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Our 6 hour drive to San Ignacio yesterday (Thursday),via the 'short route' took us along soft sand roads, bumpy earth roads, and finally, onto asphalt - hurray! The truck didn't get stuck, or broken, so we didn't have to do any digging, or pushing, and we made good time. We even stopped for a picnic lunch at a service station with an area of grass and a brick built BBQ (don't think health and safety would allow that combination of fire and petrol in England!) There were several goats tethered to old car tyres scattered around the grassy area, and we weren't sure if they were there to eat up the rubbish, or to go on the BBQ. It turned out they wouldn't eat leftover bread, tomatoes or even apple cores, so I thought the odds were stacked against them!
When we arrived in San Ignacio, we had a guided tour of the ruins of the Jesuit Mission which was founded here in 1650. It was one of 30 built in this area of Argentina which is close to the borders of Paraguay and Brasil. In exchange for being converted to Catholicism, over 40,000 Guarani Indians moved into the Mission, where they were protected from the Spanish and Portuguese slave hunters, who regularly raided their villages. They lived in family long-houses, worked on the Mission farm, growing hierba maté, and received an education (boys only!). There was separate accommodation for widows and orphans, and they even had their own cemetery. But as the guide said, only healthy people were allowed to be buried there (!) Anyone who died of an epidemic was taken far away and cremated.
In the evening we went out for a meal with the rest of the group, probably the best one of the trip so far. I had a giant homemade pizza with heaps of garlic as I've come down with a rotten cold, which is pretty annoying, but hopefully it'll be gone before we get to the Andes where I'll need my breathing to be in tip top condition!
Our trip today, to Puerto Iguazu was only about 3 hours, so we didn't have to leave until 10.30 and when we got here we had an afternoon of relaxation. The accommodation blocks are like chalets (Butlins, not Swiss), but very nice inside. There are two pools, a shop and a restaurant in the grounds, which are all landscaped with tropical plants and trees. There's a massive Indian Fig tree outside our room, so I'm hoping to see a Toucan before we leave. Tomorrow we go to the Iguazu falls, and then over the border into Brasil. It'll only be a distance of a few miles, but we go forward an hour and will then only be 3 hours ahead. Apparently tomorrow night there's an option of going to a 'show', with a buffet supper and cabaret, with dancers from Paraguay, Argentina and Brasil. After Tony being so traumatised by the Cook Islands 'Island Night' extravaganza, I think it would be more than he could cope with, but I might go, just to see what it's like, (and maybe to drink a Capiriñha or two)..... Goodnight.
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