Santa Maria, Misiones Paraguay

“The rains are here”.  The food festival we had planned to visit on Saturday was ruined by the rains. It was so cold that on our way to buy the clothes, my son literally cried.  He was in agony. He had refused to wear socks, and he was cold to the bone.

We also went and purchased a bus ticket for the next morning.  I am sure we got charged tourist prices for a trip to Santa Maria.

We were assured that the bus went into the town. However, it did not, though we were fortunate as we had pre-arranged accommodation and the lady from our pre-book accommodation met us at the turn-off.

So here we were.  Freezing cold in Santa Maria.  This is another town on the Jesuit Ruins loop, in the Misiones region of Paraguay.

We had booked to stay at the original Hotel Santa Maria – right on the main square. It was such a quaint old place, and I would thoroughly recommend a stay there.

We layered up and went out to explore the town. We headed out back to the museum and found monkeys on the trees.  We learned that the black bigger ones are male, and the brown ones are female.

They would snatch apples and bananas right out of our hands. I was shocked at how strong they were. At one time I tried to hold onto the banana, and it was like a game of tug-o-war.

We found the museum, and the lady at the hotel called and arranged a staff member to open it specifically for us.  It had some fabulous wooden carved statues and other items from the ruins. I loved it, but a few were a bit scary for my son.

We wandered around town and loved the old church and square.

The hotel has a lovely little prayer chapel in the garden and so being a Sunday, we decide that it would be a nice thing to go light the candles, and have a time of thanks to God.

There are hand woven wool mats on the floor, a wooden cross, candles with shades, and lovely wooden benches. But the nicest part is the beams of sunlight that shines into the room.  The silence and warmth are lovely. It is a very wonderful time.

We then head across the square to the playground.  My son makes a few friends. I find myself giving the local kids some English lesson as I polish my basic Spanish words.  We talk colors, numbers, greetings, and I discover that although we have been with them for over an hour, we have fun and I have a following of kids.  As we walk back via the church, my little crowd follow me and I have a bit of a sad farewell as we head to the hotel.

We were the only ones staying there, and being a Sunday, there was only one little store we found open.   I was glad I had brought milk and some food with me and that I was able to scratch up dinner.  Not bad, as I had one glass of red wine left – enough to warm me up, with the help of our hot water bottle.

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