Travel Guide Paraguarí

66 km from Asunción, Paraguarí is a town that lives from market gardening. The capital of the eponymous department offers few services in the urban area: no bank (ATM at the Frutería Paraguarí), no restaurants other than ice-cream parlours and pizzerias, no hotels (most of them are on the road to Piribebuy). People come here especially for its landscapes of the Cordillera de los Altos. The city is surrounded by hills: Cerro Santo Tomás, Cerro Perõ (Cerro Pelado), Cerro Hü (Cerro Negro) and Cerro Mba'e (Porteño). Ask at the municipalidad (+595 531 432 204) for their access and the contact of guides. The main points of interest in the city are the church of Santo Tomás Apóstol, the market, the old train station, the building of the Gobernación (former Jesuit estancia) and the Kambá Kokué district. During the patron saint fiestas of Santo Tomás, around 21 December, the inhabitants participate in processions and bullfights (without killing): "toro moñaroha". Paraguarí is indeed known as the Ciudad taurina. After the departure of the Jesuits, Spaniards from Burgos and Andalusia, great bullfighters, settled in Paraguarí. The Cerro Perõ art festival in January and the Holy Week also attract a lot of people.