A Pile Of Old Bricks : Encarnacion and The Jesuit Ruins : Mon 30th Dec

I am in the frustrating situation now of being days and days behind everything that I want to say. There are good reasons for this, as you will see, but for now it is enough to know that Paraguay is two countries ago, Uruguay and the price of Uruguay has arrived, and some details which made up the time in-between is lost forever, except in the form of photographs. Luckily I have a lot of photographs.

Today is Sunday. 6 days ago and 1063km away from here we took these photos. I discovered the difference between Panettone and Pan Dulce (quite a substantial one, in terms of quality and price), I discovered that Air Conditioning can freeze you as easily as cool you down, and I did quite a lot of clothes washing in the baking sun of Encarnacion. After a weekend wandering the little streets and wanting a kebab, on Monday we decided that it was about time to do something touristy. We would go to the local Jesuit Ruins, and I would eat a kebab.

The cathedral beside the hostel.

Went to the bus station in Encarnacion. Looked confused and asked a lot of people which bus takes us to Trinidad, a small town outside Encarnacion, where the first set of ruins are located. Eventually some fat local catches my eye and shouts "Trinidad!" at me. We hand over a quid each a step onto a bus that is a halfway between metal hell and coach heaven. A few kilometres and 40 minutes later we step out onto a hot road in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we spotted this sign on the way, and were not waiting for the shouts of "RUINAS!" that the guidebook assured us there would be.

The ruins are a wee walk through a very inconspicuous, though well kept, hamlet.

Someone is very fond of sunflowers. First ones we have seen mind you.

Here is a map showing just how much of South America was in the hands of the Jesuit communities. If the Spanish crown hadn't been so utterly paranoid about what they were up to, this would be a very different place indeed.

Eventually we get to the little ticket office and view some maps and things. There are three sets of ruins, those of Trinidad, Jesús and somewhere else that I can't remember, that isn't in any guidebook and no one talks about. The ticket is $25000 for all three sites, valid for three days. A bargain in anyone's book.

Ordinarily I don't think ruins are that interesting, and I wasn't prepared to be impressed by these either. However they are in excellent condition, and on a huge site. This particular part is the enormous church at the top of the town.

Clear influence of the ideas of the indigenous Guaraní intermingled with those of the Jesuits.

After an hour or so we exit the ruins and, having previously informed the ticket office of our plan to go to Jesús and see the rest of the ruins, we met our chosen driver Andres, who was a bit of a character and drove a half-trailer half-motorbike. It was as rickety as it sounds, but we enjoyed it over 8KM.

Before departing Trinidad we enjoyed lunch at a little cafe, where I had an extensive conversation with the guy behind the bar, who spoke no English, and I learned a lot of new words. Most important to understand is that Paraguayans, all Paraguayans, think of their country as 'muy tranquillo', or very calm. Thats exactly what its like too. It is hard to imagine anyone here has a hobby that doesn't consist of sitting on the street just checking out whats happening.

A friendly cow, just wandering around outside the cemetery.

Attractive local house.

Arrive at Jesús. Discover that, rather that a whole bunch of different ruins, here we have one enormous, unfinished, and very well preserved church that the Jesuits never had time to complete before being kicked out of the country.

The day is done. We ride back to the main road with Andres and hand over $70000 for the experience. A few moments later a bus turns up and we cruise back into town, hot and sweaty but contented with having achieved something for a change. We notice an exchange place offering P$460 to Arg$1, and resolve to head back there the next day (this is unimportant now, but very important tomorrow). At the hostel, showered and feeling happy, we mosey back down to the artificial beach to catch the sunset, which we are reliably informed is charming.

Ah, lovely. We wander back to the little beachfront bar we spent the previous day in, and enjoy a final  beer. The electricity dies as the sun disappears, and for fifteen minutes the local kids just kick balls up and down the sand without the slightest idea what is happening. Suddenly everything is lit, and families begin to gather themselves together and head for home.

Nothing much left to do but wander back into town to get some dinner. It was tempting to cash out at Tony The Pastie's joint (or Empanada Antonio as he is known here), but we saved ourselves for this delicatessen, pictured below, and Sarah drank a lot of hot sauce. Yes, this man is carving kebabs on the street.

We relax for a while and consider having another. Cars drive up to the kerb and order their kebabs (or Lomito Árabe as they are known) and they are made fresh to order (so to speak). It is funny to think of the Paraguayans having a fair few things they could teach us back home about how to live.

Another end of another day. Feeling pleased with ourselves. Tomorrow we leave Paraguay and head into Argentina. We are sad to leave here, but Posadas looks fun from this side of the water, and we need to move on towards Uruguay. We collapse into a big sleep; tomorrow is New Years Eve, and we don't want to wait too late to cross the border.