Visiting Asuncion

Welcome to Asuncion, perhaps one of the least visited capital cities in South America! Some say the city can be explored in a day, but even after several days I left feeling like there was plenty more to see and do. Without knowing what to expect, many things about Asuncion surprised me, and the beautiful presidential palace was just one example. The Palacio de los López has stood for more than 150 years and is one of the city’s most impressive landmarks. I visited during December, when a massive Christmas tree stood on the front lawn. Just a few blocks away is Paraguay’s National Congress building, photographed below.

I arrived in Paraguay late at night, but by chance I had a unique experience first thing the next morning. I was walking alone down the street and decided to photograph this helicopter because it seemed to be hovering nearby. Not even a minute later, all the traffic came to a halt and what I assumed was the president’s motorcade drove right past me. Dozens of vehicles and armed guards passed only a few feet away. Since I had only been in Paraguay for a matter of hours, I decided that photographing the motorcade and potentially getting myself into trouble wasn’t the best way to start my trip!

I ended up spending four days in Asuncion and three nights at the Bavarian Hotel. My room cost less than $40 a night and was surprisingly large, with air conditioning and even access to a swimming pool. Very few people I encountered in Paraguay spoke English, including at my hotel. My Spanish is terrible, but it’s usually enough to communicate if someone is patient with me. I explained that I wanted to visit some places far outside the capital, and without exaggeration the hotel staff made nearly a dozen phone calls and created a list of transportation options for me. I almost felt bad for how much effort they put into helping me, but they didn’t seem to mind at all!

While I was in the capital I did what I usually do when visiting a new city: explore! One of my first photos besides the helicopter was of this cobblestone neighborhood. It wasn’t far from where I was staying, so initially I assumed my hotel was simply in one of the nicer parts of town. While that may have been true, I soon discovered that tree-lined cobblestone streets could be found throughout Asuncion. In another neighborhood I noticed streets named after famous foreign military leaders, including Charles de Gaulle, Mac Mahon, and, in the example below, General Douglas MacArthur.

My first morning in the city I was looking for a cafe where I could sit down and plan the rest of my Paraguayan adventure. I found something online that didn’t appear too far away and walked about 20 minutes to get there. Instead of arriving at a little cafe, I found this massive complex. At the time I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking at. The outside resembled a cathedral, while signs around the grounds pointed toward different facilities, including a store and pizzeria. I later learned that this was Parroquia San Rafael Asunción, a religious and charitable complex that provides assistance to people in need.

The church itself appeared to be open when I visited, but most of the grounds were empty. I was able to wander around on my own for a while, although I would have appreciated the place much more at the time had I understood the work being done there. While exploring one of the courtyards I found several birds, including parrots and toucans. This toucan earned a place on my page mostly because of those amazing bright blue eyes.

This church near the city center was much easier to identify. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, commonly known as Asunción Cathedral, is one of the city’s most prominent Catholic churches. Unfortunately I didn’t go inside, which looking back was probably a mistake. The cathedral is much more impressive in person than it appears in this photograph and has stood in the heart of Asuncion for generations.

This memorial is located just a block from the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. The memorial itself didn’t get much of my attention because I was more interested in what was happening around the square. Many people appeared to be homeless and had constructed makeshift shelters using plastic sheets and other materials. One person even had a small campfire going. I later read warnings from travelers describing the plaza negatively because of the tents and garbage. While some of those descriptions matched what I saw, I personally never felt threatened or received any negative attention while walking through the area. Just across the street I came across what appeared to be a neighborhood block party and took the photo below.

Most of my photos from Asuncion are of places I simply stumbled across. Without a long checklist of tourist attractions to visit, I found walking through the city was one of the best ways to experience it. I’m sure I missed several important places, but I also discovered things I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. One example was this outdoor collection of photographs showing different aspects of Paraguayan life. The images ranged from everyday activities to politics and the performing arts. The photo below shows one of them up close.

I didn’t notice a particularly large art scene in Asuncion, although that could easily be because I never specifically went looking for one. I did pass an art gallery during one of my walks and took the photograph above. If street art counts, there was plenty of that scattered around the city as well, including the creative example below.

Farther away from the city center I came across a large field where two soccer games were taking place. I’m not sure how serious the league was, but the players certainly seemed to be giving it everything they had. They had uniforms, referees, and a decent crowd watching from some small bleachers. It was exactly the kind of everyday scene I enjoy finding while wandering through a city.

In another part of the city I came across this game, which I had never seen before. I wasn’t sure exactly what the rules were, but it appeared to share some similarities with soccer. I was initially worried that the players might not appreciate a random foreigner photographing them, but instead they were incredibly friendly. Once they noticed me watching, they even invited me to come over and play!

One thing that surprised me was the amount of modern development and infrastructure throughout Asuncion. Before arriving, I think I subconsciously assumed that because the city wasn’t well known internationally it would be noticeably behind some of its neighbors. That definitely wasn’t the case. I wasn’t particularly interested in spending my trip visiting shopping malls, but I passed several of them while exploring. The one above was relatively small, while farther north I saw a massive multilevel shopping center large enough to create its own traffic jam. Another smaller mall caught my attention with the Heineken Christmas tree below.

There were also far more places to go out in Asuncion than I expected, ranging from small family-run restaurants to malls and much classier establishments. There were plenty of romantic places around town as well, although this couple apparently decided a city park worked just fine. I saw a little public affection here and there, but nothing approaching what I’d previously seen in neighboring Argentina!

Like many cities in Latin America, Asuncion had obvious differences between wealthy and poorer neighborhoods. Once again though, I was surprised by how many attractive residential areas I came across, while many of the less affluent neighborhoods I walked through still felt relatively safe to me. The impressive building above looked like it might have been an embassy when I first saw it, but it turned out to be a bank. There were several other impressive buildings nearby that unfortunately I didn’t photograph.

I actually liked Asuncion for not having a long checklist of famous attractions. Having a plan is nice, but sometimes having no plan leads you into places you never would have visited otherwise. My most unique example came when I decided to use Recoleta Cemetery as a shortcut. I figured I could simply walk straight through and come out on the street on the other side. Instead, I discovered what felt like a small city of the dead. The structures in these photographs almost resemble tiny homes, but they’re actually elaborate tombs.

I seriously got lost in this place for nearly 20 minutes. I kept walking in what I thought was the correct direction until I eventually reached a massive wall. I could hear cars driving along the street on the other side, but there was no exit anywhere in sight. Other than this cat and a few kittens that quickly ran away, at times it felt like I was the only living thing in the entire place.

Getting lost forced me to wander through different avenues and see much more of the cemetery than I originally intended. Some sections were incredibly elaborate, like the tombs I first encountered, while others were far more humble. The tiny tomb above appeared to belong to a child. Other sections were deteriorating badly, whether from age, damage, or neglect. The casket below certainly looked like someone had tried to break into it—or maybe something had tried to break out?

While we’re already feeling morbid, I’ll move on to my last stop in Asuncion: the zoo and its natural history museum. Shortly after entering the museum I came across this mummy. According to the information displayed when I visited, it was around 700 years old and associated with the Calchaquí people of the Andes.

When I traveled into El Chaco, one of Paraguay’s wildest and most remote regions, I had really hoped to see a giant anteater. The closest I got in the wild were warning signs along the highway. I figured the zoo might finally give me a chance, but the only anteater I found was this preserved one inside the natural history museum! The museum had a large collection of preserved wildlife, ranging from insects and lizards to the impressive collection of snakes below. The “do not touch” warning seemed a little unnecessary, since I can’t imagine too many visitors wanting to handle these things.

While I failed to see an anteater, capybara, or tapir during my trip through El Chaco, I did at least get to see a tapir at the zoo. I hadn’t realized how large these animals could get. They may look harmless, but some can weigh several hundred pounds. Seeing one up close gave me a much better appreciation for just how substantial these strange-looking animals really are.

The most depressing zoo I’d ever visited was in Niger, where some of the caged animals seemed to barely have enough room to move around. Compared with that experience, the animals I saw in Asuncion appeared to have considerably more space. The zoo had several monkey enclosures and a large collection of different species. I wasn’t able to identify the two I photographed, but the one below was definitely my favorite.

Last from Asuncion are these photos of some very well-fed birds that had plenty of room to wander around. They shared a large field with goats, and feeding them seemed to be either allowed or at least tolerated. They lined the fence waiting for food while locals happily tossed them scraps. Oddly enough, I found their feet almost more interesting than the birds themselves. Up close they had a surprisingly prehistoric, reptilian appearance.