JARDÍN BOTÁNICO

This is Asunción's green lung. The Botanical and Zoological Garden covers 230 hectares, with shady paths, century-old trees and semi-liberty animals(aguara guasu, armadillos, monkeys...). It occupies the former quinta of President Carlos Antonio López, who had the train station and Santísima Trinidad church built nearby. The garden was laid out in 1919 by German scientists Carlos Friebig and Ana Gertz. It belongs to the municipality, which runs a zoo where you can observe Paraguayan fauna (giant anteater, capybara, taguá, jaguar, monkeys, etc.). Despite the vastness of the park, the cages are not very large, and watching these poor creatures turn around in such small wire-framed spaces makes you feel uneasy, and you prefer to continue on your way. Further on are two fine colonial houses dating from the 1840s: one houses the Museum of Natural History, with its collections of stuffed and formaldehyde-preserved specimens (sensitive souls please); the other, Casa Alta, houses a museum of history and antiquities. At the entrance, the Solar de Artigas pays tribute to the Uruguayan hero José Gervasio Artigas (1764-1850), who was exiled to Paraguay for thirty years and spent the last five years of his life in this house. This part of the park was donated to the Uruguayan government in 1903, in gratitude for the return of the trophies from the War of the Triple Alliance. Here you'll find the Artigas Karaí Guasú Museum and the yvyrá pytá tree under which the Uruguayan hero spent his long afternoons drinking maté.