Corrientes

Capital of Corrientes province, some 30 km southwest of the meeting of the rivers Paraná and Paraguay, the city is mainly a service centre for its agricultural hinterland which produces beef, cotton, tobacco, rice and yerba mate. Although Corrientes is less important transport hub than Resistencia, it is a pleasant place for a stopover. The city centre, with its peaceful traditional streets and squares, is well preserved and its costanerais one of the most attractive in the country. The national capital of Carnival, the city is also famous as the location of Graham Greene's novel The Honorary Consul. In summer the air can oppressively hot and humid, but in winter the climate is pleasant.

Background

Founded in 1588 on the Paraná river, next to seven relatively high puntas, or promontories, by an expedition from Asunción, led by Juan Torres de Vera y Aragón, Corrientes became important as a port on the route between Buenos Aires and Asunción. Numerous shipyards led to the development of a naval industry that endured for centuries. The Guaraní population that inhabited the region were mainly absorbed into the Jesuit missions or became workers for the estancias. They progressively mixed with the Spanish newcomers giving the local society a distinctive character, still evident today in the faces of the inhabitants, and also in the daily use of Guaraní words and a particular accent in the spoken Spanish.

Sights 

The Museo de Artesanías is a large old house with an exhibition of handicrafts made from the most diverse materials imaginable, by indigenous groups, as well as by contemporary urban and rural artisans. Tiny skeleton-shaped images represent San La Muerte, a popular devotion that ensures the bearer a painless death. A large room at the front is a workshop where you can watch the patient work of the local craftspeople. On the east side of the plaza are the Italianate Casa de Gobierno(1881-1886) and the Ministerio de Gobierno. On the south side is the church La Merced, where there are confessionals carved by the indigenous inhabitants of Misiones in the mid-18th century, and a colonial-style altar. The Casa Lagraña, a huge building with three interior patios, built in 1860 for the governor, lies one block south. The Museo Histórico displays among other pieces a collection of religious objects dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Only two blocks north is the Teatro Juan de Vera, a lively cultural centre and a beautiful building itself (1913). Across the road is the Museo de Bellas Artes, a small arts museum with temporary exhibitions and a permanent collection including valuable works by the painters Petorutti, Fader and Quinquela Martín. The quite impressive Iglesia y Convento de San FranciscoIMendoza 450, was rebuilt in 1861 on the site of the original which dated from 1608. Six blocks south of the Plaza 25 de Mayo is the leafy Plaza de la Cruz and opposite, the church ofLa Cruz de los Milagrosthat houses the Santo Madero, a miraculous cross placed by the founder of the city, the miracle occurring, allegedly, when the indigenous residents who tried to burn it were killed by lightning from a cloudless sky. Near the plaza, the Museo de Ciencias Naturales 'Amadeo Bonpland' has a large collection of archaeology and plants with a remarkable display of 5800 insects including a huge wasp nest.

The attractive Avenida Costanera, lined with lapachos and palos borrachos, leads along the Río Paraná from its southwestern end, next to the bridge, toParque Mitre, from where there are good views of sunsets over the river. On the intersection with Junín, there is a small zoo, by the river, with animals from the region.