◎ RUTA JESUITicA TOUR
The Santa Maria Hotel in Misiones, offer tailor-made tours of Misiones, Itapua and Neebucu.
Margaret Hebblethwaite, the English author of the excellent Bradt guide to Paraguay (see books) founded the hotel and an English school in Santa Maria, so many of the villagers speak perfect English, making it a great place for people who dont speak Spanish or Guarani, to discover more about life in Paraguay.
-
The manager Snr Mancuello, made a tailor-made tour based on my suggestions. He picked me up in Asuncion and we had a packed week touring the ruins at Misiones, visiting Encarnation, Ayolas, Pilar, Humaita and Bella Vista
PLACES VISITED
HIGHLIGHTS OF MISIONES TOUR
-
Day 1 : Pick-up Asunción.
Yaguaron, Villa Florida. San Miguel. Arrive in Santa Maria Hotel.
Day 2 : Museums in Santa Rosa and Santiago, Ayolas Hidrolectrica Yasyreta, Refugio Atingy.
Day 3: Museums in Santa Maria and San Ignacio.
Day 4: Ruins of San Cosme and Damian, Trinidad and Jesus. Stay in Hotel Encanto Rural, Bella Vista
Day 5 : Yerbatera Selecta in Bella Vista, afternoon in Encarnacion. .
Day 6. : Santa Maria, visit craft workshop. Margaret´s house.
Day 7. : Pilar and Humaita.
Day 8: Parque Nacional de Ybycui, Ypacarai, Asuncion, …end
-
Stunning carved alterpiece.
Article by Simon Cooper: simonsparaguay.com/visiting-the-church-of-san-buenaventura-in-yaguaron/
-
The impressive scale and sophistication of the reducions is hard to grasp on photos.
WHERE TO STAY
IN MISSIONES
-
The former Station at Plaza Uruguay is an atmospheric relic of the former times of the railways. Especially interesting to English visitors to read about the work of the British engineers brought to facilitate the first railway in South America.