Paraguay travel blog by Mark Berman -
April 2016
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The Center for Ceramics
Aregua, 30kms from
Asuncion, is the home of ceramics or ceramica as the locals say, in this part of Paraguay. It's an unbelievable sight to see a whole street on both sides
lined piece by piece with colorful ceramic art! These thousands of items are made for home and garden, wall and floor. Animals, Disney characters,
religous figures, traditional figures, wall plaques, pot plant holders, statue sized figures and small souvenirs. A kaleidoscope of colors!
Around Town
From the main street of ceramics up the cobblestone street sits the church on the hill surrounded by green lawns. At the foot of the lawns is
an art gallery called 'El Cantaro' which has contemporary, indigenous and popular art on display and also some cool wooden characters outside
playing musical instruments. On the other side of the main street across farmland is the blue Ypacarai Lake. Aregua is also known for colonial
architecture with houses from this period scattered around town.
The Strawberry Festival
The 'City of Strawberries' is another name given to Aregua because it produces
the best strawberries in the country and in very large quantities. Here are a couple of pages I found about the annual Strawberry Festival at
Lo and Be Told and
Paraguayan Ponderings. Time to whip the cream!
Bus to Itaugua
After visiting Aregua I hopped on a bus to nearby Itaugua which is known for
its colorful weaving. Unfortunately I could not find anything of this around town and everybody I asked seemed to know nothing about it. How
strange! I believe the places where the women make this special weaving are located slightly up the road out of town. Anyway, I had lunch in
Itaugua and took a photo of the church and the 2 colonial buildings they have.
Bus to Asuncion
From Itaugua I headed by local bus back to
Asuncion which took about
30-40mins. The traffic is heavy and slow coming in and out of Asuncion, the buses stop every few hundred meters to drop off or pick somebody up!
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Pretty woman made of ceramic with flowers in her hair and painted nicely made in Aregua.
Colorful ceramic plant holders shaped like spinning tops, wall display in Aregua.
Colorful plant holders and wall plaques, a few owls, ceramic art from Aregua.
Woman with painted face and flowers in her hair, ceramic work in Aregua.
