San Ignacio lies close to the border to Paraguay. I heard that the Jesuit ruins there were declared UNESCO world heritage. Since I am already here, I thought, why not visiting that country as well. Modern Paraguay is rather underdeveloped (due to some wars and loss of 70% of its male population), so there is no straight forward way to get to these ruins. You have to take a bus, to the next town, then cross the border (which often takes up to 6h due to traffic jam!), take another bus, and then a taxi. The ruins themselves have no connection to public transport (odd for an UNESCO heritage site). I decided to have it easy for once and booked a private tour.
The driver/guide was Argentinian but grew up in Perth, Australia. Finally proper communication. I got a lot more insight in the (bloody) history of this area and crossing the border at a remote ferry point up north was very relaxed. Actually I have never seen migration officials working so slow. Chatting with colleagues here, having a smoke, talking on the phone there, joking with some other passengers. There were only 3 passengers and it took 20 min. I head Argentinian border controls have a reputation for that across South America :D
After crossing the Parana river I entered another world. And I was positively surprised. Paraguay is one of the cheapest and yet safest countries in South America. Argentinians mainly come for cheap shopping. Its history is rather unique. The Jesuits left a class of highly educated and integrated Indians, although Spanish was taught, native Guarani was used as common languages also by the Europeans. At one point it was even forbidden for white people to marry each other to prevent any white upper class. And it even worked. Paraguay was one if not the wealthiest country at a time and the only one that was completely self-sufficient in terms of technology, railways etc. The countries around did not like this successful social experiment. The triple alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay went to war and killed 70% of the male population Paraguay's (including the most educated and thus economically important portion). In addition, it lost half of its territory to the victors and thus most of its industrial resources (It previously controlled the Yerba Mate market in South America. In European terms that would mean that one country produced all high quality coffee and tea in the world). Paraguay history sounds like a very sad story of a great social idea. They never fully recovered as a country and are now are cheap shopping destination for the rest of the continent.
The area we drove through has a very high German influence (town of Hohenau). Most names on the streets and shops are German and many young people still speak German here at home. The official language here is not Spanish by the way, but Guarani. To my knowledge the only country where the white settlers adopted the language of the natives (a result of the Jesuits approach). Spanish is only spoken the two biggest cities and as second language (along with German here).
The streets and houses are much more clean and tidy here. You quickly get the impression that people are more orderly (care about how their gardens look) compared to the Argentinian site. This is remarkable, since this area is definitively more poor and remote than San Ignacio (unfortunately I don’t have pictures showing the differences). My driver attributes tidiness to the German migrants. They are highly respected around here. He gave me a lot of the common German stereotypes, but who knows what is true :D
Mision Jesuitica de Jesus Tavargüe
Translation: The city that never was. It was supposed to be the biggest settlement of all, the heart of the state. However, the Jesuits were expelled before they could finish their work.
Mision Jesuitica de la Santisima Trinidad.
The biggest preserved Mision. There were only 3 Jesuits living with about 3000 Guarani. No slavery but instead specialization of certain Misiones into wood carving, song or theater. It was often romanticized as some kind of Utopia. I wonder what would have happed to this form of community if Spain had allowed it to continue.
I spend some more time around the town of Trinidad. The food here is about the same as in Argentina, so I will cover that later :D
AHATA AYU
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