Paraguay, Encarnacion

Day 73

This was our only day in Encarnación as we had decided to stay one day longer in Iguazu. After breakfast, we went to the bus station and took the first bus to the Jesuit Ruins in Trinidad. We arrived just in time, and we could get a tour through the ruins. There were some remaining pieces of the houses of the indigenous people, as well as a huge church. When we got closer to the remainder of the church, our guide told us that on the outer side of the church a prison used to be located. People were locked up in here when they did not conform to the rules of their small society. We could enter the stone church where a lot of statues and artefacts were displayed. We exited through the back door and had a view over the school building as well as the building where the work shops used to be located. It was quite impressive to see as you could really see what it used to look like a long time ago. We then passed another church, this one a little less well intact than the other one. When the tour finished, we walked back to the big street and waited until a bus would arrive that could take us back to Encarnación. It was still quite early when we arrived back at the hostel at three, and so we changed into a bikini and walked one block down to the beach. The sun was shining and the water of the river was just the right temperature. We stayed here for a couple of hours until we got too hungry. After dinner, we briefly stopped at a big podium with music and then made our way back to the hostel. Back in the hostel, I made everyone’s life happier by playing Christmas songs for a good ten minutes, but we then decided it was way too hot to actually get into the Christmas mood. We spent the rest of the evening packing and watching some Netflix.

Encarnación's highlights: