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Up the River Uruguay
29th July 2010
The Río Uruguay divides Argentina and Uruguay. We followed it from Buenos Aires to visit Argentina´s north east. Fist stop Colon. From Mercedes we caught a local bus to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini to visit the wetlands of the Reserva Provincial del Esteros Iberá.
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Further north in the province of Missiones are the Jesuit ruins of San Ignacio Miní, Loreto and Santa Ana. Between 1603 and 1767, the Jesuits founded 30 missions in this part of South America (15 in Argentina, 7 in Brazil and 8 in Paraguay – 7 of them are World Heritage sites). The missions were laid out around a huge central plaza, the church on one side and rows of long houses for the indigenous on the other sides.
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Colón house on the River Uruguay

Mercedes city hall

Local bus to the wetlands

Gaucho waiting for the bus

This is gaucho country

Lots of horses and carts

Scale model of how San Ignacio Miní looked in 1767

How the church once looked

All that remains of the church today

Seahorse shape in the railing

Flooring

The priest´s entrance

Rows of long houses

The jungle is taking over

Not much is left of the Loreto Mission

Strangler fig has a grip on this Loreto wall

Santa Ana church ruins across the huge plaza

Santa Ana ruins in the jungle

Steps led to the church

Original wooden column still visible

The graveyard at Santa Ana

Symbol of La Compañía de Jesús