Like the hearty Mbeju cakes that are sold on every corner of Paraguay’s capital, the city of Asuncion is packed with energy, meat and a full-flavour of raw and real Latin American life. This is a place that’s forward thinking in excess—with a youthful demographic, bountiful big business buildings and a smattering of cool bars—and yet proudly traditional in its ways-with plenty of classic colonial frontispieces and monuments declaring its long history as one of the kingpins of Spanish exploration in the Americas.
Follow your Asuncion tour guide to the plazas and side streets of the central districts, where it’s possible to sip yerba mate teas with chatty locals weaving in and out of Spanish and the earthy tones of Paraguayan Guarani. Explore the city’s Government Palace along with its new business centres, and the all-new shopping malls of Shopping del Sol and Mariscal López, or absorb the frantic energy of Asuncion’s famous Avenida Sivio Pettirossi bazaar. When you tire of the city, consider taking an excursion to nearby Aregua for its sleepy streets, or to the UNESCO-attested Jesuit Ruins in Trinidad further afield.