We came to see old stones but saw young ladies

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Now that I have your attention let me start from the beginning.

As I mentioned in the previous blog I wanted to take a bus to Asuncion which is the capital of Paraguay. As it goes with plans they are made to be changed and so I did. I met a polish guy at the bus terminal in Montevideo and he had the plan to get off in the first city in Paraguay to see some old Jesuit ruins. As I didn’t want to see another city I decided to go along with him. We got dropped off in Encarnacion at 3am in the morning after 15 hours on the bus. The bus ride itself wasn’t that bad at all and we even got lunch and dinner. The latter was served late as usual at 10.30 pm! including super sweet coffee

As you can imagine we were in quite a state and were happy that we were still able to get a room at that time of the night. The same morning after breakfast of dry bread rolls and coffee we went of to see the Jesuit ruins.
If you’re wondering who the Jesuits are here is my explanation. Jesuits were a all men catholic group which set out into the world to provide the natives with the "benefit" of western civilization
(including all the diseases) and religion in exchange for their traditional way of living and believes. Not sure if that was a fair deal. Anyway while doing this they also build some quite amazing monasteries, got quite rich (wonder where they got the money from) which attracted the attention of others. As the story goes they were forbidden a while after and they left the monasteries to be rediscovered. Have a look at the pics. At least they knew how to build solid which cannot be said about the present day Paraguayans. The monastery in the pictures was founded in 1706 and by 1728 it already had a population of over 4000 local people.

Now to the more interesting bit the Carnival. Unbeknown to us the local Carnival was also happening at the same day. Originally we had the plan to go back to Argentina on the same day but that plan was also forgotten and we stayed for one more night. Not sure how I can describe what was going on so I use simple words. “Lots of girls in next to nothing wiggling their bums for 5 hours” is I think a fair description.

Have a look at the pictures (bet you did already) and you see what I mean. I don’t know where the girls hide during the day as you hardly see any pretty ones while the sun is up. Unfortunately it is looking only and you cannot participate (and not touch :).
Enough of the words have a look at the pics and you will see what I mean.

More pics of the Carnival can be seen here

Next stop Iguazu falls.

This is where Paraguay is

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