Leaving Posadas in northeast Argentina, our taxi driver took us over the Paraná River into Encarnación, Paraguay. This was to be our destination for the next few days.
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| Marg at the Plaza Mayor in Encarnación |
We stayed in the Del Rio Apart Hotel, which had definitely seen better days. However, the bed and bathroom were ok, and the location was great.
Leaving our hotel to explore Encarnación city, we were caught out in a massive thunderstorm. But the rain didn't dampen our enthusiasm as we still had an interesting walk around, and managed to see most of the main sights.
The guide books call Encarnación, Paraguay’s most attractive city. However, we think of it more as a city of contrasts.
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| Encarnación apartment block |
We saw a lot of run-down and grotty houses and apartments, right alongside a few much larger and more affluent ones.
The shops and commercial centre looked tired, and the footpaths were a definite challenge with many holes and serious undulations.
However, there is also a new, modern and lovely riverfront recreation area.
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| Marg at Encarnación's riverfront |
It has a well-lit promenade meandering alongside a sandy beach, grassy areas, cafes and restaurants.
It looked very pretty at night, especially looking back across the Paraná River to the lights of Posadas.
We were in Encarnación because it provides good access to two Jesuit ruins that we wanted to see. They are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, just on the edge of town.
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| Leigh at La Santisima Trinidad Jesuit Mission ruin |
So off we went to visit the first site called La Santisima Trinidad. Bumping up the hilly cobbled road in a taxi, we passed two women walking up, wearing interesting blue hats. They caught up to us at the entrance and we learned that they were Aussies from Western Australia.
They were the 2nd pair of Aussies that we had met within a matter of hours, as we had also met an Aussie couple from the Gold Coast that morning at breakfast.
We six were probably the only gringos in the whole of Paraguay at the time, as we didn’t see any others after Encarnación.
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| La Santisima Trinidad Jesuit Mission ruin |
La Santisima Trinidad turned out to be fascinating. The Jesuit Missions were built in the 17th and 18th centuries as miniature city states to integrate the indigenous Guarani population into the Christian faith.
Whilst we don’t agree with the colonisation, we think that architecturally, it must have been an incredible site in its time. We enjoyed wandering around there admiring ruins.
We chatted lots with the two blue-hatted Aussies, Jacky and Phil, and invited them to share our taxi to the next mission site, Jesus de Tavarangue.
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| Tavarangue Jesuit Mission ruin & blue-hatted Aussies |
This mission was never completed as it was still being built when the Jesuits were expelled from the area at the end of the 18th century. However, you could envisage its significant size had it been finished.
We all taxied back to town (no buses on Sundays) and arranged to meet Jacky and Phil later for a meal.
We met at a local restaurant and had lots of laughs, sharing experiences and travel blogs. It was a lovely little break to chat in English in a country where Spanish is the main language (almost no English spoken here).
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| Marg at Tavarangue Jesuit Mission ruin |
Later on, we said farewell as they were heading to Peru and we were going to Asunción the next day by bus.
Our bus to Asunción, was very sophisticated with big, wide “cama” seats (fully reclining to a bed), a pillow and blanket, plus lunch and a drink.
The 7-hour trip went fairly quickly, as we bussed our way through small villages, surrounded by very dry land, populated with cattle and some crops.
In Asunción, we stayed at La Ilona Hospederia Guest House. It didn't look so good from the street but once inside it was a different story.
In Asunción, we stayed at La Ilona Hospederia Guest House. It didn't look so good from the street but once inside it was a different story.
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| La Ilona Hospederia Guest House from the outside |
It was an original 1920's house renovated and decorated in an eclectic deco style by the lovely owner Xoan.
We had the fabulous studio apartment with its own large patio and in a very private part of the Guest House. It was a good stopping place for weary travellers.
While there, Leigh came down with a nasty sore throat that turned into a cold, so we were very lucky to have a nice spacious place to just chill out.
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| Our room and patio at La Ilona Hospederia Guest House |
Then the weather turned very hot, with temperatures up to 34 degrees celsius and a scorching wind, so the Guest House air-conditioning and fans were great.
We found a local supermarket for food basics, except while they would sell us a bottle of wine, they wouldn't sell us a bottle of beer. We learned later it’s because they recycle their glass - no empty bottle, no beer.
We are advocates for recycling, but when you have a sore throat on a very hot day, a cold beer can be transformational; so we were somewhat tested by not having an empty to exchange!
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| Marg in Asunción |
Marg eventually went up the road to the little local shop, and when explaining she had no 'returns', he sold her beer for 'cash' which was a little more expensive - all good.
A few days later, we were out and about again exploring Asunción. It is the capital of Paraguay, and an interesting city.
It has the same broken footpaths and mix of houses as in Encarnación, but has smarter buildings, the government palace, an 'old centre', and a lovely beach along the river.
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| Monument to Fallen Heroes, Asunción |
He had assured us it was a rapido express bus - yeah right - it stopped to pick up many, many, many people all along the supposedly 5-hour route. He made up time between stops because then he went VERY rapido….but it took 8 hours.
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| The bus from Asunción |
As in many other parts of the world we have visited, the bus driver allows vendors on the bus to sell their wares. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow so this trip, we twice bought some chipas from local vendors.
Chipas are a Paraguayan specialty. A chipa is like a cheese bread made with manioc flour.
We enjoyed many meals in Paraguay that included manioc flour. It’s made from mandioca root also known as cassava or yucca.
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| Mandioca root |
This vegetable grows everywhere and provides a cheaper, more accessible, and gluten-free alternative to wheat or rice flour.
As we got closer to our destination, Ciudad del Este, the standard of some housing seemed to improve, and there was more cultivated land as opposed to grazing land.
We passed through a lot of rather busy and dusty market towns with all sorts of things being sold at the side of the road.
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| Shop near Ciudad del Este |
We had read that Ciudad del Este was a pretty rough border town and not a place to linger, existing only as a city to buy cheap, often counterfeit goods.
However, we were pleasantly surprised at the moderness and apparent sophistication of the city. It seemed very different to Asunción and Encarnación, having lovely wide boulevards, greenspaces, and street art.
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| Ciudad del Este traffic jam |
Ciudad del Este is on the border with Brazil and Argentina, and we wanted to get to across the border. We had read that, because the locals are not required to have their identity card stamped, sometimes the bus won’t stop at the border.
We were the only ones on our bus who had to have an exit stamp in our passports, so we had double checked with the driver to make sure he would stop, and also wait for us.
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| Street art in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay |
He assured us, with no English/Spanish between us, that he would stop and wait, and that we had a whole 5 minutes to get it done!
And he did stop. So we left our luggage on the bus, ran in to Border Control, got stamped out of Paraguay very quickly, and then raced back to the bus. He waited - all good.
Next, we crossed the border bridge leaving Paraguay, and prepared to get stamped into Argentina so we could get to our next destination: Iguassu Falls.
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