Broken Stones

I wake up in my questionable hotel room, and in my sleeping bag (for a lack of trust of the hotel's provisions,) and make it onto the 0730 bus to Encarnacion. I've been tempted by some Jesuit mission ruins that have been declared a UNESCO world heritage site, though I'm not sure how much value that title holds - potentially, not unlike the seven-wonders-of-what-ever-suits-us-at-the-time.

Thirty minutes out of Encarnacion, deep in the sticks, behind a little village, is the site of the mission, made up of the ruins of the church and church quarters, and various living quarters around a large square. I'm not 100% on the history, but I'd guess that the Jesuits lived in the former quarters, and the indigenous Guarani lived in the latter quarters. The former looks to include a pool. My presumptuous take is that the Jesuits were the lesser of two evils - the worse evil being the Spanish and Portugese catholics.

When I've seen enough rubble, I head back to the ticket office. I've decided that Paraguay is the land where things are done properly. The ticket office houses a small museum, clean functional toilets, and two computers. The fee for this mission, and two others in the area is a three pounds sterling, and is valid for 72 hours, so you can cover them at gentle pace over three days. Whilst I'm tending to this blog, a couple of local girls, out for a educational sunday evening, tell me there's a 1930 tour when they light up all the ruins. I'm gathering that it's traditional in Paraguay to guide you around something, project a short movie, and light that something up to music. The girls then go so far as to drive me back to town.

A couple of empandas - I forget if I've described empanadas, but if it weren't for the distance, there would be naming rights arguments between all of South America and the peoples of Cornwall - a Quilmes Negra and Apocalypse Now, with Spanish subs, and I'm done for the day. The Quilmes Negra is pretty good, easy drinking - a credit to Argentina.