Jesuit mission ruins, yerba mate, boardwalk strolling...Spring Break 2013!

For our four day Spring Break weekend, we went with some friends on a bus 5 hours South to a town on the Rio Parana, which separates Paraguay and Argentina.  We visited the ruins left by the Jesuit missionaries when they were expelled from Paraguay for not bowing to the demands of the Spanish government.  We also visited a yerba production plant, hung out at the beach, spent time on the "costenera," and visited Argentina for the day.



This meat hanging in the butcher shop like this is pretty common-they put the best cuts out for people to see and entice them to come in.



This is the town centerpiece of Bella Vista, Paraguay . That's a giant guampa, the cup you drink yerba mate or terere (cold yerba) out of.  

Even Santa enjoys Yerba!



This is the beach on the river at Bella Vista.  Argentina is just across the river.  We had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed some wine and a great sunset.





This is chipa.  I thought I hated chipa, until I tried chipa "caliente."  The chipa vendors get on the bus with baskets full of this warm, chessy, gooey, bread for 25 cents and there is no point in resisting!





This is across the river in Posadas, Argentina where we were waiting for a parade that never came.  So we drank some beer instead.





The boardwalk at Encarnacion, looking across at Posadas, Argentina.



The church in Encarnacion with one of the last pink lapacho trees of the season.





The Jesuit ruins-This one is called "Trinidad."  It was once home to over 4.000 Guarani Indians and Jesuit priests until it was abandoned in 1768. 



Our transportation between the different ruins.  Cobblestone streets + tuk tuks (or mototaxi in Spanish) made for a bumpy ride.



While in Posadas, we saw this kiddie train that was giving rides up and down the boardwalk.  We paid the driver 100 mil (about $20 US) to give us a ride and not let any kids on, effectively creating our very own party train.