PARAGUAY
Landlocked, low-lying, steamy and strange – the call of the wild for those who want to get off the tourist trail
South America’s most unsung destination can’t offer the lush landscapes, luxury lodges or modern infrastructure of its larger neighbours. What it does have is authenticity. Travel from the stirring Jesuit Missions of the south via Asuncion and on into the Chaco, the low-lying wilderness west of the capital, and chances are you’ll not meet another gringo.
The missions of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana and Jesus de Tavarangue were inscribed as Unesco World Heritage sites back in 1993. However, only vestiges remain. Just to the north, Santa Maria de Fe is a pretty, peaceful hamlet that gives visitors a living impression of how life might have been in the olden days. The central plaza has preserved its character and a small museum of carved saints is testament to the artisanal skills of the Guarani.
Asuncion is the opposite of pretty, but it does have pleasant avenues and two excellent museums: the Museo del Barro, which brings together centuries of native and colonial art and craft; and the volunteer-run Museo de las Memorias, reminding Paraguayans of the exploits of former dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Nearby Lake Ypacarai is a tranquil place to spend a day, while – this being Paraguay – seeing the hotel where proto-Nazi Bernhard Forster (husband to Elisabeth Nietzsche) hatched his insane plans for an Aryan settlement, got drunk and died.
North and west of the capital lie two immense wildernesses. The Chaco is an alluvial depression covered in scrubby forest that will delight birders and also hosts a Mennonite outpost. The Paraguayan Panatanal is a wildliferich wetlands, best reached by boat (very slowly) or small plane.
Don’t miss: Jesuit Missions, Santa Maria de Fe, the Chaco, Asuncion.
How to do it: Chimu Adventures (chimuadventures.com) can arrange a sixday guided taster tour of Paraguay, including Asuncion, Yaguaron, with its baroque church, Jesuit sites, Monday waterfalls and South America’s largest dam – Itaipu.