One afternoon my sister-in-law took us to the Mariscal Lopez Shopping Mall. It is a modern shopping mall, just like in the U.S., but we also found a wonderful little store that sells original art by Paraguayan artists. For less than $500 we brought home two pieces painted by Esperanza Gill, a world famous Paraguayan artist, and three pieces in which tropical flowers and leaves had been carved into wood blocks and painted. Buy artwork in Paraguay is beautiful and so cheap to frame compared to in the US.
Paraguayan lace is actually pretty famous in South America. I now own a large cream lace table cloth, two different sets of lace place mats, and lace napkins. My husband has a nice lace shirt and so does my mom and many of my friends own lace table runners. My mother-in-law in Nicaragua actually has a very strong business selling Paraguayan lace. We purchased lace shirts at a somewhat high-end store in Asuncion called Catedral, and then we went to an inexpensive market to buy the other pieces of lace.
In Zona Centro (downtown Asuncion) there are street vendors everywhere, as well as Guarani Indians who’ve set up blankets with crafts, such as leather and coconut belts, carved wooden boxes, and beaded jewelry.