Iguazú Falls

Iguazú Falls

They were seen for the first time in the year 1541.  Back then, they were given the name of  Santa María Falls, but later the Indian name, "Iguazú", which "Big Water" in the Guaraní language, prevailed.

They are located within the Iguazú National Park, 18 km. away from Puerto Iguazú; they were declared National Estate of Mankind by the UNESCO in 1984.  Following the course of the Iguazú River you can find the falls 22km before it flows into the Paraná River. In the upper part of the falls the river runs forming meanders of varying wide, and it has small islands. As from San Agustín island the river becomes wider, 1,500 meters in its widest part, and forms a big "U", that contains the great fault of the land that origins the falls.  In its great curve, several obstacles, islets, and long islands divide the river in several parts. When they reach the ravine, each of them forms a fall, that all together form the great fan of the Iguazú Falls, formed by 275 falls of different heights (as from 70 meters) and volumes of water, some of them of immense beauty.

Its main falls are: Dos Hermanas, Mitre, Belgrano, Rivadavia, Tres Mosqueteros, San Martín and Bozzetti.

The National Park preserves the lush subtropical vegetation that surrounds the falls.  Two thousand different species of plants: giant trees, ferns, lianas, orchids; and 400 different birds: parrots, hummingbirds, toucans, Yaguaretés, tapirs, capybaras, gato onza (ounce cats), ant bears, and pumas.
 
Moconá  Falls

The Moconá Falls, which means "that swallows everything" in the guaraní language, is one of the wonder of the province of Misiones, a geological fault where the rivers Uruguay, Yabotí, Pepirí Guazú, Serapio and Calixto meet, forming a three kilometer long canyon with falls of water parallel to its bank, different from a regular waterfall, which falls transversally, being up to 20 meters high, and 120 meters deep.  The area is considered a Provincial Park, and it includes the Yabotí biosphere.

It is located 340 km. away from Posadas, and 320 km. away from Iguazú.
Unlike to what usually happens when the bends in the water meet the natural obstacles that they must cross, they erode them and form perpendicular falls to their courses; in this case the river runs parallel over the plateau of the hill all throughout the course and falls by the side.  So its fall does not face the course of the river, but curiously, falls crosswise for almost 2,000 meters.

During the trip, there is a stop at the Cuñá Pirú Valley to see a waterfall of over 70 meters in the upper course of the Cuñá Pirú stream, and then the Provincial Park Enchanted Fall that hosts a colony of odd collar marlets.

Distance from El Soberbio to Posadas: 263 km
 
Jesuitic Debris
 
Declared World Estate by the UNESCO as from the year 1984.  They are formed by 30 towns with more than 100,000 guaraní Indians divided among Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

They are two groups of missions built in the XVIIth century by Spanish priests, in order to  teach the Gospel to the Indians.  The first one is in Argentina, near the towns of Santa Ana, Loreto, and San Ignacio Miní, the most important one.

In Loreto, as in Santa Ana, which have not been restored, was the printing house where the first books edited in Argentina were printed.  The second group is located in Brazil, in Santo Angelo and Sao Miguel das Missoes.

Regarding the San Ignacio Miní debris; it was built in 1632, and in a short period of time it became a real town, with a church, monastery, kitchens, lodgings, and workshops. The yellowish-gray  of the stones contrasts with the green of the surrounding vegetation, and above all, the incredible proportions of the old mission, and especially of the church, over 60 meters long, shock you. The architecture style is the same in all the Jesuitic constructions, a combination of the colonial baroque with Indian elements of the guaraní culture.

Soon after the missionaries started their work in the areas of the Paraná and Guayrá, they continued to found towns up to the watershed of the Uruguay River, and then to the Tape and the Itatin. The Indians were reduced to groups that adopted, together with their teachings, the Gospel, work habits, and social organization ideas.  But the populations near the Guayrá couldn't  resist the attacks caused by the "mamelucos" or "bandeirantes" (inhabitants of Sao Paulo, now Brazil) whose object was to capture Indians to sell them as slaves.

In only four years 1627 - 1631, they destroyed nine towns, and 60,000 Indians were sold as slaves.  This led Father Antonio Ruiz Montoya to organize the exodus of the rest of the inhabitants in those towns.  A great fleet of canoes transporting more than 12,000 people along the Paraná River came to port in1631, after having suffered all kinds of catastrophes, in the margins of the Yabebiry Stream, and so the towns of Loreto and San Ignacio Miní were founded, in the land that now belongs to Argentina.

To those towns, other were added, that had had to emigrate from the Tape for the same reason (1634 - 1636), and from the Itatin (1669). So a great part of the activity in Misiones concentrated all along the margins of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.

Las Marías  
 
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Las Marías was a little ranch in the North East of the province of Corrientes.  In 1924, Víctor Navajas Centeno planted the first "yerba mate trees" in the area. And this is the beginning of a story that would grow through the years.

In 1950, the company started growing tea. And ten years later, the selection of the plants and the vegetative reproduction began, achieving a high quality product, internationally evaluated.

As far as the "yerba mate" is concerned, the thorough selection that is applied to the reproduction since 1956, enables to obtain of the best seeds.  Today, Las Marías is the most important "yerba mate" producer in the world and a renowned specialist in infusions.

Taragüi, Unión, La Merced, Mañanita and Punta de Oro are the brands of the products it produces, and also the result of the natural and permanent growth of a company in constant development.

PUERTO IGUAZU

Located in the North corner of the Province of Misiones, bordering with Brazil and Paraguay, it was built in the convergence of the Paraná and Iguazú Rivers.  Its port has an intense exchange with Puerto Meira (Brazil), it is a typical border zone, with different people going in and out depending on where the money exchange is more favorable.  Its great tourist has made it the fourth highly populated town in the province.
Through the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, Puerto Iguazú is connected to Brazil and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.
It gathers an important net of tourist services of international level, and from there you can go on different excursions and visits to the Iguazú National Park, and to the Falls, which, considered one of the seven wonders in the world for their natural magnificence and its great vegetation, overwhelm the whoever has the chance to visit them.
The Iguazú International Airport is 17 km. away, and the appearance of new neighborhoods give a special appearance to this town.
It forms a natural balcony facing Brazil over the Iguazú River, and Paraguay through the Alto Paraná, the sight is especially interesting from the viewpoint located in the Hito Argentino (a place in this town that must be visited), where the Iguazú and Paraná Rivers meet.

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Distances from Puerto Iguazú
Cataratas del Iguazú: 17 Km
Foz do Iguaçú (Brasil): 6 Km
Represa Itaipú (Brasil): 18 Km
Ruinas de San Ignacio : 246 km
Posadas : 306 km
Saltos del Moconá : 390 km
Buenos Aires: 1284 Km
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WANDA MINES

The Wanda Mines are open ski deposits of precious and half precious stones.
Here you can appreciate the works done with these stones, bijou, decorative objects, sculptures, and countless crafts.  A real show of colors visited by tourists from all over the world.
Four veins of mineral deposits have been found in the Argentine territory, in the cities of Wanda and Libertad;  Wanda is the better positioned one for the services that offers to the tourist, and the one that receives more tourists.  It was accidentally discovered in 1976, in one of the streams where people used to wash their clothes.  This city was conquered by Polish immigrants who named the city Wanda, after a princess of their country.
The most commonly found stones are rock crystal, amethyst, and quartz.
The tour begins with the visit to one of the most important veins, still being exploited.  There you can see first the quarry, the great mass of natural basaltic rock and the crystals it has.