The Fiesta del Mate y la Amistad, the museum in the former railway station building, and the Jesuit-GuaranĂ ruins of San Alonso show different sides of Gobernador Virasoro and its surrounding area. To help you get your bearings, it is worth distinguishing between the locations: the museum is in Virasoro, while the Capilla JesuĂtica GuaranĂ San Alonso is nearby. Another local destination is Experiencia FRESA, on Ruta Nacional 14 at kilometer 759 in Gobernador Virasoro.
Fiesta del Mate and local traditions
Under Law No. 6135/12, Gobernador Virasoro is the permanent host city of the Fiesta del Mate y la Amistad, which was designated a provincial festival. The permanent designation applies to the host city; the program may vary from one edition to another. For the 2024 edition, a competition to prepare the best bitter mate was one of the main attractions of the Fiesta Provincial del Mate y la Amistad. The preparation itself is the focus of the competition.
Another event with its own ties to local traditions was the 18th provincial celebration “Chake el Bicho, Tomá Caña con Ruda,” held on July 31, 2026. It took place from 8:00 p.m. to midnight at the Gimnasio Municipal Dr. Mario B. Aquino in Gobernador Virasoro. The celebration drew on the Guaranà tradition of drinking Caña con Ruda to welcome August 1. The mate competition and the Caña-con-Ruda celebration thus offer two distinct cultural points of connection: mate preparation on the one hand, and a custom marking the change of month on the other.
The museum in the former railway station
The Museo Histórico Geográfico y Natural displays historical objects and documents, elements of yerba mate culture, natural history collections, and exhibits on regional identity. Its location in the former railway station building gives the museum a distinctive historical setting. At the same time, the collection covers more than one subject: yerba mate culture sits alongside documents, natural history, and regional identity. The difference from the festival can be summed up briefly: there, preparing mate is the subject of a competition; here, mate is part of a broader collection.
San Alonso and its trails
About 14 km from Gobernador Virasoro, in Paraje San Alonso, lies the Capilla JesuĂtica GuaranĂ San Alonso. The building was constructed after 1714 and belonged to the Jesuit-GuaranĂ reduction of Saints Peter and Paul. The Sendero TupambaĂ© runs through the archaeological area of the chapel ruins and explains the site's Jesuit history.
The Sendero de los Payé has a different focus: it provides information about native medicinal herbs and their use as natural medicine since the Jesuit period. The two trails therefore explore different aspects of San Alonso: the archaeological area and the site's history on one, and knowledge of medicinal herbs on the other.
In the wider Departamento Santo Tomé
In the Departamento Santo TomĂ©, the Capilla JesuĂtica GuaranĂ San Alonso served as an estancia outpost, a post station, and a religious center until 1818. The ruins are surrounded by a remnant of the Bosque Paranaense, which is an additional attraction for visitors to the site. San Alonso therefore offers a glimpse both of its former uses and of the landscape around the ruins.
Activities listed at Portal Galarza in the Departamento Santo Tomé include boat trips through swamps and lagoons, wildlife and plant observation, hikes through swamps, grasslands, and native forests, and night boat trips. Other options include visits to yerba mate producers and off-road vehicle trips; English and Portuguese are listed as languages for tours and explanations. If you plan one of these activities, check availability in advance.
Discover more destinations: Galarza.
View the broader travel overview: Departamento Santo Tomé.
