Deep in the red earth of Misiones, in the north-eastern tip of Argentina, the forest is slowly reclaiming a mission town. Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana was one of the Jesuit reductions, settlements where Jesuit priests gathered the Guaraní people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, partly to protect them from slave raiders and partly to convert them. The towns were laid out around a central plaza with a church, a school, workshops and houses, and the Guaraní built, carved and played music in a form that mixed European baroque with their own skills. Santa Ana, founded in the 1630s, is among the lesser known, and much of it lies in ruin under trees and vines.
Walking through, you see the big stone walls of the church, the foundations of the workshops and the grid of the town, with roots from fig trees climbing the masonry. After the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, the missions emptied and the forest took over. The ruins of San Ignacio Miní, a short drive away, are better preserved and have a visitor centre, while Santa Ana is quieter, and the combination of silence, birdsong and red dust is a good reason to go.
Loreto and Cerro Corá are the nearby villages, both small, with a shop and a few places to eat, so do not count on fuel. Fill up in Posadas, the provincial capital, or in San Ignacio, and carry water. The main road here, Ruta 12, runs along the Paraná river with sweeping views of forests and yerba mate plantations, the leaves dried and sold across the country, and it is a good, smooth road for long, easy riding. Side roads are often dirt, and when it rains the red mud turns slick and heavy, so choose your days.
The climate is humid and subtropical, with hot summers, sudden storms and mosquitoes, and winters are mild but can be wet. April to October is the most comfortable season. Try a gourd of mate with the locals, and do not pass up chipá, a cheesy bread made from cassava flour, which you will find at roadside stalls.