Artwork from the Jesuit
missions
collectively classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. A statue
from the atmospheric ruins of Reduccion Trinidad (left) and a partly
restored chapel ceiling fresco at the San Cosme y Damian reduccion
(right). Note the difference between unrestored faded panels and the
brighter restored panels.
A bridge being built in the rural area
near the Japanese colony of Pirapó. The chief engineer, Señor
Tamai-san (wearing white cap and shirt), was Mitsubishi-trained in
Japan, and voluntarily supervises a work crew of mostly local farm
labourers who benefit from gaining access to the main highway.
Construction funds were obtained from national and international rural
development grants and no outside companies were brought in.
Uruguay
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Colonia del Sacramento
remains the only particularly notable colonial city to visit in the
southern half of South America. Flahes of the flamboyant
Portuguese style liven up the stone buildings in the tiny old
town. Though easily accessible directly from Buenos Aires on a
fast and expensive speedboat, it is much more worthwhile to take the
all-day bus-boat-bus combination which takes you on a cruise through
the splendid Tigre Delta at the mouth of the mighty Paraná River.
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Antique cars like this all
over Colonia
del Sacramento are clearly selling oldness to the tourist market,
consisting mainly of upper class Argentines who come for a relaxing
getaway, and maybe do some banking as well. The wealthiest
Argentines survived their sudden 2001 economic crash unscathed because
they had held their hard currency assets in Uruguayan banks. The
Uruguayan economy crashed later than Argentina's, permitting their
clientele to move their holdings to safety overseas on time.