I took this picture and about 30 others like it, of which a few are on this blog post, because this land used to be Jungle/Rainforest. This is deforestation in reality. The vast majority of Paraguay's rainforests, which were mainly in the eastern portion of the country have . perhaps "disappeared" is the wrong word. There was no magician involved. The greed of both domestic and foreign governments and private industries chose to destroy one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. Every time I looked out the bus window I could not help but snap another photo and think "this may come in handy one day if I conduct any research on deforestation and give presentations on it." Right now i'm pretty focused on wetland ecology and microbial ecology associated with said ecosystem, but I never knew where my interests will move in the future. As pretty as the land is, it was hard to appreciate it because I knew how great it once was, and how many plants and animals were lost so that men could either farm or raise cattle. Not to mention the effect deforestation has on climate change.
This is terere', the cousin of yerba mate. During war time soldiers in Paraguay did not have access to the hot water needed for the Uruguayan/Argentinian style of yerba mate (tea). The men still need that extra boost before battle so they used cold water, and in the Paraguayan climate the cold version of this tea is far more refreshing (and as become my personal preference) . The yerba (the tea) is more or less the same however it is not ground nearly as finely as its Uruguayan/Arg. cousin.
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| We enter the city limits of Encarnacion. |
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| Lots of Wetlands = Aaron is interested/excited |
We traveled to Encarnation because the ruins of several16th century Jesuit Missiones are on the outskirts of teh area. Below is the first one we checked out. San Cosme and San Damien.
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| I found this creepy crawler in the cellar, minding his/her own business |
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| Our 13 year old tour guide shows us the roof tiles that were once on top of the structure we are standing in. She is showing us how they were made. Workers would mold the clay around their thigh and then let dry. |
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| We are up in the "rafters" so to speak, kind freaky given how old that wood is, but we did not fall through. |
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| The Jesuit's utilized the sun dial |
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| impressive painting done on the ceiling of the first floor. |
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| The Jesuits knew a great deal about astronomy |
Underneath these waters are buildings, roads, etc. Paraguay uses a great deal of hydro-electric dams to power the country, and much of it is sold to Brasil and Argentina. The maps we had of Encarnation were printed prior to the flooding of half the city for this dam project; naturally it was the poorest areas of the city that were flooded.
The next mission we went to was Jesus de Parana
Last but not least, the ruins of San Trinidad
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| old lady/cript-keeper hands! |
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| When you destroy the habitats of anteaters the ants get a bit out of control. I saw thousands of these huge ant hills throughout the fields. Look at the lady for scale! |
The morning that we left Encarnation a food festival was going on in the cities largest plaza. Looking at these pictures makes me hungry!
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| mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, says I |
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| I don't know what they were cooking but I wanted some! |
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| There's my gorgeous bride to be and favorite traveling partner! |
