Peculiar Paraguay: 7 Weird and Hidden Attractions
A mud-flinging festival, mysterious carvings, a battleship cemetery and more.
1. Fiesta del Tujú, Nueva Londres
The tiny town of Nueva Londres, Caaguazú, holds its fiestas patronales every January. But it’s not the displays of horsemanship or bravado in the bullring that pull in the crowds. Instead, visitors are drawn to the event on the final day: an all-out rave that sees thousands of revellers rolling around in slicks of thick, reddish dirt.
The origins of the Fiesta del Tujú (The Mud Party), dating back to the distant 1970s, are shrouded in mystery. Some say a group of friends got drunk and started showering each other with beer. Others, that the bullfight was called off due to rain, so spectators decided to start grappling with each other in the muck instead. Nowadays, a fire truck from nearby Coronel Oviedo provides the water, soaking attendees and forming a giant puddle.
The crowd does the rest: dancing, performing sliding tackles, and chucking handfuls of orange clay at each other. The festival is fast becoming the place for public figures to demonstrate their down-to-earth credentials. Miguel Prieto, mayor of Ciudad del Este and a potential presidential contender in 2028, dropped by in January; the British ambassador got stuck in last year. “The Paraguayan Londoners” — he wrote — “know how to party.”
2. Rock Art, Itá Letra
Some 20km along a rutted track to the east of Villarrica, hidden in the heart of the Ybytyruzú range, a series of caverns are incised with quartz tools and daubed with white pigment: a remarkable canvas of constellations, animal prints, abstract, wavy lines and fertility symbols.
The pictograms and petroglyphs — collectively known as Itá Letra — were popularised by mining prospectors in the 1970s. The Nazi collaborationist turned influential pseudo-anthropologist Jacques de Mahieu (1915-90) claimed they were carved by Vikings. (For context, he also argued the Knights Templar made it to Mexico before Columbus).
A more serious study, published in 2011 by Spain’s Museo de Altamira in conjunction with Paraguay’s Ministry of Culture, points to a far older and entirely homegrown origin. The rock art was created up to 5,000 years ago, researchers concluded, and is similar to examples found across Brazil and Patagonia — as well as at Jasuka Venda in Amambay, still a sacred site for the Pãi Tavyterã people.
3. The Chair Museum, Asunción
Like sitting down? I know just the place. Argentine architect Jorge Jury has been fascinated by chairs — functional, beautiful, yet barely appreciated — since an early age. In 2013, he opened up MUSA (Museo de Sillas Asunción) near the Jardín Botánico with 300 examples to share his passion for seating with the world.
Today, his collection has swelled to over 700, spread over four floors, centuries of history and multiple continents. You can find wooden benches carved by Guaraní artisans in the shape of tortoises, the famous leather Butterfly chairs made by Argentina’s Grupo Austral, reproductions of the Wassily and Robie 1 masterworks by Marcel Breuer and Frank Lloyd Wright, and some of the monobloc chess-piece-shaped stools crafted by Ray and Charles Eames.
Jury’s mission: “to tell the history of design through the chair.” His collection is open to the public without charge Monday-Friday, and on Saturday with prior appointment. Free guided visits can also be arranged with 24 hours’ notice. Taking a pew never looked so stylish.
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