Paraguay & Iguazu Falls (Argentina & Brazil)

In May of 2025, I went to Paraguay with other volunteers are part of Habitat for Humanity's revamped Global Village program. We built the foundation of a house for an all-women family of five wonderful people and learned a sliver about the housing challenges faced by people in Paraguay. I extended my trip a few days to take a bus from Asunción to Iguazu, in Brazil, to visit Iguazu Falls in Argentina.

Below is my travelogue for the tourism part of the trip.

Here are photos from the trip.

I’ve written about my trip as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

I’ve written about my trip as a volunteer management expert.

Now, here, I’m writing about my trip purely as a tourist.

Introduction

The only well known motorcycle traveler I could find that had been to Paraguay was the person who does the Soy Tribu YouTube channel, in 2019 (starting with episode 59, at the 4 minute mark, and then episodes 60 and 61 Episodio 60 - Vuelta al Mundo en Moto, Episode 61, and when he leaves Paraguay, in episode 62). He becomes  fond of the country very quickly, because the people are so friendly (and funny).

Anthony Bourdain went there 11 years ago for Parts Unknown - that's free right now on Roku. But he doesn't show anything that makes you say, "I want to go to Paraguay!" He does provide some great insight into the history of the country, and a fascinating personal connection.

But the reality is that Paraguay is not at the top of most people's travel lists. It has no world-famous natural site, no world-famous building, no world-famous drink, no world-famous road. It's land-locked, right in the middle of South America, and it's bordered mostly by much more popular destinations: Brazil and Argentina (it also shares a border with Bolivia). When motorcycle travelers or back packers go through South America, the routes they choose go through Brazil or Chilé or Argentina or Bolivia - but not Paraguay.

So when I got the invitation to join a group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers to go to Paraguay (and by invitation, I mean "pay all your expenses and raise an additional $2000 and come to Paraguay and build a house!), it surprised a lot of people that I jumped at the chance. Why? Because no one goes there! I knew it was the only way I would ever go to Paraguay, The Country No One Visits. I am so in love with Mexico and Belize and Guatemala - what would South America be like? And what would The Country No One Visits be like?

I had thought about going to Paraguay a week early or staying a week later to see more of Paraguay outside of my Habitat gig, but after several hours of research, I couldn't find anything worth being in the country longer for. After saying yes and starting to fundraise for my trip, but then doing research on the country, I was starting to wonder if there would be anything to see outside of our house-building site. 

Everything went against me as soon as I said yes to going and started fundraising: my mother became seriously ill and I had to fly home to Kentucky. And right after she died while I was home, I was getting urgent emails from Habitat saying it was time to make my flight arrangements for Paraguay, which was really hard to even think about, and then I found that the only way I could get there in a reasonable amount of time was to get there two days before most of the other volunteers. Then a week before I left, I had to visit the ER here in Oregon for an illness. On the Monday before I left, I realized I'd been thinking I was leaving two days later than I was, and had to scramble to make work and dog care arrangements. Once I'd departed and was in Lima, I almost missed my flight to Asunción - and I don't know that there is one even once a day from there. The hotel at first didn't have any place for me to crash (I was embarrassingly early - it was the only way I could get there from Portland). And the first two days of work, I was still on heavy antibiotics and feeling so drained.

But I made it, and I'm so glad, and I really did like Paraguay, quite a lot. The Spanish is very easy to understand in Paraguay, at least it was for me, compared to many other countries. It's a long schlep for a Spanish school, but you wouldn't have much distractions from your studies. Also, the people I encountered in Paraguay were friendly and helpful (and funny - they like to laugh!). 

Getting to Paraguay

I flew from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles, California to Lima, Peru and then to Asunción. It took 20 hours. I was surprised at the Lima airport: it's modern, well-run, great signage, and with really helpful staff. But be prepared to walk a LOT. And remember: flights are NOT announced at the airport: get to your gate and keep looking at the board to know when boarding happens.

Download WhatsApp and Uber on your phone, if you aren't already using such - you will be using both a lot.

The Asunción is a little chaotic, about as much as, say, Havana. I had a Habitat for Humanity liaison picking me up at the airport, but if you don't, I highly recommend Uber or pre-arranging your airport pickup with your hotel.

Asunción

Asunción is an up and coming big city, full of young people, restaurants with a lot of great food, and a fair amount of music, dance and theater. It's a place to be with friends, to enjoy lunches and suppers of great food and great laughs.

I highly recommend the Hotel Westfalenhaus in Asuncion as a place to stay. It's a small hotel in a safe, very upscale neighborhood, the staff is incredibly friendly, the rooms are SO comfortable, the bathroom comes with a bidet, the rooms have a fridge and an electric kettle (perfect for making tea in your room), as well as air conditioning and a large ceiling fan, the breakfast is traditional German style and SO yummy, the Internet access is quite decent, and there's a large convenience store you can walk to right around the corner and a big grocery store not too much father away. All for a price that's hard to beat. There's a pool, but it was too cold when I was there to use it.

Our Habitat Liaison led our own walking tour of Asunción, but it would be worthwhile to book one with a local company if you visit the city: local guides can help you stay away from dicey neighborhoods and streets.

The first night, there were just four of us, so our guide took us to xxx, a little cafe in a quaint neighborhood. We ate at tables on the street. Across from where we parked was the Factoria Hotel, and the lobby is not to be missed: it looks like an old, opulent first class railroad station waiting room.

Our guide took us to a little Saturday market in a park, featuring just a few vendors selling home made teas, soaps, crafts and some other items, and to the historic Central Station Railway Museum / Museo de la Estacion Central del Ferrocarril Carlos Antonio Lopez. I really enjoyed the old train station, which is filled with artifacts: signs, typewriters, phones, switchboard, Western Union code books and more. I love that stuff - I find it romantic. And there are bathrooms!

The Panteon Nacional de los Heroes probably won't mean much to foreign visitors, but is interesting to stop by if you are in the area. The street outside it is filled with shops, restaurants and people selling various items. It's a good place to stroll up and down.

These lines of shops in this area are a good place to buy a Tereré set. Tereré is the national drink of Paraguay. It's of Guaraní origin. It's an infusion of yerba mate prepared with cold water, a lot of ice and medicinal herbs. Someone commented that it tasted like unsweetened green tea, and I agree. It's a cold brewed drink. You will see Paraguayans everywhere - on construction sites, in offices, on the street - carrying a large thermos of water and ice along with an attached cup, called a guampas, that they drink out of. Often, these are matching containers, and may both be encased in leather and custom monogrammed (any metal guampas I was was covered with leather). A bombilla is a metal straw with a filter at one end that is placed into the yerba in the guampas. You suck out the drink through the straw. It does have caffeine, but I don't know how much.

The Centro Cultural Cabildo (Centro Cultural Cabildo) is worth a visit, but go early in the day and it's probably best to do it as part of a guided walking tour - the grounds around it can be rough. The building was constructed in 1844-54 and it served as a seat of Parliament (Cámara de Diputados del Paraguay) in 1857-2003. The exhibits are always interesting.

The Palacio de López is not open to the public, but it's worth viewing from outside, both in the daytime and then again at night. If you are there at sunset, you can witness the removal of the flag for the night (with bugle horn accompaniment) and a changing of the guard.

Shopping delSol is a massive, glitzy mall. It's a good place to change money and to see middle class young Paraguayans socializing. Lots of restaurants inside.

The Paraguayan harp is the national instrument of the country, and the national symbol of the country, and I saw symbols of it everywhere. It's the dominant instrument for campesinos (country folk) and it became the national instrument of Paraguay per its historical roots associated with liberation from the missionary systems of the more repressive neighboring countries. A Paraguayan harp stands 4.5–5 feet tall and weighs 8–10 pounds. Between the 1930s to late 1950s Paraguayan had influence across the world and many famous Paraguayan performers began with the Paraguayan harp and guitar. 9th June is the National Day of the Harp.

There is a 15 metre tall statue of a harp installed along the Costanera in Asunción. It's made of metal and being positioned along the road leading from the airport to Asuncion city centre. It is lit up at night and it is breathtaking. I never got a photo of it. I wish so much I had arranged for a picture in front of it - apparently, there is even a stand at the statue to hold the phones of those wishing to take a selfie with the harp.

If you can arrange a night of traditional Paraguayan dance and music, do it! We had a special dinner one of the nights we were there and our liaison arranged for a short performance by xxxx. It was spectacular.

The downside is that all that I've just said could probably be done in two days, maybe three, at a very leisurely pace, with generous stops for food and drink.

Be sure to carry bug spray or lotion - the mosquitos came out at sunset and, one night, I thought they were going to eat me alive.

It's worth noting that not only will you rarely see foreigners in Paraguay, you will rarely see a t-shirt or sweat shirt proudly proclaiming PARAGUAY outside of the airport. I know because I never found such, and I was looking: it got chilly at night when I was there. 

Luque, Areguá & Ypacaraí Lake

Every day on our way to our work site we passed through the main part of Luque. I mention it because its colors are yellow and blue - it feels like Kyiv! Paraguay's main international airport is here, as is Ñu Guasú Park⁩⁦: it is very secure and well maintained, with a 5-kilometer walking/jogging path and a 1.2 kilometer bicycle path. Every time we passed it, I saw women jogging along on the track, some of them alone. The Paraguayans I talked to said it was remarkably safe and the only place they would ever jog.

According to our guide, there are some in Luque that would like to be independent from Asunción, and perhaps even from all of Paraguay. The display of their yellow and blue colors is a sign of their desire to be distinguished from the rest of Paraguay.

We did a day trip to Areguá and Ypacaraí Lake. I wasn't crazy about either. Areguá is known for its pottery, but what I saw in the shops lining the streets was kitschy and nothing I wanted to bring home. Apparently, there are art galleries in the town - I didn't see any. After a couple of blocks of the kitsch, I walked down a block and down a tree-covered, empty street, circling back to the coffee shop where my fellow travelers had gone as soon as we arrived.

Ypacaraí Lake is an over-developed and somewhat run down local destination - not very attractive. But if you are in the country, I guess both are worth a visit, since it's where people in Paraguay go themselves.

We had a Sunday meeting and then a lunch at La Candelaria Hotel Boutique. The grounds, the views and the restaurant were all GORGEOUS.

What I Missed in Paraguay

I know I shouldn't like Spanish colonial architecture, given its very negative associations... but it's one of my weakness. I would have loved to have seen some of it. I would loved to have seen an old house, however run down.  

The guy behind Soy Tribu went to a huge market in Asunción, and I would have loved to have done that. We went to some small ones, but I would have loved to go to one of the ridiculously huge ones like I have in other countries. I suspect we didn't because of how we would have stood out: this country does not have many tourists AT ALL. I don't know that I have ever stood out in a country as much as I did this one, and remember some of the places I've been (Egypt, Afghanistan...). And when you staned out that much, you are a delicious target for robbery. 

According to an early draft of our itinerary, we were supposed to go to Arpa Roga, a nonprofit organization/harp school, and we should "be ready to dance with Paraguayan music and to learn to play the Paraguayan harp!" That, unfortunately, did not happen.

There are Jesuit missions far outside of Asunción that require a full day to get to, enjoy and come back, and I think on a beautiful day, not too hot, they would have been worth a visit. Had I stayed an extra day, I would have done that.  

Food in Paraguay

The food did not disappoint! The meat is amazing. I gorged myself on beef every chance I got, I admit it. I also had some delicious fish and chicken dishes. Locals were thrilled to recommend things to try.

You would think I would have been absolutely in love with Sopa paraguaya. The name, in Spanish, means Paraguayan Soup, but it is not soup. It's spongy soft ultra-moist cheesy corn bread. And... I wasn't crazy about it. It was okay, but I expected for my world to be rocked, and it wasn't.

I was in love with the long strips of yucca / cassava served with every meal that was prepared for us by the women in the village where we worked. It goes so well with soup, meat, whatever. They served it in bowls for communal use - the way Westerners serve cut slices of bread.

Try to get fresh baked chipas if you visit. I didn't get them until I was on the bus to Brazil, just before we left Asunción: a woman got on the bus to sell them and, OMG, they were AMAZING.

My beer of choice was Cerveceria Patagonia Primitiva Czech / Bohemian Pilsner, brewed in Argentina. I tried to get Paraguayan beer, but no one could believe that's what I really wanted, and they kept trying to push Heineken (yuck).

Other restaurants we visited:

Negroni, on the rooftop of Dazzler hotel. Excellent cocktails, good food.

Lido Bar. Good food, friendly people. Anthony Bourdain ate at the old location.

Britannia Pub. Mediocre food, very loud American and British music, good beer, friendly staff, very much a "scene" in Asunción.

Dogs in Paraguay

Yes, you will see street dogs, some of them in a sad state, though nothing as horrible as I saw in Guatemala or Italy or Romania.

The Bus from Asunción to Iguazu

I went with three other volunteers, one of whom made all the arrangements. We got to the Asunción bus station and I realized I had not downloaded my bus ticket in advance. My Spanish was good enough to go upstairs and ask the bus ticket office if that mattered. He said as long as I had my passport, I was fine.

I highly recommend the upstairs seats! Great views. And the bus was air conditioned and had a decent bathroom.

After you leave the bus station, you will make three or so stops before you leave Asunción. When the woman gets on selling fresh baked chipas BUY AT LEAST ONE FOR YOURSELF. They are amazing.

The bus had free wi fi, but my phone kept dropping the signal. It was mostly okay, because I slept most of the time. The landscape looked a lot like rural Western Kentucky (rolling hills, corn, soybean), except for the architecture.

The ride took seven hours. The stop at the border for Brazil took almost three hours. It was awful. A woman on the bus I talked to later said that she takes the bus every week (she's a dentail student from Paraguay, studying in Brazil) and that she had never seen it that bad. After more than an hour of just sitting there, one of the bus drivers got us off and walked us the two blocks, through a chaotic crowd, to the passport office to officiall check out of Paraguay. By the time we were done, the bus was almost outside of the office. Then he did it again for the Brazil side.

Without air conditioning and a bathroom, I would have lost my mind. But with those two things, I was fine.

Iguazu: the City & the Falls

I stayed at a different hotel than the others - I stayed at Viale Cataratas Hotel e Eventos. I chose it because it was cheaper than the other hotel - I spent a LOT on this trip, and I was looking for ways to not keep spending quite so much. It was fine: good location for getting to the Falls (it turned out to be right on the way for the other volunteers traveling from their hotel), delicious breakfast buffet included, comfy bed, and good Internet. But it has a three story, large atrium, and when the hotel is full, it is LOUD: all that noise reverberates everywhere. Also, it is a hotel that is very popular with families, so people going in and out of their rooms are also very loud. Luckily, I was there Saturday and Sunday night, and was so tired Saturday night that, with earplugs, I heard nothing in my room.

The first night, I called an Uber and met my fellow travelers at a Lebanese restaurant, Le Mir Comida Arabe, for a VERY delicious meal.

The next morning, my fellow travelers came by at 7 a.m. (I overslept and had just 10 minutes to dress and grab my things and beg the hotel staff to let me take a few things for breakfast - which is, in fact, a big no no).

You cannot take an Uber into Argentina, the main site for the falls; you have to take a taxi. Arrange that the night before with your hotel. Most taxi drivers will wait for you.

Some tips for visiting the Falls:

• Sunday is a great day to visit. No way would I go on Friday or Saturday - the crowds much be horrendous.

• Plan to spend at least five hours at the falls; six would be better. That includes the boat ride.

• Take a change of clothes and shoes if you think you will take the boat ride - and it would be silly not to take that boat ride. You will be completely, utterly drenched on the ride. You are provifded a very large, free dry bag (be sure to close it properly). There are changing rooms right before you walk down to the boat. We did the boat ride as soon as we arrived, got completely soaked, and then changed into our dry clothes for hiking around the falls. 

• Take large plastic bags to put your wet clothes and shoes into, and a backpack to carry all this in.

• If you do the boat ride as soon as you arrive, then you have the rest of the day to hike to xx and to xx. A free train will get you to xxx. The hikes are easy and almost entirely on raised platforms. Wear a hat, wear sun screen and take drinking water.

• DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE. No, no, no, no, no, no. You put the wildlife in danger, you put yourself in danger, and you put future travelers in danger by feeding wildlife. Clean off any table top or seat where you have eaten - pick up the crumbs!

We stopped for a quick bite in the park, but never a proper sit down lunch. That was mostly to save time, but I think my fellow travelers had had a big delcious breakfast and weren't hungry.

With doing all of this, we never felt rushed, and were done by 2:30. We had planned on going over to the Brazil side of the falls, but our taxi driver was a bit late when we contacted her to say we were ready, and by the time she arrived, we felt done.

There are PLENTY of bathrooms in the park, BTW. And the park staff are all wonderful.

That night, we had an amazing dinner at Confins steak house. It was ridiculously good. There were four of us, so we ordered two different steak dishes that each served two people. I will dream about that meal for the rest of my life. I tried to book an Uber motorcycle ride for dinner, since it was only about three miles to the restaurant and I would be able to say that I had ridden a motorcycle in Brazil, but no one picked my booking so I had to take a car.

My flight the next day was not until almost 8 p.m. I asked the hotel how much it would cost to keep my room until 5 and it was $25! So I spent my Sunday napping, repacking, catching up on work email, watching a Brazilian music channel that featured both wonderful Brazilian jazz and Brazlian covers of various well-known songs and an entire Rolling Stones concert in New Jersey, and listening to the pounding rain and thunderstorms outside. No airport lounge in the world could be as good.

Between the Uber and food at the Iguazu Falls airport, I got rid of most of my Brazlian money!

At the São Paulo/Guarulhos airport, I thought I had plenty of time to get to my flight, but even walking oh-so-quickly, I was just in time. It's a glitzy airport that hides ALL the bathrooms, BTW.

Next stop was Atlanta, and a quick coffee with a fellow volunteer who was coming from Boliva, and then home to Portland. Total travel time was over 20 hours - plus another hour on the TriMet Red Line. 

For more information about Paraguay

Simon's Paraguay is a really terrific English-speaking blogger living Paraguay. His blog is packed with fantastic information. 

Here's what I wrote about the trip before the trip:

Me participating in a volunTOURism activity? Yes, it’s happening!

Volunteering: not a black & white subject

Packing for Paraguay – answers to an FAQ

Don't expect a vanity volunteering screed.
 

Disclaimer
Any activity incurs risk. The author assumes no responsibility for the use of information contained within this document.

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