It´s springtime in Paraguay, so it smells very nice because of all the flowers. In the past few days we went to the Jesuit mission ruins in Trinidad, which had some really amazing carvings in the walls of angels playing various musical instruments, and we also visited Santa Maria and San Ignacio, where many of the original buildings of the missions are still in use, despite being built in 16something.
I recommend the movie ¨the Mission¨ for a flavor of the history of the area. In sum, it is that the Jesuits protected the native Guarani groups from the Spanish and Portuguese slave traders, until the Jesuits amassed so much wealth that the Spanish and Portuguese kicked the Jesuits out. The museums here seem to portray the missions as some sort of idyllic utopia, but I can´t help thinking that the Guarani did not build those missions of their own volition. But that it was better than being sold into slavery seems to be the refrain here.
We also stayed at the San Ignacio Country Club, a little camp-type hotel/resort recommended by Lori´s friend Natalia. Gustavo, the host, overfed us and his wife Annamarie taught us to milk a cow. We also met Chiquito, the lamb who comes when called, and we got to bottle feed him. Apparently he was one of twins, and his mom only feeds one.
Today we went to the Jardin Botanico in Asuncion, which was very disapointing, since the only garden there seemed to consist of a small jenky rose garden. But it was a nice park. Then we went to Museo del Barro, which was free and had a really awesome collection of modern, folk, and historic art.
Tonight we are going to a folk concert before going to the airport early tomorrow morning and back to DC.
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