STOP PRESS:
Paraguay was involved in the WORST WAR ever held on South American territory. If this war had never happened it would have been the world’s 5th largest country instead of Brazil and had 5 times the population !!! Read all about it in just 5 bullet points at the bottom of this post after all the photos. You can also read about two terrible Nazis who escaped to Paraguay.
Friday 6 March 2026 was a huge day for me in Paraguay because I visited the seven major towns of the so-called “Golden Circuit” – a must-do, 8hr, 177km driving loop from and back to Asuncion. This loop gives a terrific insight into local culture, craft, cuisine and churches. My driver was Noberto and my guide Dennis – the half-brother of Octavio, who was yesterday’s guide for Asuncion Old Town.
Our “Golden Circuit” loop stopped for visits in the following towns: Luque, Aregua, Ypacarai, Yaguaron, Ca'acupe, Itagua and San Bernardino. The term “Golden” refers to the “best of” similar to the term “Golden Years of Hollywood” but in this case, I would see the best of Paraguay, ie, leftovers from its hey-days before the Triple Alliance War of 1864-1870. The landscape is all flat with varying degrees of vegetation spanning grasslands to palm trees to lush bush. All of it is steaming hot and humid reaching 36C and 90%.
My first stop was the adjacent city of Luque, which I ran to the day before. Here I saw the Residentas Monument, which I ran past, the Santa Rosa Cathedral and tasted the number one snack in Paraguay called “Chipa Almidon”, a Donut made from Yuca & Corn Flour with Cheese. The Residentas Monument features a huge statue of a woman and her son, dedicated to the many mothers and sons that died in the Triple Alliance War, forced to enlist by dictator Francisco Solano López.
The second stop was less austere. The town of Aregua was full of Artisan Ceramics on either side of the main road going through it. Animals, vases, cups and many other types, started by the indigenous Guaraní and made of cement, plaster or clay. Some are plain but most are brightly painted. I also visited the Sign Cathedral here.
The third stop of Ypacarai was an extension of my visit to the old Asuncion railway station. I saw the old Ypacarai railway station as it is stop number 3 of 38 from Asuncion to Encarnacion (that I will journey to tomorrow by coach).
The fourth stop in Yaguaron had the best church: St Buena Ventura Church. It is a Baroque edifice built in 1755 entirely of wood – inside and outside – walls, ceiling and floors. The wood comes from the “Arbol Yndyreimi” tree, which is now extinct, making this a very unique and priceless edifice. At 1755, it is the oldest, original-state church in Paraguay. Everything you see is intricate and beautifully coloured in natural pigments extracted from plants and rocks. It is indeed unique.
The fifth stop at Ca'acupe featured yet another church but this time a Basilica – huge, modern and grande. It was consecrated in 1989 by Saint Pope John Paul II and took 43yrs to build. It has a huge courtyard and on the feast day of 3 September each year, up to 100,000 faithful gather inside and outside to celebrate.
Lunch was at the second-last sixth stop just outside Itagua. This is a huge facility, containing a buffet-style restaurant, hotel and upstairs function centre for weddings, baptisms and conferences. It attracts hundreds of people during school holidays on their way to the huge Basilica and to the lake that features my last stop of San Bernadino. It is here that I tasted typical Paraguayan dishes. The most famous is Vori Vori which is actually a soup. Chicken broth with finely chopped veggies and dumplings made from yuca or corn flour or both. This dish is an award winner: World's Best Dish (2025/2026): top spot in TasteAtlas's "100 Best Dishes in the World" with a score of 4.64 out of 5. It surpassed world-famous items like Italy’s Pizza Napoletana. Also voted Best Soup in the World (2023, 2024, 2025) by TasteAtlas. I also tried Paraguayan beef – both BBQ and stewed because like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, Paraguay is famous for its beef. This lunch was so huge and delicious that I had no need to eat dinner that night.
The seventh and last stop was the best and my favourite of all the loop – San Bernadino. This is purely a holiday spot because it is on Ypacarai Lake. There are only 5,000 permanent residents here but enough holiday houses and hotel accommodation to house 80,000 visitors. The town is very neat and tidy with lots of cafes and restaurants including Burger King and KFC !!! It is lined with palm trees and a myriad of tropical plants and looks great. German and Swiss immigrants established San Bernardino on August 24, 1881, following the devastating War of the Triple Alliance. The settlement was part of a broader effort by the Paraguayan government to repopulate and rebuild the country by offering cheap land to European colonists. I visited the lakeside “San Bernadino” Sign, an outdoor organ that you tap and play music and the main beach and jetty. Not sure why they call it “beach” because you cannot swim in the lake !!! Why ? It is heavily polluted due to the discharge of untreated industrial and domestic sewage, agricultural runoff and solid waste dumping. The damage was so bad that attempts to clean it up have not been sufficient for swimming. You can enjoy many water sports here but not swimming. What a pity because it is quite scenic.
Dennis also told me that the Paraguayan dictator most famously associated with providing refuge to Nazis after World War II was Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled the country from 1954 to 1989. Written records confirm he orchestrated the defection of notorious Nazis Josef Mengele and Eduard Roschmann, which you can read briefly at the end of this post.
SPECIAL POST 1 OF 2:
NOTORIOUS NAZIS IN PARAGUAY
Josef Mengele ("The Angel of Death"): Perhaps the most infamous, the Auschwitz doctor fled from Argentina to Paraguay in 1959 after the West German government issued a warrant for his arrest. He was even granted Paraguayan citizenship under his real name in 1959. He lived at a ranch in Hohenau before moving to Brazil in 1960 or 1961 following the capture of Adolf Eichmann.
Eduard Roschmann ("The Butcher of Riga"): The former SS officer responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Latvian Jews fled to Paraguay in July 1977 to avoid extradition from Argentina. He died a month later in a hospital in Asunción under the alias Federico Wegener.
SPECIAL POST 2 OF 2:
THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE WAR – IN A NUTSHELL
The War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870), also known as the Paraguayan War, was the deadliest international conflict in Latin American history. It pitted Paraguay against a coalition of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Cause: Long-standing competition for control over the Río de la Plata river systems.
Catalyst: Solano López declared war on Brazil after it refused his troops passage through its territory.
End: The conflict concluded on 1 March 1870 when Solano López was killed at the Battle of Cerro Corá.
Impact: Paraguay lost between 60% and 70% of its total population (80% of males) AND lost 40% of its pre-war territory to Brazil and Argentina AND the nation's infrastructure was destroyed.
END OF POST
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