To quote the Lonely Planet : "For a century and a half from 1609 one of the worlds great social experiments was carried out in the jungles of South America by the Society of Jesus ( the Jesuits). Locating themselves in incredibly remote areas, priests set up missions where they established communities of Guarani whom they evangelized and educated while at the same time protecting them from slavery".
At their peak, the 30 Jesuit missions across what is now Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay were self sufficient and populated by more than 100,000 Guarani, with only about 2 priests per mission. In 1767 for various reasons, King Carlos 111 of Spain banished the Jesuits. The communities then rapidly fell apart.
Very little remains of most of the missions but across the Parana River From Posadas, Ar. there are two remarkably preserved ruins in Paraguay. Just the name of the river dissuades one from trying to swim across. Canadians need a visa for Paraguay. This seems pretty straight forward until you find out that the Paraguayan Consulate in Posadas Argentina only accepts US$ in payment. We had no US$ and it is illegal for the banks in Argentina to sell US$. (They publish buy and sell rates but do not sell ???). So off to another dodgy place to exchange funds while looking over your shoulder.
After clearing the border, it became rapidly apparent that Paraguay was much less affluent than Argentina and Chile. The bus we hopped to go to the first ruin was totally decrepit. We finally got there and ended up hiring a "Tuk-tuk" to visit the second site. On the way back to the border on another bus, we almost had to get out and push to climb one hill.
The mission sites (both Unesco world heritage designated) were extremely impressive, both in size and state of preservation, especially since they were abandoned in 1767. The churches the Jesuits built were huge - we'd call them cathedrals. Much stonework decoration has also survived. A very interesting day.
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