A la Carte Options

• Centro de Artes Visuales, Museo de Barro, a non profit museum aimed to show the popular art,  indigenous art and the urban art of the Paraguay. Excellent.
• The National Pantheon
• The Cathedral which dates from 1687 and has an enormous gilded altar and many 18th- and 19th-century religious statues and paintings.
• Casa de Cultura Paraguaya
• Casa de la Independencia, Asuncion’s oldest building (1772) which was once the secret meeting place of revolutionaries plotting to break away from Spain. Relics from the May 1811 revolution, which achieved Paraguay's independence, are now displayed here.
• Casa Viola, one of the few surviving colonial buildings which has been restored and now serves as a museum
• The River Port which is important to Paraguay’s economy and history.
• Visit to typical harp makers workshop to see how harp and guitars are handcrafted.
• Museo Etnografico Andres Barbero, which features a collection of indigenous artwork
• Plaza Uruguaya, a busy plaza and marketplace near the former railway station. In the terminal you can see a well-preserved, though no longer used, old steam locomotive.
• Plaza de los Heroes provides a good, shady place to rest and people-watch. Indigenous people sell feather headdresses and bows/arrows, artisans put their wares on display, and vendors sell anything from chewing gum to knife sharpeners.
• Palma Street to look over the main downtown street full of commerce and hand made craftworks.
• La chacarita, Paraguay's shantytown. Rickety tin, wood, and bare-brick huts along the river front.  Initially a settlement of squatter, it is steadily establishing itself as a permanent community and slowly becoming urbanized with the installation of electricity and a sewage system.
• Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), which has a collection of paintings and sculpture by both Paraguayan and South American artists and houses some of Paraguay's most important documents.
• Dinner at one of the restaurants that offers a show of Paraguayan harp music and dance

• Travel along dirt road and enjoy the view that the Cordillera offers.  See why these hilly high lands were considered strategic look-out points during the disastrous War of the 70s.
• Visit ladies in Pirayu that make traditional ñanduti (spiders web lace), crochet clothing and table decorations, and beautiful hammocks, all hand-made with natural fibers.
• Visit the historical museum and the Franciscan style church in Yaguaron that was built in the 1600s and has been restored to make it one of the finest period churches in the country.
• Enjoy a typical Paraguayan food for lunch and a tour of a country guest farm.  The farm includes a mini-zoo with farm animals, wild animals from the Chaco region, monkeys, parrots and other exotic birds from the region, etc.  Go for a horseback ride (or ride in the motorized cart if you prefer) to view the surrounding area and see cayman (alligators) bathing near the pond.  
• Visit the ceramists in Ita that handcraft clay into sculptures, bowls and other items.
• Visit Itagua the most well-known town for making and selling ñanduti (spiders web lace).  At the shops in Itagua you will be able to see the traditional fine thread ñanduti that is exquisite, but extremely labor intensive and becoming a lost art.

Northern quadrant - Day 2

• Enter the basilica in Caacupe to view the Virgin of Caacupe, the patron saint of Paraguay.  Learn about the annual pilgrimage to Caacupe and the virgin's significance to the people of Paraguay
• Visit Atyra, a town that claims to be the "Cleanest Town in Paraguay" and is the center for leather crafts: mate cups, leather covered thermos, belts, shoes, bread baskets, chairs, etc.  Time and weather permitting, we may visit Casa del Monte resort for a meal/snack and enjoy the pool with a spectacular view from the peak of the hill.
• Weather permitting, we will travel by dirt road, past ox carts and people engaged in brick making, on our way to Altos. Here we will visit a wood carver that carves birds, mythological characters, masks out of a soft lightweight wood.  He will give us a demonstration and you may even have the chance to try carving the wood with a machete (with parental permission, of course!)
• From Altos (meaning high lands), we will descend to the popular resort town of San Bernardino where you can go on an optional boat ride on the famous Ypacari Lake.

• From Caacupe, travel to Piribebuy, the only village where the special 60-listas pochos are still made.  Optional visit to the house of one of the few women who still hand-weave this type of poncho using 60 thin pieces of string every centimeter.
• Enjoy the scenic drive through the Cordillera to Paraguari.
• Travel through fields of sugar cane into the heart of the countryside to reach the hidden Salto Cristal waterfalls.  We will park about half a mile from the top of the falls and then travel by foot.  We will descend the slope, with the support of rocks and tree trunks, until we reach the stream.  Then we will proceed upstream about 100 yards until we reach the falls (depending on the amount of water it may be possible to jump from rock to rock, otherwise we will need to wade through the water).  Salto Cristal is 42 meters high and absolutely spectacular.  Weather permitting you may want to swim in the crystal clear pool at the foot of the waterfall. 
• We will enjoy a picnic lunch at the falls, then return to La Colmena to have dinner at the Japanese Restaurant and Hotel.  Early last century there were no settlements in the region and Stroessner gave land to Japanese settlers who built up a lovely town.  The owner of the hotel is a very friendly Japanese woman who makes wonderful meals - especially when she has fresh hand-made tofu (I don't usually like tofu, but hers is wonderful!)
• Return to hotel.

Day 1 (half day)

• Leave in the afternoon and travel in private transport to Foz, Brazil. By traveling through the border town Ciudad del Este in the evening, you will avoid the traffic and hustling. If you want to experience the hustle and bustle of Ciudad del Este, we can leave earlier in the day.
• Arrive to hotel in Foz.

Day 2

• Optional: Spend the morning at the AquaMania Water Park.
• Lunch at Iguazu Falls National Park (Argentina).
• Visit the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls and spend the day exploring the nature trails that allow you to experience the falls up close.
• Take a high speed boat ride that takes you beneath the falls!
• Return to hotel for dinner.

Day 3

• Optional: Spend the morning at the AquaMania Water Park.
• Lunch at Iguazu Falls National Park (Brazil).
• Visit the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls for a panoramic view of Iguazu Falls.
• Visit the Bird Park, featuring more than 900 birds of 150 species, various reptiles and 25 species of butterflies.  Snack at the bird park, if desired.
• Other optional activities: take a helicopter ride over the falls and/or Itaipu dam, Macuco Safari guided tour through the forest and boat ride beneath the falls, rappel, rafting, and more... (time permitting), visit Itaipu Dam the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.
• Travel to Bella Vista, Paraguay to hotel near the Jesuit Ruins.

Day 4

• Visit a Yerba Mate packaging plant and learn how this traditional Paraguayan tea is dried, seasoned and packaged.
• Lunch at ranch
• Optional (weather permitting): Go on a horseback ride through fields and forest and cross the stream on a hanging bicycle. See water buffalo, a natural rock quary, and the system that pumps natural spring water from the source to the ranch and pools. Go for a short dip in the spring fed pool, if desired.
• Visit the Jesuit Ruins of Trinidad and possibly Jesus.
• Return to Asuncion.