10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Paraguay

Paraguay  is a vast, beautiful country with a long and rich history. It sometimes is called the "Heart of South America" due to its location on the continent but, it is usually passed over by travelers for their bigger, more well known neighbors. Paraguay gives a people a rare opportunity to visit one of the more underrated countries in South America without the abundance of tourists. So, I won't keep you waiting any longer, here are 10 reasons you should give Paraguay a try:

Unspoiled Nature: Paraguay offers a wide variety of beautiful landscapes, from rolling green hills, red dirt roads to rain forests. For a land locked country, Paraguay has numerous coastline views, from the costanera in Encarnacion, all the way up north on to the Paraguay River which leads to the Pantanal, where you have the chance to see jaguars, crocodiles and dozens of different bird species.

 Journey Back in Time: When you visit this country it is almost as if you have stepped back in time (in a good way) to a time when life was simpler. A time when life moved a slower pace, everyone knows their neighbors, the air is fresh and clean and spending time with family is the most important thing.

 Inexpensive: Traveling through South America, especially in countries like Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay can make a big dent in your travel budget. But, while traveling in Paraguay you can forget having to constantly worry about how much everything costs. You could easily live on a budget of $30-$50 a day or even less.

 Food: The food in Paraguay may not be the healthiest of choices but it sure is delicious and hey you are vacation. There are definitely healthy options if you really want them and a lot of the food used in cooking is locally grown and organic. So you should definitely try the Chipa Guazu, Vori Vori, or even get yourself invited over for an asado (barbecue).

 Tereré: The national beverage of Paraguay is definitely Tereré. It is an infusion of yerba mate with cold water. (Here is an old post with the How-To's of drinking Tereré) But, it is more than just a beverage, it is a social event. You should try and get invited into a Tereré circle if possible, it is a great way to meet Paraguayans and really get to know them.

 Tourism - Still Developing: I personally think on of the reasons the tourist infrastructure of Paraguay isn't very developed is due to the lingering effects of the dictatorship that ended in 1989. But, the lack of lots of tourism can also be a good thing getting to see so many beautiful things without the hoards of people crowding your view.

 Helps The Future of The Country:  Paraguay has a bumpy history and visiting this country not only supports the economy, but will also improve tourism and the future of the country

 Beautiful Places to Visit:  Paraguay is often overshadowed by its larger neighbors but, it does have plenty of beautiful places to visit. There are the Jesuit Ruins in Trinidad, Laguna Blanca, the sand dunes in San Cosme, Bahia Negra and the Pantanal, Salto Monday and numerous others. 

Paraguayans themselves: The people of Paraguay are easiest the biggest and best tourist draw. They are incredibly friendly and generous, don't be surprised if you are invited to drink tereré, eat lunch or even stay with them in their home.

 Why not?: Honestly, if you have the chance to go anywhere, even if you don't know much about the country, you should take it. Don't rely so heavily on the opinions of others go out and experience it for yourself so you can form your own opinions.

Stop 2 Uruguay : Punta del Diablo.

After Montevideo we headed over to Punta del Diablo a super tranquilo beach town to spend Christmas. Four of my volunteer friends and I had rented a great little house right on the beach for 5 days and some of our other friends rented a house right around the corner.

First day in our awesome house!

Even had some great Christmas decorations! (thanks mom)

View from our Balcony.

It was nice to have a home base for our Christmas activites since we couldn't be home for the holidays. We invited all the Peace Corps volunteers that were spending Christmas in Punta del Diablo, 13 in all (including myself) to our house for Christmas Day dinner. We cooked the most random mix of food possible, fish, ceviche with fish and shark meat, stuffing and mac & cheese (thanks mom!), challah bread, and fresh salad. For desert we had Andes mint chocolate cookies, lemon bars and pound cake with a mango blueberry topping. It was incredible.

Its a tradition in many South American countries (including Paraguay as well as Uruguay) to set off  Fireworks at midnight of Christmas Eve

Christmas morning breakfast - Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit Salad and Mimosas

Our amazing Christmas dinner spread!

Emily, Karen, Alex, Anna and David enjoying the delicious food!

Punta del Diablo is an amazing little beach town. I would love to go back one day and I highly recommend everyone visit. It was great to be able to spend so much time at the beach, something I really miss living in landlocked Paraguay ha!

Bringing the Paraguayan tradition of Terere to Uruguay

Next stop in our adventure was Cabo Polonio, Uruguay! Stay tuned.

Drinking Tereré for Dummies

Tereré (T-ray as nicknamed by PCVs) is the official drink of Paraguay. One of the first things we were taught in training, literally on the first day, was how to drink tereré. Trust me there are rules.

But first comes first, what is Tereré? The technical definition I got from Wikipedia is that it is a infusion of yerba mate prepared with cold water. (Maté is the same thing, but, prepared with hot water)

Next comes the Tereré equipo (equipment).

 

These are the 4 main things needed to drink Tereré. First is a pitcher for the water (you can also use termos, but those are a little expensive for me right now so I'll stick to my 1$ pitcher.) Next is the guampa. The guampa is the cup that you drink tereré with, this one I bought in Asunion and had my name put on it. That pink thing is a bombilla (straw), and finally that is a box on the yerba mate. There are many different kinds you can use.

 

My guampa, a closer look. 

 

My bombilla. Not all bombillas are pink, but I thought it was fun. 

 

The yerba after a few drinks.

Another, non mandatory, part of drinking tereré is yuyos,or medicinal herbs. A lot of Paraguayans will add these herbs to the water when they drink Tereré. There are so many possible yuyos and each of them have some purpose like helping digestion or good for headaches. 

A list of different yuyos we learned about in training.

Now onto the rules/customs. When drinking tereré you are usually sitting in a circle. There is one person who is in charge of the tereré (usually the youngest person), they have the guampa and fill it with water from the termo and pass it to each person in the circle. When you get the guampa you drink the whole thing and when you are finished pass it to the person in charge, where they refill it and pass it to the next person. When you no longer want your turn with the tereré you just say "Gracias" to the person in charge. (This for some reason was very hard concept for us as trainees to understand)

Drinking T-ray in my new house.

Elena serving me tereré

A lot of little kids don't drink Tereré, but Alex loves it.

Passing the guampa back.

Tereré is such a huge part of life in Paraguay its almost hard to explain. When Paraguayans ask me if we drink it in the United States and I say no, their usual response is "Well what do you drink then?" At work, instead of taking coffee breaks they take Tereré breaks, students drink it at school, I was even at a spa the other day (getting my free massage that I won at the 4th of July picnic) and there were girls drinking tereré in the sauna. It is so much more than a drink too, since the act of drinking it is such a group effort, it is an excuse to sit and talk with your friends. It is a great way to meet new people as well, instead of having those awkward silences, you can just sit and Tereré.