When I first received my acceptance email to GSB that said I would be spending the summer in Paraguay I had barely heard of it. It isn't a place full of tourism or some other gain to fame that you hear in the news a lot. Its just kinda chillin out down here doing its thing. I may have never come to this country if it wasn't for this fellowship, FP and the relationship with SCU... and for the uniqueness of being here I am so grateful.
Paraguay is a beautiful beautiful country. Red dirt roads, miles and miles of wide open green space, incredibly friendly people, an indigenous language that is still alive and used as the main language by so many and some amazingly beautiful "tourist spots" if you can call having a UNESCO Heritage Site completely to yourself a tourist spot... A few months back we had big plans to travel to Buenos Aires, Chile, Montevideo, etc while we were here and were dissapointed to find out that for safety reasons we were expected to stay in country the entire experience. Keith kindly provided us with some ideas of weekend trips and with the flexibility to travel on weekends we have seen two amazing amazing sights, that again I may have never seen in my life.
The first weekend here we went to Iguaza Falls and I dunno how I failed to write about it yet... but it is SO worth writing about. The falls can actually only be accessed from Brazil or Argentina but are just a ferry ride away from the Paraguay border. After an 8 hour bus ride from Asuncion to Ciudad del Este we got on a ferry crossing the river where we could see Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina on each side. We arrived in Puerta de Iguaza in Argentina and spent the weekend soaking up some seriously enjoyable vacation. Argentina is famous for its asado or barbequed meat so the first night we had a huge delicious platter of a variety of different meat, grilled vegetables and delicious garlic potatoes. We got up Saturday morning and headed to the falls where we paid an entrance fee a totally manicured National Park style park that at first seemed kinda blah with its concrete trails and lack of wonder. Little did we know what awaited us. About twenty minutes from the entrance you can tell you are getting closer to the falls by the sound of crashing water and the change in the trees which are dense and cover you from the view, then you come out and BAM a huge panaramic view of water fall after water fall awaits you. There is 1.7 miles of water falls of different heights and velocity but you can just stare at them forever. We had a perfect day, blue sky, sunny but not too hot and no mosquitos. Ashley was set on going on the boat right up to the falls and convinced us it was worth the $35 (which it TOTALLY was). We put all our things in a dry bag and prepared to get completely soaked in a good size, powerful boat that zoomed through the rapids from the numerous falls, we kept our distance for a while snapping photos and enjoying the dryness but after putting away our cameras were soon right up against the falls getting completely soaked. The rapids were big, the boat was fast and the water was freezing. We screamed and tried to keep our eyes open as the water showered down on us and it was so exhilarating to be up so close, totally worth the money and the rest of the day in dripping clothes. After lunch we were told we were going to the best sight yet and took a little zoo like train to a different part of the park where we walked along a metal bridge over a completely calm part of the river for about 20 minutes. I kept wondering what would be so cool about this when everything was so quiet and peaceful and then quickly understood when we came about a huge semi circle of a drop in the river where they say more than 36 olympic size pools could be filled with the water that rushes from the falls PER MINUTE. Its called the "Garganta de Diablo" and is absolutely breathtaking. The water looks more like white paint or rushing clouds because it is moving so fast and there is so much of it. You stand right on the edge and look down to see nothing but mist from all the rushing water. I felt humbled and amazed in the way you do when you look out at the never ending ocean and was completely mesmerized by the magnitude of constant rushing water. I could have stayed forever and hope I will never loose the image in my head.. it was amazing and something so few people will ever visit. We soaked up the rest of our time in Argentina with another delicious dinner and headed home the next day, risking a drive through Brazil as the ferry from Paraguay doesn't run on Sundays... we got through fine and didn't have to pay a couple hundred dollars for a Brazillian visa for ten minutes driving from entrance to exit headed back to the bus stop for another 7 hours of sleeping, reading, watching kids movies in Spanish and came home so thankful for a weekend of exploring.
This past weekend we headed out to the other well known "must visit" in Paraguay.. the Jesuit ruins in Encarnacion... also on the border of Argentina to the Southeast. A few months back Keith gave us the movie the Missions and we watched it together learning about the indigenous Guarani, their fight with the Portugese and the communities created by the Jesuits to protect (and evangelize them). The movie was slow but definitely left us curious to see them in real life and gave us good context for when we were there. The ruins are about an hour from Encarnacion and you walk up a cobblestone street from where the bus drops you on the main highway. It seems completely crazy that you are at a UNESCO World Heritage site and feels more like you are walking through a random tiny little town then you come to the visitors center where you pay for your entrance. We hired a guide, a girl probably 20ish years old to show us around, we figured without her we basically just got what we saw, which was absolutely beautiful but a little hard to put it all together. When the Jesuits arrived in the 1580s the native people of Paraguay, the Guaranis were living under horrible, oppresive conditions by the Spanish conquerers and Portugese enemies, the Jesuits with groups of 2000-3000 Guarani built the missions which turned into self sufficient compounds where the Guarani lived, worked, grew their own food, schooled their children and attended mass. Our guide showed us the small one room "homes" that the Guarani lived in with their family, the church, the homes of the two Jesuit priests that lived their, the workshops, classrooms, farm and everything they needed to be self sufficent. It seemed tiny for an area where 2000+ people lived but was all well thought out and built by hand by the Guaranis. Every little detail was thought out with gorgous designs in the church, angels in the walls and left over statues, tools, etc to show all the different work they did. None of the ceilings were intact just parts of the walls and some original flooring. Some restorations had been done but it was also obvious how much had been lost when the area was conquered. Our guide was very informative and I was grateful to be able to understand nearly all her Spanish, she left us behind to take pictures and we were amazed at the way it had been built and used, and then abandoned upon Spain's dissatisfaction when the compounds became self sufficent and the Guaranis no longer had to rely on them. From there we went to another ruin about thirty minutes to the other side of the highway... we were told we could take a taxi or a bus but after waiting for an hour decided to go in the back of a pick up truck... one of my favorite things in the world. Here we are in the middle of Paraguay sitting in the back of a pick up truck just soaking up all the views, absolutely beautiful. We arrived at the other ruins, much smaller and much more intact- further off the beaten track and in the middle of wide open, rolling, absolutely beautiful green hills. We walked out and quickly realized we were the ONLY people there, it was so quiet, peaceful and just really magnificent to be in these ruins that use to be the home of thousands of opressed native people all by ourselves. There were no guides at these ones but from what we learned from our other guide we had a good idea of how it was all set up, pretty similar just smaller than the other. The church was beautiful and the views from the big open window holes was absolutely amazing. We talked about how we likely would have never come here in our lives if it werent for GSB... and how even though the "internship" has been frustrating things like this make it worth it. We took pictures and tried to ingrain the image in our heads, knowing this might not be a place we would return to but so overwhelmed with the beauty and vastness of the landscape and the life that was lived here... so incredible to visit it and did not feel at all like some boring history museum;).
It was such a great weekend to spend with the other girls. Being here on my own in Oviedo has been a wonderful space for growth but has also been challenging in moments to do all the processing internally. It was nice to talk to them about the challenges, the good things and everything in between. We talked about being discouraged and trying to make the best of it, about where we have found meaning and joy and how we will spend the last half. We laughed and talked about completely meaningless things and relaxed with a break from living in someone else's home. It was a really good break and now Im hoping to take that energy and inspiration with me into the last 2 and 1/2 weeks here. I cant believe Im more than half way through and I really want to keep being as present as I can, engaging with my whole heart and seeing all the grace in this experience. I am grateful for the chance to explore on weekends and to see the falls and the ruins, both such hidden but magnificent gems.
No comments:
Post a Comment