Travel Guide San Juan Bautista

Less than 200 km south of Asunción, San Juan Bautista is the capital of the department of Misiones. This small town of about 30,000 inhabitants is famous for being the Cuna de Mangoré (the "Cradle of Mangoré"). This is where Agustín Pío Barrios "Mangoré" (1885-1944), one of the greatest classical guitar composers of his time, grew up. His birthplace has been turned into a museum. Another personality who left his mark on the city was Bishop Ramón Bogarín Argaña, who died as a martyr in San Juan in 1976. This man of the cloth was a tenacious defender of human rights under the dictatorship of Adolfo Stroessner. He tirelessly supported the Christian Agrarian Leagues, a peasant movement that was severely persecuted by the regime during the 1960s and 1970s and completely destroyed in 1976. In the centre of a region dedicated to agriculture (soya, wheat, corn, rice...) and livestock, San Juan Bautista, is a pleasant town, with clean houses, some of which date from the end of the 19th century, cobbled streets and small shady squares. It enjoys a certain tranquillity, since the Ruta 1 passes outside the urban centre. There are all the necessary services for the traveller, including some hotels and posadas that fill up during the festivities of this city proud of its traditions. The famous Festival Internacional del Batiburrillo, del Siriki y del Chorizo Sanjuanino, around January 26th (date of the founding of the city), and the San Juan festivities on June 24th, are always eagerly awaited.