Asunción

Founded on August 15, 1537, day of the Assumption of the Virgin, it is the Paraguayan capital and maintains much of a colonial profile; it is also a city with a luscious tree and flower population, and peaceful avenues and gardens, by the bay on the Paraguay River. Nowadays, Asunción and its Metropolitan Area have a population of approximately 1.4 million people and everything a modern and cosmopolitan city can offer. Among the most interesting places for the tourist, we can mention the Cathedral, the Government Palace, a building that dates back to mid-19th Century and is currently the seat of the Presidency, the oldest one in South America; several museums, among them, Museo de Bellas Artes and la Casa de la Independencia, that keep true jewels of the national history. Panteón de los Heroes, built in 1863 as an oratory for the Virgin Nuestra Señora de la Asunción and holds the remains of the countries’ forefathers. Manzana de la Rivera, a complex of eight homes recently restored, which summarizes the architecture of the 18th and 19th Centuries in Paraguay. It is a cultural center, a space for recreation and reflection. Permanent artistic shows take place there, in addition to holding the Municipal Library. At Casa Viola, the oldest home at Manzana de la Rivera is the Museum Memoria de la Ciudad. Leaving the central part of downtown, we have long avenues bordered with trees, like Avenida Mariscal López, surrounded by beautiful and luxurious residential areas. For those wishing to do some shopping we have Calle Palma and its surrounding areas, and just outside downtown, several malls like Shopping del Sol and Mariscal López Shopping.

Paraguay

The country has a relaxed riverside capital, impressive Jesuit missions, several national parks and the vast, arid Chaco - one of South America's great wilderness areas. Paraguay is a landlocked country surrounded by Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. The country is divided into two unequal portions by the Río Paraguay, the third largest river in the western hemisphere. To the west of the river is the Chaco, a largely infertile and sparsely populated tract of land standing for around 60% of the country's area. To the east, where almost all the population is concentrated, is a well-watered, elevated plateau of grasslands, with patches of subtropical forest stretching all the way to the Río Paraná on the Brazilian and Argentinean borders. Wildlife is diverse and includes a number of birds such as the parrot and parakeet, wood stork, hyacinth macaw and the once-thought-to-be-extinct Chaco peccary, plus large reptiles such as caiman, anaconda and the boa constrictor. However, due to the dense human population of rural eastern Paraguay, mammals such as the giant anteater, manned wolf, Brazilian tapir and jaguar are fast disappearing. The climate in eastern Paraguay is humid, with rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year. Temperatures are almost universally hot in summer (January to March), averaging 35ºC (95ºF), but can drop as low as 5ºC (41ºF) in winter (July to September). Frosts at this time are not uncommon, but there is little or no snowfall. Temperatures are higher in the Chaco and rainfalls are more erratic.


Population: 6,8 millions.
Capital city: Asunción.
People: 95% Mestizo.
Language: Officially Spanish, but Guaraní is widely spoken.
Religion: 97% roman catholic, 3% mennonite and other protestants.