The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - The Jesuit Ruins - San Ignacio mini

One of the must sees close to Posadas are the Jesuit ruins, I will not write the whole story, but only tell you that this small cities founded by the Jesuits in the 1600s were built with the latest knowledge at the time in Europe and housed thousands of natives.

Only 50 clicks away from posadas you can catch several buses from the Bus Terinal that will get you there in less than an hour, I do recommend spending the day and visiting the other two missions even if they are in a more ruin like state than San Ignacio that was partially reconstructed.

 

The Trip to Misiones - Back to Posadas via Obera

Since my bus from El Soberbio left at 2am I decided to stop by Obera which is the second largest city in Misiones. It was one of those horrible rainy days when it pours continuosly.Also remember that Misiones sits on the tropic of Capricorn, so when it rains its abundant
Never the less I did enjoy Obera, there are several atractions worth visiting, specially when the weather is fair

The Trip to Misiones - Mocona Falls - The Falls

Once you are in the Park you will be driven to the edge of the river where you can board the small boat that will take you along the river to Falls Mocona which are unique because they run the length of the river for to 2-3 kilometers.
Dividing the Uruguay There is a fault line spliting it in half. When water levels are low, the water from one-half of the river crashes down into the lower half of the fault line, During dry season, the falls can reach up to 8 meters

Mocona is the original name in Guarani which translates to “that which swallows everything. "Actually at the length of the river between Argentina and Brazil, the water gushes with such force that it’s as if it’s swallowing everything around it.

Since visibility depends on the water level, you should check the forecast and ring the Park to make sure it is not closed, either due to drought or excessive rain.

The Trip to Misiones - Mocona Falls - " Parque ¨Provincial Mocona"

The Mocona Provincial Park in Misiones is a protected area which encompasses the area where the falls sit.

It comprises more than 1000 hectares of sub tropical jungle and it is right at the border with Brazil which shares the Mocona falls with Argentina.

There are tree main paths on which you can go walking and then the boat that takes you along the Paraná river where you can see the falls from the rivers view.
On the Brazilian side you can see the falls from above.

Along the paths you¨ll get to enjoy native flora and fauna and if you go at the right time, millions of Butterflies of an array of colours.

The Trip to Misiones - Mocona Falls - From "EL Soberbio" to Mocona Falls

Once you made it to "El Soberbio"you still have 70 clicks to go to get to the "Parque Provincial Mocona" where the falls are.
When I was there there were few options, maybe paying an outrageous price to go by taxi or walking, there were no regular bus services from the city to the Park.
So thanks to the owner of the Hostel in Posadas I managed to get in touch with the staff that work at the park and get a ride on the van that goes back and forth to the park to bring them there.
I did pay a fare, but it certainly was very little compared to any of the means of transport.

The Trip to Misiones - Mocona Falls - El soberbio - where to stay

There are many lodges to stay outside El Soberbio, most require some type of transport. But if for some reason you are stuck in the city with no mobility.

I do recommend the place I stayed, called Guaramboca, located at Avenida San Martin 699, right beside the biggest super market called "Ceferino Rodriguez".
It isn't a luxury hotel but it is pretty comfy with all the commodities for a night stay.

The Trip to Misiones - Mocona Falls - El soberbio

 

After an 8 hr trip I arrived at "El Soberbio" a town which I thought would be more rustic, but that thanks to being border with Brazil benefits from the trade of a Border city.

There is not really much to see but the town is quite tidy and sports some mega supermarkets and wine store that acomodate Brasilian who cross over for meat, wine and gas that is cheaper on this side.

It also has a a small "Costanera" or river side walk from which you can see neighbouring Brazil and the boats that go back and forth bringing people and goods. At the time I went there the border was closed due to Covid, so it probably was contraband being crossed.
There was something curious about "El Soberbio" and that was that most of the people are bilingual in Spanish and Portuguese, but some use Portuguese as their first language even though they are Argentine, something I have not seen in other cities.

The Trip to Misiones - Mocona Falls - From Posdas to El Soberbio

So, one of my in province trips in Misiones was going to Mocona falls, so I took the bus which has really crappy times and is very slow, basically leaves at 10am and arrives at 7pm.This can be avoided by renting a car or paying a ridiculous price for an excursion.

The buses are comfy and cheap, and considering that rainy days in misiones are an all day non stop event, I took advantage and did my travelling back and forth on rainy days.The buses leave from the Posadas bus terminal which can be accesed by bus otr taxi.

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - Encarnacion

As Posadas sits on the southern shore of the Parana River, the city of Encarnación in Paraguay sits on the northern shore.
Both cities are in sight of each other and can be accesed walking, by car bus or train. In pre covid times it was very easy, now with covid restrictions it can be harder.
people from both sides regularly come and go to buy cheaper goods on both sides.


If you cross from Argentina to Paraguay you might be interested in tasting some typical Paraguayan food or some junky electronics or gadgets that are cheaper on the Paraguay side.

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - Duomo - Ice cream

Posadas is generally more warm than cold, and during the summer it can get pretty sticky, so no wonder you have ice cream parlours all over the city, now unlike Buenos Aires where you have a variety of chains and franchises, in Posadas and most other cities in Misiones the king of the hill is Duomo which has a very good ice cream in quality and cost.

I have visited several of its stores in various trips and was always satisfied with the quality of the product. I do not know why there are no competitors, except some small ones which I was not very impressed with.

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - where to eat "Itakua"

Most of the better restos in Posadas are located along the riverside walk or "Costanera". On one of my daily sunset photo wals I spotted "Itakua" which means "Cave " in Guarany Language.

The place is quite nice and has an outdoor deck with wee to the river, they specialize in pizza but also have a variety of fish and meat dishes, when I was there they had a discount on weekday evenings with 40% off on pizza and drinks, which definitely caught my eye, since I paid less than the cost of a greasy burger, so I wnt there twice and was very satisfied both times.

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - where to stay

In Posadas you will find a range of very fancy Hotels for a cheap price but with the coldness typical of those establishments.
I generally crash at Hostels not only cuz they are cheap, or that I just need a clean bed and shower cuz I spend all day roaming around, but also for the intel provided by local people that own those places.
Last time I was in Posadas most of the Hostels where closed due to COVID, I was referred to " Como en Casa Hostel" located at Junin 2129, close to Plaza San Martin which is one of Posada´s main parks.
Gotta tell you that is pretty basic but comfy and its owner Mauricio is a great guy who set me up with contacts to all the places that I wanted to visit.

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - Balneario El Brete

If you keep walking on the riverside walk or "Costanera "in Posadas you will wrap arround one of the small peninsulas and end up in one of the city´s beaches.



The "Balneario el Brete" is a nice beach at the shores of the Parna river, a greta place to rferesh from athe heat, take great sunset shots and pose at the I´ve been there sign with the name of the city.

 

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas - La Costanera

Posada's biggest feature is definitely its River side walk or Costanera, which spans the whole peninsula shaped city.

At its peak at sunset or sunrise in that order, or for a walk with some breeze from the Parana River at anytime of the day.

The Trip to Misiones - Posadas

As I said Poasdas is Misione´s province´s capital, warm year round, you probably wanna go there in between April and September which are the coldest months in Argentina, but not in Misiones.

I was there once in August and now in September and the weather was great. The city sits at the edge of the Parana River and can be very humid, on the other side of the river is Paraguay and the city of Encarnacion.

Posadas is the larges city of the province with 300k inhabitants and is the seat of the administration of the province. The city was originally founded as part of a series of Jesuit city´s in the area to evangelize the natives and create trade routes.

The city is very ethnically diverse with its native Guarani, polish, Ukrainian, Spanish and even Japanese and  Laotians.

the trip to Misiones- how to get there

Misiones is one of Argentina´s northern provinces home to the famous Iguazu falls, and border with Paraguay and Brazil.
You can go there by land or air, even by boat if you have the time.

I flew on Air Bondy, Argentina´s only low cost Airline, if you time it right you can get real good deals.

After a two hour flight you land at Posadas airport, which is not far from the citya nad you can catch a public transport bus that gets you there in 20 minutes.

Long weekend in Posadas - Sunrise in the Parana River

On my last morning in Posadas I tried to dash across to Encarnación so I woke up at 5am and wanted to take the first train across to Encarnación, Unfortunately the train does¨nt not work weekends and holidays, something that any where else in the world would be ridiculous, but somehow in Argentina things work differently.

Anyway I found out that the train was not working and tried to catch a bus across, but since my plane took off at 11 y did´nt take the risk (this time).
But instead I got to watch a magnificent sunrise at the Parana River.

Long weekend in Posadas - Icecream in Posadas

As any norther city in Argentina i was expecting to find many Ice cream places, but it was´nt the case in Posadas, nevertheless there are enough.

One of them being Duomo which has many branches and I fount its ice cream to be very good and at a descent price.

Long weekend in Posadas - Costanera de Posadas

Now in Posadas the "Costanera" is where everithing happens, be it walk and see the sunrise or sunset in the River or go to eat or drink something.

stretching basically around the whole city it is beautifully iluminated at night with a gret view of neighbouring "Encarnación" in Paraguay.

Long weekend in Posadas -

Another good thing bout Argentina is that it has all the climates all year round, while most of the population crows up in the province of Buenos Aires, you also have the Northern and southern provinces with climate that ranges from tropical, desertic and Arctic, so it allows you to flee the humid cold in winter and the heat in summer.
And so I did in the Long weekend in June, while it was rainy and cold in Buenos Aires, I ran up to the northern province of Misiones which borders Paraguay and Brazil.

Thanks to Low cost airlines I went from my appartment in Palermo to downtown posadas in 4 hrs door to door (posadas is 1000 clicks away) having travelled by bus,train,plane and bus again.