The Ruins of San Ignacio
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
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41
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Trip End
Sep 07, 2006
San Ignacio, Argentina
Friday, July 14, 2006
Last Wednesday we drove from Iguazu to the San Ignacio ruins. The drive was about 280kms but took a lot longer as we were driving along the border road, we went through about 20 immigration checkpoints. The area is known as Missiones after the Jesuit missions that set up in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the 1600s. In all there are about 40 different sites to visit in the countries. We chose San Ignacio as it is one of the better preserved sites. When the Jesuits arrived into the area they established walled towns where all functions were carried out within the confines of the area. Within the site you can still see the ruins of the houses, church, work area, orchards, school etc.
The little town around the ruins was very typical for the area. The people were quite poor and we were followed around by little kids wanting to mind our car and begging for money. We gave a little boy some money to look after the car and of course he was nowhere to be seen when we returned!
Back to Buenos Aires last Thursday.
Love Lisa and Paul x
