Blogs from Encarnacion, Paraguay, South America - page 3

ITA - Jesús, Trinidad Da Encarnación, prendo un autobus fino a Trinidad, dopo di che dovrei proseguire per Jesús, l'altro sito di rovine di missioni gesuite, patrimonio dell'Unesco cosí come quelle dal lato argentino. Mi trovo a una stazione di benzina, all'uscita da Trinidad, intorno a me, oltre la strada in cattivo stato che porta a Jesús, poche case, e tanta foresta.. ma niente autobus la domenica, e sono 15km che con il sole che è venuto fuori sono troppi da fare a piedi.. Per fortuna, con un sorriso mi viene offerto tereré, versione fredda del mate, fatto con la stessa erba, e in cambio di due litri di benzina un ragazzo 17enne mi porta in moto fino alle rovine che, cogliendo l'occasione, visita pure lui.. Al contrario di quello che avevo sentito e letto, e ... read more

The latest stage of our travels took us off the gringo trail into the less explored country of Paraguay. For some inexplicable reason backpackers don't seem to have a very high opinion of Paraguay as demonstrated the night before we left Brazil. We'd just returned from the Pantenal and were relaxing in Campo Grande with 2 others from our trip. Another traveller started chatting to us. We did the usual 'where are you from, where have you been, where are you heading' conversation that typifies all conversations between backpackers. When we said we were heading to Paraguay a look of puzzlement passed over his face as he said - 'why are you going to Paraguay, there's nothing to do there?'. When we asked him whether he'd visited he hadn't, so we asked him how he ... read more

A break from the pouring rain was all I wanted for Christmas...And today I was granted a few hours of sunshine with puffy clouds and blue skies, the best backdrop for the immense ruins that stretch over a hilltop in Trinidad, Paraguay. Even as the storm clouds came rolling back in, they served to just increase the dramatic nature of the scene, and leave me enough time to wave down a bus from the road, to head back to Encarnacion. The day started strangely, as any day would when you arrive in a new city at 6 AM, its residents still asleep and you ready to get going. After the night's bus ride, I quickly checked into a hotel across from the bus terminal (waking the owner), took a shower, and had a short nap. After ... read more

The Holy Trinity of Parana was one of the last Reducciones (reductions or townships) built by Jesuit led communities of Guaranís in what was possibly the most interesting social experiment conducted during the European colonization of the Americas. Motivated by their desire to both convert and protect the native populations of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, the Jesuit (Society of Jesus) Missionaries created these small cities as a place of shelter, worship, education and commerce that operated independently of the secular colonial governments. In these communities the Guaranís worked together for the common good, and not as the slaves of some colonial master. A part of the Wikipedia entry on the Reducciones states: Guided by the Jesuits, the Guaraní had advanced laws; they founded free public services for the poor, schools, hospitals, and abolished the death penalty. ... read more

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 ... read more