Yaguarón, Paraguay
It was time for a day trip out of Asunción, and we selected Yaguarón – as it has a famous (well, famous in Paraguay.. 🙂 ) church.
It’s 48km or so from Asunción, but unfortunately we managed to choose the ‘slow’ bus. There were a few buses saying ‘Yaguarón’, and they all kind of looked the same, so we just got on the nearest one. However there was traffic, roadworks, lots of stops, and then they actually made everyone get off the bus, wait for a bit, and then get back on a new one… it took 2 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES!
Yes, we were very hungry when we arrived as it was past our lunchtime, so we went straight to lunch, and luckily found a place opposite the church with outside tables, so we could even look at the church while we were eating our pizza.
After lunch, we went to look at the church, and it was CLOSED…. BUT the inside is the best part – that’s what we were told… OH NO. We went back to the restaurant, and they told us that it would open at 2pm. PHEW…. We didn’t spend 2 and a half hours on a bus for nothing!
It was only 1.30pm, so the man in the restaurant suggested we go to the local musuem.. So off we went to the ‘The Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia Museum’ . We didn’t know who ‘Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia’ actually was. After the visit to the museum, we still didn’t really know who he was, except that ‘a lot of people died because of his ideas’. The man in the musuem spoke very quickly and mumbled a lot when he showed us around. I understood precisely NOTHING. CC did a not too bad job of translating as he went along, but his mumbling and speed sometimes got the better of her, and he seemed to be telling us mostly about the things in his house (which was the museum). Anyway, it was all a bit bewildering, but it kept us out of the sun while we waited for the church to open…. If you are interested you can read about Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
So now it was CHURCH TIME!
It was very impressive indeed on the inside, but unfortunately no pictures are allowed, so you will just have to imagine what it looked like….
…..or use google images, as it seems stock photography suppliers are allowed to take pictures and put them all over the internet…
We were pretty satisfied, and so after the church, it was back on the bus to Asunción. This time we scored a good, fast bus (we got on the first one that arrived – we still can’t tell which ones are fast…), and it only took 1 hour and 30 minutes back. RESULT.
