Alone in the Ruins

I slowly do a full circle, taking in my surroundings. I am standing in the middle of a giant, grass patio, which is surprisingly green given how hot the sun is. I feel sweat dripping down my back and I'm annoyed at myself for wearing jeans on such a hot day. Around the edges of the patio are the remains of terracotta coloured, brick buildings in varying states of ruin. Some have been restored and are easy to define, like the imposing cathedral at the south end which looms over us. For others, you need to use your imagination to picture what the wall-less, roof-less, floor-less, 10 columned structure once looked like.

As far as ruins go though I am quite impressed. Unlike some I have visited that are just a pile of rocks, majority of the buildings in this sprawling complex can be defined in one way or another. Once I had finished my 360 degree turn, I realised something that we hadn't encountered yet on our three month South American trip: my boyfriend, Xavier and I were the ONLY visitors at a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Jesuit Missions of La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná in Paraguay!

We had arrived at the ruins on a local bus bound for Hohenau from Encarnación, in the south of Paraguay. I spent the whole journey frantically looking out the window for a power station that would signal when it was the right time to get off. I needn't have worried though, a large bill board sign on the side of the road pointed us in the right direction. After walking for 15 minutes down a gravel road, we eventually reached the site. As well as three workers, there were also a handful of locals who had set up tables to sell miniature plastic statues of the ruins, key rings and magnets. There seemed to be a lot of people, considering I could see no other visitors in sight.

Jorge had greeted us at the entrance. His eyes lit up when he saw us - finally he had someone to walk through the site. We listened as Jorge animatedly told us the history of the ruins, how the Jesuits arrived from Spain in 1588 with the goal to Christianise and protect the native people from slave labour enforced by the Spanish Conquistadors. With his words, he was able to recreate the ruins for us; bringing to life the town that had provided the native people a safe place to live and practice their indigenous traditions. After we had thanked Jorge for the guided tour, I asked how many people they usually get to the site, his response "this week has been good, we received 22 visitors".