Leading up to our trip, I became increasingly interested in the Jesuit missions in Paraguay. I had done some research and found that they were 1. Incredible and 2. Worth the visit. That said, they are difficult to get to and the visas for Paraguay are expensive. So we had mostly talked ourselves out of the visit until spending a few hours with a good friend who adamantly argued in defense of a visit. This one is for you, Fir:
After having the water turned off in the entire city of Puerto Iguazu due to sewer issues resulting from too much rain, we arrived from a five hour bus ride into Posadas, Argentina. With no showers and a 4am bus ride, we were tired and dirty. There are a few ways to get to the missions:
1. Bus to Encarnacion, Paraguay and then a bus to the first mission. After arriving at the first mission, to get to the second, you can take a bus (except for Sundays), sit at a gas station and hope for a tax, walk 15km, or hitch hike.
2. Bus to Encarnaction, Paraguay and then taxi to the missions.
3. Taxi from Posadas to the missions.
After a lot of hemming and hawing and some questionable spanglish to Spanish conversations, we found a guy in Posadas who would take us for a reasonable amount, round trip. Next hurdle was getting across the border. It was unclear from googling how to get a Paraguay visa, so we were hoping that we’d just be able to cross the border w/o paying for one. Hahaha. Not the case. However, it was a pretty painless experience and less expensive than originally expected.
Then it was smooth sailing. About an hour drive from Posadas, we stopped at the first mission: La Santisima Trinidad de Parana. The Jesuits began evangelization of Paraguay around 1590 by forming towns, studying the native language (Guarani) and formed a writing structure for the Guarani people who didn’t previously write their language. The Jesuits founded about 30 missions in Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. The mission complexes were attached to reducciones (settlements, Fir) and are evidence of an urban plan. The goal of the Jesuits was to Christianize the indigenous population, as well as to protect them from the colonial labor system, encomienda, which just sounds to me like straight up slavery, but articles on the line speak less harshly of it.
The mission of Santisima Trinidad is the best preserved of the missions. Founded in 1706, it had two churches (one of which had ornate stone carvings), houses for the indigenous people, a separate house for widows and orphans, a school, an orchard, cloister, a cemetery and workshops. The baptismal font was my favorite part.
The altar::
The baptismal font:
The church:
The road leading to Trinidad had intricately carved stations of the cross every block or two:
Next we went to the Jesus de Tavarangue – which was being built when the Jesuits were expelled from the province. Much smaller than Trinidad, the interesting thing about this mission is the Moorish design which was unique to this mission. It can be seen in the picture I’ve included of the trefoil arch (google taught me that).
In general, the missions were a great way to spend our first Sunday of travels. Paraguay was incredibly beautiful, what we saw of it.
We’re now on an overnight bus ride to Montevideo on the most luxurious bus either of us have seen. Michael and i have our own space, the chairs recline all the way flat, and we’re not sure yet, but I think they may serve us a hot meal! That said… still in bad need of a shower.