Unesco World Heritage Site: San Ignacio Miní, founded by Jesuits in 1696, today only consists of ruins

Source: Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The Misiones region

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The Argentine province of Misiones in the north-east of the country is rarely mentioned in the German media.

The last headlines date from 2015, when archaeologists found house ruins overgrown by the jungle, including German coins from 1943 and smashed Meissen porcelain.

A Nazi hiding place, possibly.

Then as now, Misiones is sparsely populated and densely forested.

They are the last remnants of the Atlantic rainforest, which holds 52 percent of Argentina's biodiversity.

With the national park around the Iguazú waterfalls, only a small part of the country is under protection.

But Misiones signed the New York Forest Declaration from the 2014 special climate summit, which obliges to preserve and reforest.

Since then, the region has been involved in the expansion of a “Green Corridor” reaching as far as Mexico as a habitat for jaguars - and for this purpose it is expanding the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve on the Uruguay River.

A still unspoilt landscape that offers travelers something unique with the Moconá Falls, because they run parallel to the river due to a geological peculiarity - and are three kilometers long.

Source: Infographic Die Welt

Ruins of the world heritage site are reminiscent of the Jesuits

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Before his pontificate, Jorge Mario Bergoglio often visited the World Heritage Site of San Ignacio Miní in Misiones.

In 2013 Bergoglio became Pope Francis, and the Argentine has not been home since then.

Which is all the more astonishing as the 84-year-old is a Jesuit and thus belongs to the order that founded San Ignacio Miní in 1696.

In 1610 the Jesuits began to evangelize the Guaraní on the Río Paraná (hence the province name) and to settle them in "reductions", which can be translated as "reunions".

And that also to protect against slave hunters who persecuted Indians baptized despite the royal decree of 1607.

There were a dozen settlements in Misiones;

their economic success quickly aroused envious people.

In 1767 the Spaniards drove all Jesuits out of the country under the pretext of being a “state within a state”.

In 1790 200 of the 2000 Indians were still living in San Ignacio Miní, in 1810 none.

The jaguar is the star in the jungle

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In Misiones there is one jaguar for every 12,000 inhabitants - statistically;

But locals and tourists will hardly ever get to see South America's largest big cat.

The animals are considered shy and hunt mainly at night.

For a long time their existence could only be estimated;

Camera traps and tracking techniques have only been in use for a few years.

Jaguars are easy to distinguish on the basis of their coat pattern;

we know that there are currently 104 big cats roaming the jungle.

In 2008 there were half as many.

The protective measures are apparently working.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), around 64,000 jaguars live in the wild.

Misiones wants to be home to at least 250 animals by 2030.

Jaguars are shy - the chance of meeting them is slim

Source: Getty Images / Joe McDonald

Argentina and Brazil share the Iguazú Falls

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They are Misiones' greatest asset: The Iguazú Falls in the north of the province, where the Rio Iguazú separates Argentina from Brazil.

The border runs in the middle of the river and also divides the waterfalls.

Tourists usually visit both sides;

the Brazilian one offers the best view of the terraced cliffs, on which the Iguazú falls in 20 large and 250 smaller streams.

On the other hand, anyone approaching the falls from Misiones will experience the spectacle up close, as visitors can walk along the edge of the rock (the Argentine one is 1900 meters twice as long as the Brazilian one).

Footbridges lead to the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo), where the water swirls in a U-shaped funnel and falls 80 meters deep.

A mystical place in the spray where the Guaraní once gave their dead.

The Iguazú Falls in the north of the Misiones province are an exhilarating experience for tourists

Source: Getty Images

The Park of Nations brings together cultures from all over the world

If the world were a village, it could look like Oberá: 60,000 inhabitants from around 70 nations live next door to one another in a place with a grid-shaped road network.

The structural rigor goes back to immigrants from Northern and Central Europe who founded Oberá in 1928 in the north of Misiones.

A settlement with a pull, because Eastern Europeans, Asians and Arabs soon followed.

This diversity is unusual even in the immigration country Argentina, which is why the city opened the Parque de las Naciones in 1997.

It is a kind of festival ground for the Fiesta Nacional del Inmigrante, the national festival of immigrants, which takes place every September.

The 120,000 visitors are

entertained

in

Casas típicas

: cheese fondue in the Swiss chalet, bratwurst in the German half-timbered house, tabbouleh in the Arab riad, pizza in the Italian loggia - there are two dozen country pavilions in the park.

There are also culinary delights from pre-colonial times such as Chipá So'o, filled corn bread - in the Mbyá Guaraní, the indigenous house.

In the Parque de las Naciones in Oberá, the Fiesta Nacional del Inmigrante takes place every September

Source: Leandro Kibisz

Gemstones and frozen gas bubbles

The conquistadors were looking for gold, today precious stones lure: most of the amethysts traded worldwide come from South America;

Misiones also benefits from the minerals for tourism: in addition to amethysts, rock crystals, topazes and agates can be found in the Wanda mines.

What is really special: solidified gas bubbles, so-called almond stones, lie on the ground or a few meters below.

Minas de Wanda is thus a kind of ground-level visitor mine.

It goes without saying that Wanda's jewelry shop is well stocked.

Minas de Wanda: Solidified gas bubbles, so-called almond stones, lie on the ground or a few meters below

Source: picture alliance / © Bruce Coleman / Photoshot

The Mbyá lead vacationers through the jungle

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3000 Mbyá live in Misiones according to the tourist office.

The indigenous people belong to the Guaraní, who are native to the south of the Amazon basin.

In the 6500 hectare Yabotí Biosphere Reserve, there are two Mbyá communities - Mbororé and Yriapú - that introduce visitors to Indian culture.

On guided tours, indigenous guides show how the Mbyá survive in the jungle.

Tourism is an important source of income for the Mbyá.

The quote

"Those who drink mate will come back"

The Argentine proverb has a special meaning in Misiones, because the region is the main producer of the beverage extract in South America, which is obtained from the leaves of the mate bush (

Ilex paraguariensis

).

A part of the annual production of 250,000 tons is exported - as a lemonade additive.

In Argentina, where mate is the national drink at 6.8 kilograms per person per year, the caffeinated leaves are infused with hot water or with ice-cold water - the drink is then called tereré.

A portion of leaves can be poured over 20 times without losing its stimulating effect.

In Argentina it is said: "If someone offers you a cup of mate tea, they offer you their heart and friendship." To refuse would be an insult.

In Argentina, mate is the national drink

Source: Getty Images

Quirky, record-breaking, typical: you can find more parts of our regional geography series here.