Encarnación and Trinidad – Paraguay’s High Points Are Worth Looking For

Encarnación, Paraguay, is a place where you have to look a little harder for the highlights.

I have absolutely no plans to visit every country in the world. But I do like to give the countries I choose to visit a fair chance. In that sense, I try to be a little thorough. I have a rather unrealistic ambition of eventually visiting all twelve independent countries in South America – and Paraguay was one of several countries still missing from the list.

During my research for this trip, I quickly realised that finding interesting places to visit in Paraguay was going to be a bit of a challenge. Tourism has never really been a priority here. Years of dictatorship and poor governance did not exactly help, and the country has never developed the kind of tourist infrastructure you find in neighbouring Argentina or Brazil.

Paraguay is also largely a country of forests, plains and lowlands. Since I was going to get plenty of spectacular landscapes later in Bolivia, I decided not to spend much time looking for nature in Paraguay.

Instead, I focused on the south of the country, close to the Argentine border, where one of Paraguay’s major attractions is located: the ruins of the Jesuit Mission of the Holy Trinity.

The mission is in a very small place, so it made sense to stay in the nearest proper town, Encarnación, for a couple of nights.

Encarnación

Encarnación sits on the banks of the Paraná River, with Argentina directly across the water.

Looking back through my photographs, I realised something slightly amusing: quite a few of the pictures I took in Encarnación were actually of Argentina.

That probably says something about my enthusiasm for the city.

Encarnación was perfectly fine. But it did not have the museums or historic buildings that usually manage to keep me occupied for very long. There was, however, something I found genuinely interesting: Paraguay, despite being landlocked, has created a sandy beach along the Paraná, where the river is wide enough to give it the feel of a seaside resort.

I always find it slightly fascinating to stand in one country and look across at another. Borders are rather artificial things, but they are also something we all have to deal with when travelling.

This was actually the second time I had stood in one country and looked across the water at Argentina. The first was in Foz do Iguaçu, on the Brazilian side of the river.

The bus terminal, on the other hand, deserved a photograph simply because I had to visit it several times.

Trinidad

Trinidad is one of those names that seems to have followed the Spanish wherever they went. The last Trinidad I visited was in Cuba. This one, however, had something considerably older and more substantial to offer.

Here, in the middle of the Paraguayan countryside, lie the ruins of the Jesuit Mission of the Holy Trinity.

The mission was founded in the early eighteenth century and functioned as a settlement for Guarani people under the Jesuit system. The Jesuits built churches, workshops, homes and large communal spaces, creating settlements that were intended to combine Catholic teaching with aspects of Guarani culture.

What makes the ruins interesting is the mixture of European Baroque architecture and local Guarani decoration. The surviving stonework is remarkably detailed, especially considering that much of the complex has been exposed to the elements for centuries.

The enormous church dominates the site, but there are also carved pulpits, ornate architectural details, courtyards and the remains of the living quarters. The whole complex is now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Unfortunately, I arrived on a very grey day, with occasional rain. There was nobody else around.

Which, in some ways, was rather nice.

The downside was that the daily light and music show was cancelled because of the weather. I had even booked a local room for the night, so I was ready to experience the full evening programme. Paraguay had other plans.

Still, the ruins were impressive enough without a soundtrack.

What I found most interesting was getting an insight into the scale of the Jesuit project – and into the way the Spanish Catholic mission system attempted to reshape the lives, beliefs and traditions of the indigenous population.

After Trinidad, it was back to Encarnación, where another bus was waiting to take me to the capital, Asunción.

And, fortunately, this time I already knew where the bus terminal was.