Encarnation - February 20th

The main reason we are in Paraguay, other than to have another country ticked off the list of countries visited, is to visit the only UNESCO world heritage sites in this country, the ruins of the Jesuit missions of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana and Jesus de Tavarangue.  These are said to be some of the least visited UNESCO world heritage sites, and amazingly there are no tours to them from Encarnation.  However for 30 quid the evening receptionist in our hotel will drive us there and back this morning.  It is probably a little steep, but it’s too hot to be standing around waiting for local buses, which is our only alternative.

After breakfast, which in terms of quantity and choice, if not quality, is the best we have had so far on our journey, we set of at 08:00.  The ruins are only 25km away from town, and as the road is far better than I expected (in fact it is better than most we have been on) we get to Trinidad at about 09:00. Basically this is a village set on top of a hill that was set up by the Jesuits in the 17^th century to bring ‘civilisation’ to the native Guarani people.  In fairness they did better than most other attempts in South America, and in doing so they annoyed the Spanish crown because eventually the Jesuits were kicked out of these settlements.  And afterwards they were left to decay.  However they have recently been cleaned up and are now available for viewing.

And they are pretty good viewing.  The basic structure of the town is that you enter a main square, around which were the houses built for the locals, and facing you is the big church.  And it is big, it would be the size of a lot of Cathedrals were it still standing.  The off to the right are the priest’s houses, the college, and a farm.  A small bell tower, the only intact ruin left, gives you a good overview, and then you can take an hour or so exploring the ruins.  There are about 12 other people doing the same, but the area is quite big, a few hectares, so you can see why they can be ranked up as the least visited ruins.

After this we go to the ruins of Jesus (all included on the one ticket, which was foreigner priced but who can blame them).  These are less preserved, except for the church, although ironically it was never completed because of the expulsion, so it is still not complete.  This time we get a guide who explains more about the history of the sites, and also shows us a reconstruction of what the garden would have been like with various native foods growing in it, including the infamous yerba mate trees for the drink.

Looking around that site takes less time, and then we go back to Encarnation, arriving back at midday.  There isn’t really much more to see in the surrounding area, there are other Jesuit ruins but they are a bit distant (and I think a little too similar).  We walk the town looking at the sights, of which there are really only two, the Cathedral and the main square, and look for somewhere open for lunch, again a challenge.  But we find a restaurant with a set menu del dia, which gives us a main course for £2 each.  Still there is little else to do afterwards excet siesta, and then in the evening we go out when there is a little more life and try again for shopping, a beer and some food.  We have some success this time, but also some failures, the Irish pub (which I never expected to see) remains closed again, denying my chance to add Paraguay to the list of countries we’ve been in an Irish pub in.