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Paraguay still mostly hidden from tourists and is home to some of the most virgin and remote wilderness on the continent. Its attractions to discover are uniquely and untamed: the indigenous culture, the colonial tradition, cultural treasures; colorful markets; lush nature, wildlife, etc.
Perhaps it is one of the most unknown countries in South America, but nevertheless its cultural and physical wealth makes it a natural paradise. Paraguay is like an island surrounded by lands, as once was described by a poet.
On our journeys in deep Paraguay, will often find red, dusty, unpaved roads where horses and carts with huge wheels, are common transportation way. In some remote villages it feels as if you've traveled back to the 19th or 18th century. Small wooden houses, cobbled streets and carts with oxen dominate the scene.
The south of Paraguay is home to one of the most important historical sites on the continent, such as the Jesuit settlements of the 17th and 18th centuries.
When we discover this living testimony of the past, we felt impacted, and always moves us each time we see it.
While in Asunción the colorful buses run through the city, a few kilometers from here, time seem to stop. Some men pass by in their ox-drawn carts, while some families sit in front of their houses while enjoying their iced tereré.
The people here are charming, proud of their origins and delighted to welcome visitors.
A land flat, thorny and sweltering, for centuries, occupied just for a few hardy indigenous tribes. However, it is a quirky and beautiful if melancholy landscape, rewarding for those who are seeking out wilderness places in an increasingly developed and accessible world.
The Guarani were one of the first peoples contacted after Europeans arrived in South America around 500 years ago. They have been searching for a place revealed to them by their ancestors where people live free from pain and suffering, which they call ‘the land without evil’.
There is a huge, virgin, wild and extraordinary place, a paradise for wildlife watching, which can even be seen from the road.
It is the Paraguayan Wild West. Most of this sandy territory, covered by a thorny forest it is only occupied by wild animals.