Blogs from Encarnacion, Paraguay, South America - page 2

Paraguay seems to be a bit of an enigma. I’m still not quite sure what I make of the place - certainly very different to all the other South American nations. Few tourists make the effort to visit the country, yet this is undoubtedly one of the main appeals for me. The lack of basic tourist infrastructure (hostels, public transport to the more isolated sites of interest) is a bit of an annoyance, but Paraguay seems to be more authentic than the more touristy areas nearby in Argentina or Brazil. It’s the only country in South America to have an indigenous language as an official language (Guaraní), and the towns (at first sight) seem less filled with American superbrands like McDonalds. The crossing from Posadas to the Paraguayan city of Encarnación was, as all border crossings ... read more

Desde os tempos da faculdade de História que tenho vontade de conhecer as missões jesuíticas. Várias vezes planejei ir com meus amigos até São Miguel Arcanjo, no Rio Grande do Sul, pra ver de perto as ambições dos padres que chegaram ao Brasil no século XVIII e aqui pretenderam criar uma sociedade cristã utópica. Mas até hoje essa viagem não saiu, então tive que ir sozinha conhecer as missões paraguaias. Foi uma viagem meio estranha, meio incomum (por causa da falta de estrutura turística do país), mas nem por isso menos interessante. 1º DIA(sábado, 16/01) Comecei o dia saindo de Posadas, na Argentina, e indo até a cidade de Encarnación, do outro lado da fronteira. Como sai cedo do albergue, tive que tomar café na rua - e como estava sem dinheiro, tive que me contentar ... read more

Everyone on the bus got off at the immigracion on the Argentine side, people were running out of the bus to be ahead of the queue, i just followed them, it took no more than 5 minutes for me to be processed, then boarded the same bus which luckily was still there. It was quite full and tried to get on it at the back door, a group of women were blocking the way up so i had to force myself at the door, polite words such as desculpe and por favor, did not work so i forced myself in and said excuse me , thank you! after, I heard someone whispering "mochilero". Those women were a bit rude, they wanted to be right out near the door to be the first to disembark at the ... read more

Bussturen til Encarnacion tar 6 timer, ikke 4, som det står å lese på internett. Stort sett er det rett vei hele tiden uten bakker, for Paraguay er flatt hele veien. Det er ikke spesielt vanskelig å finne hotell, for det er mange hoteller rundt bussholdeplassen, som heller ikke er farlig. Så er da Encarnacion ikke særlig stor, kun ca 120.000 innbyggere. Hotellet vi valgte er hyggelig og koster ca 8 dollar pr. person, omtrent gjennomsnitt i dette landet for et billig rom med airconditioning og frokost. Selve hotellbygningen er et ombygget fengsel som ligger sentralt plassert nærme cerveza, internett, billig mat, sentrum, bank, og altså nærme bussterminalen. Hensikten med Encarnacion var å besøke Jesuittruinen i Trinidad, som ligger ca 40 minutter med buss utenfor byen i solsteken. Det kom Fransciskanermunker nedover hit på 1500 tallet, ... read more

The Paraguayan consul in Foz De Iguazu informed us that we could obtain visas to visit Paraguay in Posadas, Argentina, so we hopped on the bus and went. We stayed at the Hotel Colon, whose owner, Monica, helped us out on the morning of Thursday, December 27th by taking us to the consulate, where we found out we would need three additional passport photos, and several copies of our passport. Thankfully, Monica took us to a place right next door where we could get everything - except of course for American cash - which the Paraguayan government needed as a fee (no, Argentine cash was not good enough). After attempting to take out American cash from at least 10 ATMs, I realized that I would then need to just go ahead and change my travelers cheques ... read more