The Jesuit Mission at San Ignacio and other Argentinian oddities.

In the late 16th early 17th Centuries there were built in this neck of the woods a whole raft of Jesuit missions which were set up with a real attempt to integrate two very different cultures. Oh if you want the full sp read the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_Reductions Anyway late afternoon with a superb setting sun for photographs we went to the most complete one still standing in Argentina.... Here's the pics:-

The main occupants these days are the lizards, which were all taking advantage of the last sun of the day.

Basically 2 Jesuit priests ran the place with the local indigenous peoples making up a settlement of up to 4000. The local languages and customs were preserved as much as the Jesuits could cope with; (basically full clothes and an end to polygamy. This protected the locals from the endemic slave taking by Portuguese bandits from Brazil. The settlements were, for over 150 years very successful, but then they interfered with the business interests of the Spaniards and were eventually shut down and faded from the planet. A utopian dream whose failure was a real shame.

We returned after dark where a spectacular light show telling the story of the settlements was put on. This had been done with real style. I'm always a little sceptical about these sort of things but this one used modern technology in a totally new way with projectors showing onto walls of fine mist sprayed from trees to create screens that created in the dark of the ruins the most wonderful ghosts of the past,coupled with  perfectly synchronised mp3 translation  for non Spanish speakers made for a wonderful night-cap to our exploration. A new use of modern technology we had not seen before which was really ground breaking.

Two other Argentinian oddities that we have now been here long enough to pass comment:-
1. Dulce-leche.... the national sweet and deemed by all Argentinians to be without doubt the best sweet available on the planet.... We are really talking caramel paste here and it comes in many different forms and given a ghost of a chance is put onto everything. You cannot buy a coffee without being given a dulce-leche biscuit, any Argentinian ice-cream parlour, of which there are many, will serve at least 5 different sorts of dulce leche ice cream, it is put hot onto pancakes and every supermarket has a whole shelf of different sorts. A doughnut filled with it instead of jam came as a bit of a surprise. In our opinion it is much better either hot or cold but is just too sweet when at room temperature.

2. Mate; this is the national drink, and makes the British tea obsession seem non-existent. About 30% of all Argentinians carry round their personal Mate cup at all times, often holding a flask of hot water in the other hand to top up. The seriously obsessive have slung around their necks what looks like a container for the worlds largest pair of binoculars containing a brace of flasks for hot water and a side holder for their mate cup. These look like this:-

Mate seems to be made of dried weeds that are then put into the cup, hot water added and then drunk through the straw which had a filter on the end so you don't get the weeds into your mouth. It is an acquired taste as it seems to taste like weed infusion too.... rather bitter. Argentinians seem to collect mate cups in their travels as every town and place of interest always has whole rows of mate cups for sale, at the Iguazu falls there was even an entire shop given over to mate related souvenirs and we can't see anyone else wanting them! Hot water to fill your flask is available almost on every street corner, bus station and place where people gather, vendors on bikes carrying 40 flasks are an everyday sight.