I haven’t met any backpackers (seriously none) due to very prosaic reason — I didn’t go to north of Paraguay. For one thing, I heard a story about a missing girl who went there and vanished. And no matter how big nature fan I am, another reason not to go was rather scary vision of lonely nights somewhere in forests under a tent. So, that’s how I ended up in Encarnation, to see Jesuit ruins.
Traveling South America may seem to be a challenge, but it’s not. There are bus connections and tourist attractions — especially the ones marked by UNESCO — are broadly available. Well, not in Paraquay. First attraction I reached by local bus. I was automatically sold a 3 products bundle ticket, so it would be just a shame to miss out. Then I discovered that you need to take another bus to get from one point to another, and surprise, the bus goes once a day, therefore I already missed it. Another option was to jumped on the back of some pickup truck, but since the other girl wasn’t found yet, that seemed to be too risky. I take a return taxi instead and it was worth it. I’ve read someone have spent few lonely (i’m not surprised, there were no other visitors when I was there) hours over there and really enjoyed it. I did the same, 35C in shadow, sweat drips of my butt, leaks into my eyes, makes it stinging, but hey, I’ve seen ruins!
