups throughout Argentina, informative maps of
the missionary trajectory and well-restored (though dubiously authentic) rooms.
Jesús María is also home to the annual
Fiesta Nacional de Doma y Folklore
(
www.festival.org.ar
)
, a 10-day celebration of gaucho horsemanship and customs beginning
the first weekend of January. The festival draws crowds from all over the country - and
accusations of animal cruelty from animal-rights groups, who argue that whipping horses
and making them perform acrobatics in front of noisy crowds under bright lights is tan-
tamount to torture.
Most people do Jesús María as a day trip from Córdoba. Frequent minibuses (AR$19,
one hour) leave Córdoba's Mercado Sud terminal and bus terminal daily.
WORTH A TRIP
ESTANCIA SANTA CATALINA
One of the most beautiful of the Sierra's Unesco World Heritage sites, the Jesuit
AR$15; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Sun, closed Jan, Feb, Jul & Semana Santa)
, some 20km north-
west of Jesús María, is a quiet, tiny place, where the village store occupies part of
the estancia,and old-timers sit on the benches outside and watch the occasional
gaucho ride past on a horse. Much of the estanciais off-limits to visitors, but
guided
tours
(each site AR$10)
are available, taking in the chapel, cloisters and noviti-
ate, where unmarried slave girls were housed.
