Travel Guide Caazapá

ka'a jehasapá means "further into the forest" in Guarani. Caazapá, at the end of Ruta 8, 50 km from Villarrica and 226 km from Asunción, is the capital of the department of the same name. The locality is known for its spring "Ykuá Bolaños", which according to legend would have gushed out of the stone, in the middle of a drought, when Brother Bolaños planted his stick there. There he was able to prove the existence of God to the unbelieving natives... It was around this spring that in 1607 what was to become the largest Franciscan reduction of the Río de la Plata Province was founded. Ykuá ("the water hole") is considered a miraculous spring. It is also said that if the traveller dips his lips in it, he will fall in love in Caazapá, where the beauty of women is legendary! It is a clean city, with many trees and old casas de indios, which gives it a great charm. The elegant church of San Pablo, in front of a wooded square, and the oratory of San Roque, in the cemetery, have altarpieces dating from the time of the mission. The Fray Juan Bernardo de Caazapá Museum is dedicated to colonial religious art. On January 25, the town's founding celebration and the Ykúa Bolaños festival takes place.