Whoop whoop?

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Well, that´s how Vanessa has described the village we´re in at the moment! It´s definitely a one horse town but we´re here to see the Jesuit Mission ruins, which are beautiful but also a little eerie. The area of the ruins is no longer used and it almost seems as though the village´s 21st Century population is living in worse accommodation than the converts would have had in the 16th Century. Very strange. Apparently the Jesuits (and their civilised ways) were ousted by the Spanish crown when the ´Misiones´became too successful.

Before arriving here, we visited the Esteros del Ibera - a national wetlands reserve, where we saw wonderful capybara, deer, crocodiles, kingfishers, woodpeckers and thousands of mosquitoes! The locals incorrectly informed us that the mosquitoes there didn´t bite; fortunately I didn´t believe them but despite covering myself in 4 different types of repellent (and dressing like a nun), I´m suffering today! The people in that area generally don´t get married so that the men can have more than one partner! Of course the women are limited to one partner but considering they tend to have around 10 children, I guess one partner is enough! Fortunately the tourism is offering independence to the women, in that those who work at the reserve are no longer financially dependent on the local men.

Our journeys to and from the reserve were both very memorable. On the way there we went by local bus, which took 5 hours to do 100 km because the road was so bad. Two tyres had to be changed on the way because the stones in the road had caused huge holes in the rubber. Instead of repeat that journey on the way out, we decided to splash out on a private 4x4 journey towards the village we´re in now. It was a night drive and not only could we see more stars than I´ve ever seen before but also the clouds were lit up with lightning, there were glowworms all around us and the moon crescent was at the bottom of the moon instead of one of the sides! Absolutely stunning.

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