Paraguay Local Custom Tips by DSwede Top 5 Page for this destination

National Flower - Passion Flower

The national flower of Paraguay is the passion flower. Also known as the mburucuyá or maypop. Some people's gardens may have them, but also if you are lucky, you may find some of them in the wild too. I found them occasionally in better maintained city gardens, but also on some of the private fence/walls of some residences and offices. They are not so much in the wet jungles, but more of the wooded areas.

Website: http://country.paraguay.com/about_paraguay/national_flower.php

Road Paving Stones

I could have easily put this under "transportation" topic, but I feel it is more of a local custom instead.

The stones from Cerro Koi [for information on Cerro Koi, read my Aregua page] had been used for years, mostly as paving stones for the roads. While driving on the residential and smaller roads in Paraguay, you'll quickly know which came from Cerro Koi. The smaller stones make a smoother road, however now that the mountain is protected, they no longer pave with these stones.

Regardless, if you are driving in the main cities or the rural villages, you will find a large number of streets are paved with stones. Many streets are so rough, that driving speeds are kept slow and therefore safe. Additionally, the stones are often more resilient to asphalt in the heat of summer, so the roads may be rough, but they last longer.