At the ruins of both communities, which are about 12 kilometres apart, you can get a sense of how life must once have been. The focus of both is the church, in each case a huge imposing building that dominates the area. The natives and the Europeans lived separately and their accommodation was on either side of this church… although I’m sure they didn’t let their god come between them.

Walking around the Jesuit ruins as a tourist was a strange experience. At both places there were only a handful of other visitors. There were no tour groups, no guides, no information signs and no sound. Far from highways and the local villages, you can explore these ruins by yourself in peace.

They are beautiful places – partly for the architecture, partly for the way the colours of the buildings mix with the sky and the forests surround them, and partly for the way that you are able to visit them.