![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/baguio-traffic-mb-com-ph.jpg\")
No traffic lights, no roundabouts – not for the faint-hearted<\/p><\/div>\n
Once we had escaped the city and got out into open country it was very different – a much greener landscape than we had seen before in the Chaco area. We stopped in Yaguar\u00f3n to see a beautiful old (1777) Franciscan Church \u2013 it is the only reduction to have its original church still standing in it\u2019s original form. Yaguar\u00f3n is a very attractive town with a different feel to it compared with where we have been before. It is laid out on a grid system with leafy residential cobbled streets and well built, red-tiled houses.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_2173.jpg\")
Franciscan church at Yaguar\u00f3n<\/p><\/div>\n
From there we drove on to San Juan Bautista for lunch (chicken, mandioc and salad with sopa paraguaya). The landscape very different from the Chaco \u2013 agricultural country with tall trees and abundant leaves, lawns, hedges and flowers around the buildings. Generally a wealthier feel to this part of the country.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_2330-1.jpeg\")
Sta Mar\u00eda Hotel, in Santa Mar\u00eda F\u00e9<\/p><\/div>\n
After lunch we drove on to Santa Mar\u00eda F\u00e9, where stayed in the Sta Mar\u00eda Hotel, a beautiful low building which seems to run spiritual retreats. It was established by Margaret Hebblethwaite who was the author of C\u2019s guidebook along with various co-operative initiatives to provide work and income for local people.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_2335.jpeg\")
Local arts and crafts<\/p><\/div>\n
There was a workshop where women were making As we entered we spotted an artesania cooperative next door and C bought a some stitched wall hangings and other crafts as mementos of the trip.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_2333-1.jpeg\")
Hotel Dining Room<\/p><\/div>\n
After a long day’s driving we had supper in hotel (roast chicken and vegetables and a bottle of Chilean Red), and a quiet evening. After eating we sat in the square for a while. Too dark to see the monkeys we\u2019d been told about but we listened to a night owl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Day 33: 19 September 2017 \u2013 Asunci\u00f3n – Santa Mar\u00eda F\u00e9 Left Asuncion early in horrendous traffic, made worse by the terrifying lack of any apparent traffic rules. This was particularly noticeable whenever two dual carriageways crossed with no roundabout … Continue reading