I woke up realizing that I was in Paraguay, The streets were in a bad shape and the buses were even worse. There was however a friendly attitude of the people, similar to the one I have experienced in Bolivia. I left my luggage in the hotel and started walking on the dusty road on the way to the bus station. I took the first bus with destination Ciudad del Este together with the local early workers. It was a funny experience listening to vendors who jumped suddenly into the bus selling improbable items and food with the ability of experienced salespersons. Living on the edge of poverty but keeping once again an incredible dignity trying to arrive to the end of the day with some money to survive. The bus stopped me after approximately 1 hour in the middle of the road where I could see the signs of both Trinidad on one side and of Jesus on the other. The two archaeological sites, now UNESCO World Heritage, were built at the time of colonization with the purpose to convert the indigenous people to the Catholic religion. They were proper religious concentration camp in where the Catholic religion would have prospered among everybody. They didn’t make their calculation well however because once the country went through one of its numerous revolutions, the Jesuits were expelled and the churches and convents remained unfinished. Now they are still standing there, in a wonderful peaceful green area as a witness that man’s utopia has always been very difficult to build.
First I went to Jesus with a little local truck. After that with the same truck and the same driver to whom I offered my tasty crackers, I went to visit Trinidad. They were both very similar, even if very different in size with the second much larger than the first. I was alone on this green silent hill, surrounded by trees. The ruins were standing there as a silent witness of the past. I was alone and walked around them, sitting every now and then enjoying the silence of a peaceful place which never started living. I was happy of my decision to visit the ruins here in Paraguay, and it was another little tick in the box in my huge list. I slowly walked back to the bus station where another woman was waiting for the bus to go back to Encarnacion. I arrived back to town just for lunch time. I stopped in a place that I noticed the night before, to eat a very delicious and basic grilled chicken with manioc. I took the bus to Posada immediately after lunch to finally arrive at the bus station around 2pm and then another bus to Iguazu waterfall in the Argentinean side. The journey was pleasant with great landscape crossing beautiful little towns. I arrived at night and I felt tired. I managed to book few tours for the day after at the local Tourist Office before crashing to a hostel right in front of the bus station after eating a decent, slightly overcooked steak together with 4 Japanese tourists who were sitting at my table. The hostel was clean and functional and I was fortunately alone in the room. I slept immediately with a little nightmare during the night probably due to tiredness. I thought before sleeping again on how long I have been travelling now and in how many places I have slept. I couldn't really count them all because I fell asleep again...and fortunately this time without nightmares.
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