Day 5 – Encarnación to Asunción and Yacaré Yrupé

Most of the last day (well, almost!) in Paraguay was driving from Encarnación to Asunción that takes about 5-6 hours. But our goal was to visit the giant water lilies located about 30 km north on Asuncion city before the end of the day.

So we started really early from Encarnacion, hoping to reach the water lilies by 2-3pm giving us enough time to explore that area. Thankfully, our hotel was helpful enough to serve super-early breakfast giving us the opportunity to start early.

Driving in Paraguay With a huge network of highways and paved roads in the country, driving in Paraguay is a breeze. Spectacular highways connect mega cities, networking in to single-lane paved roads leading to small towns and villages. Most speed limits are 80 km, while small roads it’s 35-50 km. Passing (overtaking) is common on highways with clear markings of go and no-go zones. The traffic across the north-south (Asunción-Encarnación route) was pretty empty with a few trucks passing through because of the access to Argentina on both sides, and very few personal cars.

Yacaré Yrupé

After reaching the town of Limpio, about 30 km north of Asuncion around 2pm, we saw these giant round mantle of water lilies appear in the lagoon. Known as Yacaré Yrupé (caiman basket, in Guaraní language), they can grow up to 2 meters! Thought to have been extinct, they have reappeared after 10 years. You can hire a boat from the local fishermen for 20,000 PYG for one hour and ride with these giants.

You can also take an Uber from the city to Limpio, or a taxi that’d usually cost around 150,000 PYG return (after some negotiations!).

[Giant water lilies of Yacaré Yrupé]

 
We headed back to our hotel in Asuncion for an evening siesta, before heading to the airport for a late night flight back home.
 

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = PYG 7000 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.