After seeing all there was to see in the Iguazu National Park on both it's sides, that is in Argentina and Brasil, we still had a couple of days left there and we decided to use one of them to make a small trip to the jesuit ruins scattered all over the province of Misiones. The ruins are situated not exclusively in Argentina. There were many that were built on the territory of todays Uruguay and Brasil, but the ones that are most famous are in Argentina. We had several options to choose from, including a tourist (yuck!) bus ride with a complete package, but after a rather short discussion we decided that it suits us better to rent a car and do the trip on our own, thus allowing us to be masters of our time. To be honest the costs are quite similar, so unless you're a big fan of having a tour guide with a clear superiority complex, I would advise you to seriously ponder renting a car too.
The one who was the most happy about this idea was - of course - Niki, who by then had been eyeing all passing cars with a crazed look that contained a mixture of nostalgia, envy and racing confidence of Michael Schumacher. If you ever want to be on good terms with her, never (and I mean NEVER) try to question Niki's driving skills. In the end you'll do as you please, but don't call me then asking to cover the expenses of any (or all) of your broken limbs, let alone moral damage - you have been warned. The car rental guy asked who will be driving the car, to which Niki innocently pointed her finger at my mom. In theory only my mom was supposed to drive it, but in the end she drove not more that 200 m back to our hostel, where Niki took over the command and we headed south. At considerable velocity, I might add.
Our target was the town of San Ignacio, where the biggest complex of preserved jesuit mission is situated. The distance from Puerto Iguazu is of roughly 230 kilometers (which is a stone's throw by argentinean standards). During the drive we had our first (out of a couple more to follow) perplexing encounter with local gandarmes, who for reasons unknown to us organized a small checkpoint, but after all we are all entitled to some fun, aren't we? Either way, while approaching the checkpoint we were not quite sure what a couple of guys in uniforms standing here and there on the road expected us to do. Slow down? Stop? Niki's bet was to drive through at 60 km/h, but it seems to have been the wrong one. One of the gandarmes gave a signal to stop and patiently asked Niki, if she intended to kill any of them at that speed. Then smiled understandingly at waved to proceed. This situation illustrates perfectly why I don't have a driving license: we would just get into trouble, thats why. But a pretty foreigner chick (who just happens to be the driver too) is all that's needed to trigger a sense of mercy in all the seasoned law enforcers you might meet on your way.
We carried along the way occasionally checking our bearings on a touristic flyer map. It also served us to find out that there are some cool places along the road, where we can go for a swim, but mysteriously we always managed to pass the right turn. Soon enough my mom spotted some booths decorated with signs "Mango", where they were selling pineapples... not mangos. A thorough inspection of one of the booths confirmed that indeed no mango was to be found. Eventually though, we managed to find one that sold mango and we stopped there. I bought a couple of them and asked the guy if there were some places of interest around, to which he replied that 6 km from where we were, there was a place called Gruta India (which translates to "Indian Cave"). We took the opportunity to explore his advice and indeed - after driving about 6 km more on a dirt road we arrived to a pleasant camping stretched under blissful shade of trees, but no indian cave in sight. To enter the camping we had to contribute to local tourism with 5 peso (1 euro) and so we did. Then we found this:
Hmm.. yes, we've seen it in the movies too. So after all the mango guy proved to be the most reliable tourist information so far. It was clear that we were about to spend a couple of hours in this little piece of paradise, so we looked for a way to approach it conveniently and without braking legs, and jumped into the water to cool off.
The cave itself was quite impressive, spacious and it was evident that whoever lived there (most likely indians) must have been rather happy there. It actually made me feel like ripping off my clothes, making a stone knife and settle there for good, make children in amounts that would provide me with my own football team etc. Of course Niki has different opinion about this project, but luckily for me this blog is in my absolute power mwahahahaha!
After staying there for a couple of hours we consumed the mango and left the place convinced that it was worth to go there.
In an hour or so we arrived to San Igancio, making only a brief stop to eat something at a small drive-by place, where we managed to pull the service out of their afternoon nap and cook us a meal, which consisted of huge burgers and milanesas. This was the place where we also came up with the next great business idea - there you go: travels do inspire!
In San Igancio the weather became a bit less optimistic - it seemed like rain. You don't have to spend a particularly long time in Argentina to be able to tell the weather. When the air is hot and humid and there are grey - or at least not friendly looking - clouds over your heard it means you have max one hour to look for shelter. And I don't mean a small bullshit european rain, but RAIN. Big one. In our case we had some 30 minutes to see the ruins, which - of course - is not enough, so we ended up wet. Curiously enough, on the way back all stayed in their wet clothes except me (known for my exhibitionistic tendencies), and dried up much earlier. In the end I put on my wet shirt and let it dry on my as drying separated from my hot body (mwahahaha!) clearly didn't bring the desired results. Below you can marvel at some pictures from San Ignacio mission.
Basically while we were taking these photos rain was already dripping on your heads. 10 minutes later we were standing under a tree, about half way from the ruins to the museum wondering if the protection it provided would be sufficient. It wasn't - we all got completely wet, but all in all it was fun. The original plan was to go to see another complex in Santa Ana, but the rain crossed that plan, so we returned to Puerto Iguazu.
1 comment:
Thanks for the sexy waterfall shot. Looks like life is gooooooooooood!
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