Americas

[Visited: January 2023]

With one more day left in Paraguay, I decided I wanted to see more nature instead of another colonial town. A new friend wanted to join, and we decided to rent a car and drive south of Asunción. It is a Sunday, and the roads are all but empty. Especially once we leave the city behind, the driving is very easy. To maximize the day, we have left early - without breakfast. When we reach a bigger town, we try to find something to eat, but that turns out to be more difficult than we had imagined. Shops and restaurants are closed. We finally find a small shop selling snacks, and we make sure to buy several bottles of water for our upcoming hike. We continue driving small country roads, and a few hours after leaving Asunción, we reach the entrance of Ybycuí National Park.
The friendly guards sell us our ticket, and explain how best to visit the park. We drive a few more kilometres, and leave the car at a grassy parking. We walk to the edge of some rocks, and find ourselves on top of a small waterfall. Below us, people are taking a refreshing dip in the water. I feel sweat streaming down my spine, and can't wait to jump in the water myself. But we first want to hike to the various waterfalls. We see quite a few Paraguayan couples and families having lunch on the grass. This is the perfect getaway for the weekend. There is not one group of people without a thermos with bombilla to drink mate, the tea of the region. We cross the small river, and follow the trail to Salto Guaraní. It is clear that most people stay near the parking: we see very few on the trail.
Salto Guaraní turns out to have a tiny trickle of water ending in a small pool. It lies completely in the shade. A small group of Paraguayans has done the trek here and are enjoying the quiet. We hike back, pass the bigger waterfall we have seen before, and continue south on the trail towards Salto Escondido. This is a longer trail, with a small river on our right hand. To our surprise, we see one couple coming down; otherwise, we have this trail all to ourselves. On the way, the heat makes me dream about a dip in cool water. When we arrive at the waterfall, it turns out to be just a modest trickle coming down the rocks and the foliage. A dip is impossible here, if only because there is not even a pool to dip in. We walk back, try various viewpoints, but trees are blocking the view. When we come back to the main waterfall again, it is now filled with people. We decide to skip the dip, and drive to the museum instead. Housed in what once was an iron factory, it tells the story of producing iron, and also its destruction during the War of the Triple Alliance. It is time to drive back to Asunción, with a short stop in Areguá on the shore of Lake Ypacaraí.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Ybycui National Park (Paraguay). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Ybycui National Park.
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Ybycui National Park > Paraguay > Americas

[Visited: January 2023]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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