Paraguay from every angle
Life, culture, landscapes. All that is Paraguay, and my life hereParaguay. A green land.
Despite the inevitable illegal logging and forest fires Paraguay remains a very green and heavily wooded land. Even where the trees have been cleared they are on the whole replaced by pasture rather than concrete. The picture is a little different in the thorn...
Eating out in restaurants in Paraguay
Anyone eating out in Paraguay will very quickly discover how common buffet restaurants are. They are to be found everywhere from high streets to supermarkets to shopping centers. What they offer is good reasonably priced food without all the hassle of making a...
Fire! Fire! Dry season danger in Paraguay
Winter in Paraguay is the dry season, a time of year when the grass dry or if there has been frost, die back leaving just straw behind. All this turns the ground to a tinderbox in grave danger from fire. So it was for me a couple of winters back. I returned home after...
A cow for the home
In rural Paraguay it is common for a household to own a cow or two and for some to own many more than that. Those animals are often to be seen tied up along roadsides or in gardens chomping away on the grass. As well as representing an investment a cow can also...
Tranquilo with punctures
To get anything done in Paraguay it is vital to remain calm and relaxed, knowing that in all likelyhood some sort of solution will shortly come along and that even if it doesn't not to worry. The Paraguayans have a word for this, tranquilo. All that ever happens is...
Traditional herbal remedies in Paraguay
The use of plants and herbs in traditional medicine is widespread in Paraguay. Everyone knows which plants or yuyo to use and where they grow. In addition every market has a stall piled high with remedies. They are all picked growing wild and are of course all...
Terere the national beverage
No scene in Paraguay would be complete without someone filling a small cup from a flask and then sucking up the liquid through a silver straw. England may have it's tea, but in Paraguay it is terere that rules supreme. All day everyday terere is being drunk and every...
Lizards of Paraguay
With so much green open space and a low population density outside Asunción Paraguay is a haven for wild life. Those wild spaces cover a number of habitats, from forest to grassland, from swamp to semi desert each ideal for different species of lizard. One group of...
When it rains it really does in Paraguay
Lying across the Tropic of Capricorn Paraguay has a generally hot and dry subtropical climate with many days of cloudless blue skies. However a look at the abundance of lush green plants would tell that the land must also be well watered. The rains do come and are...