Paraguay - Yvytyruzu

We visited a regional park one morning called Yvytyruzu - and got to explore a small stream and waterfalls (cataratas). We had the place almost to ourselves. The butterflies there were amazing - so many, and so varied. I could have spent an entire day there. They're elusive, though, and photo opportunities were mostly non-existent.

Our friends enjoy the beautiful weather.

This butterfly was easily 4-5 inches across. The blue on the wings is so brilliant, you initially didn't notice the black.

These butterflies were about the size of Monarchs.

Here's the only other visitor to the park while we were there. He was a friendly enough guy, but seemed to be curious about our camera bags, so I hurried down to move them before he decided to get too close to them.

Paraguay!

With the exception of Canada, Don and I had never been abroad; that is until recently, when we traveled to Paraguay and Brazil with his brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Terri, who are seasoned, international travelers. Their experience put us at ease, which is a good thing. I won't bore you with a lot of text. Instead I'll inundate you with lots of images, and with them, try my best to share our remarkable experience.

Paraguay is a country of contrasts. We stayed in this beautiful, comfortable guest house of our marvelous hosts.

Don and I took a walk our first morning there, and this is a typical rural home belonging to the Guarani - the native people of Paraguay. Their language is Guarani - not Spanish, not Portuguese - something entirely different. Spanish is spoken in most cities, though.

Cattle roam freely everywhere (as do chickens, turkeys, hogs, dogs... The device in the calf's nose is in place to wean it from its mother.

The season is late spring/early summer in Paraguay, and everything was lush and green. Temps were warm, but not overly humid. 

It was fun seeing new blooms and berries.

...and seeing new bird species...

This was a noisy one!

Notice the blooms in the tree, and the wandering Jew growing as ground cover. 

A typical rural power line. (Wait til you see the typical city power line - more scary than this by a long shot!

The rural road leading to our host's home. Notice the power pole in this image - it's made of cement. We saw quite a few of these as well.

I'll do my best to post a few pictures daily for the next week or so, so stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!