We took a bus to Filadelfia, the main town in the area, with the plan to do a few trips to some of the interesting places nearby. We arrived at night and were dropped right outside Hotel Florida so, as it was dark, didn't really get an impression of the town. We were, however, very pleased with our room that had actual beds (rather than bunks) and a scalding hot shower! After a quick meal we got an early night, intending to be up at 7 to go to the tourist office just opposite the hotel to plan our weekend.
As breakfast wasn't included in our room rate, we figured we could probably get a cup of tea at the tourist office. On our way out, however, the hotel receptionist told us that the tourist office was closed for the bank holiday weekend... We decided to head to the bus office instead to see if we could get a bus to Loma Plata, a nearby town, from where we hoped to be able to visit the salt lakes (and see some flamingos). Walking out to the main street was a bit of a shock. The towns were founded by Mennonite Colonies from Germany, via Canada. So, rather than a typical Paraguayan town, we found ourselves in what seemed like a cross between Germany and bible belt America. On top of that, the streets were deserted... it felt like we were in a setting for an old American movie.
As breakfast wasn't included in our room rate, we figured we could probably get a cup of tea at the tourist office. On our way out, however, the hotel receptionist told us that the tourist office was closed for the bank holiday weekend... We decided to head to the bus office instead to see if we could get a bus to Loma Plata, a nearby town, from where we hoped to be able to visit the salt lakes (and see some flamingos). Walking out to the main street was a bit of a shock. The towns were founded by Mennonite Colonies from Germany, via Canada. So, rather than a typical Paraguayan town, we found ourselves in what seemed like a cross between Germany and bible belt America. On top of that, the streets were deserted... it felt like we were in a setting for an old American movie.
When we got to the bus ticket office, we were informed that the boss had gone home for breakfast (so much for strict Mennonite working hours) so we headed on a little further and came to a (pretty deserted) shopping mall. I spotted the food hall/cafe straight away and voiced my urgent need for a cup of tea. The 'te con leche' that I ordered, actually turned out to be a cammomile teabag in hot milk...not quite what I was hoping for. The tiny frog we saw in the cafe entertained us for a while then, still caffiene free, we headed back to the bus station.
After waiting outside for an hour or so, we discovered that we couldn't get a bus to Loma Plata until the next morning. We decided we would just explore Filadelfia for the afternoon...not that it looked that exciting. On our way back to the hotel we noticed that Stel Turismo was open so decided to check their bus times. Amazingly, they had a bus leaving for Loma Plata in an hour. We quickly ran back to the hotel and packed, I managed to have a cup of tea (thankfully I had brought teabags and the hotel provided hot water - milk, I can live without) and we headed to catch the bus. Forty-five minutes later we arrived in Loma Plata which seemed even more deserted than Filadelfia, and even more of the shops were closed!
We had a trek through Loma Plata to find a cheap hotel, and someone who could help get us to the salt lakes. The baking heat made our bags feel particularly heavy, coupled with the frustration that we had come all this way to potentially only see two deserted towns. The woman in the second hotel we went to was really helpful, and spoke English. She tried to put us in contact with some people who might take us to the lakes although, as the next day was Sunday, this could be tricky. We managed to get hold of Walter Ratzloff, who is listed in the guidebook, but the price for him to take us seemed rather high, so we headed on to the Hotel Mora as the guidebook told us that they had their own taxi service.
We had a trek through Loma Plata to find a cheap hotel, and someone who could help get us to the salt lakes. The baking heat made our bags feel particularly heavy, coupled with the frustration that we had come all this way to potentially only see two deserted towns. The woman in the second hotel we went to was really helpful, and spoke English. She tried to put us in contact with some people who might take us to the lakes although, as the next day was Sunday, this could be tricky. We managed to get hold of Walter Ratzloff, who is listed in the guidebook, but the price for him to take us seemed rather high, so we headed on to the Hotel Mora as the guidebook told us that they had their own taxi service.
After walking for about another half an hour, we arrived at the hotel. No one was about so we rang the bell, and there soon appeared a very sleepy woman. We had managed to wake her up from her siesta - not the best time to be asking for favours. Fortunately Beaux can speak Spanish more fluently than I can speak German (had I mentioned that German is the first language of these Mennonite towns?), so managed to ask about getting to the lakes. The woman was very sleepy and disorientated so we decided it was best to check in, and she could let us know later.
After having a very short rest, we pondered over what to do for the afternoon. Flicking through the guidebook we saw that a nearby hotel had a swimming pool so we decided to go and see if we could have a swim. We arrived at the hotel, having walked around the rather rickety looking sign rather than under it, to find it abandoned and under renovation. With that plan thwarted we decided to have a wander round town to look for some food (all we'd had so far that day was crisps, fruit and nuts), and to see if anything else was going on...
We walked past the hospital (which was closed) and the retirement home. Heading down a different road we discovered a church with a graveyard that only had headstones dating from 1969 - 1985. Having seen only about two people by this point, we did start to wonder whether we were in some sort of ghost town! Had no one been buried since 1985? Isn't this how horror movies start? Nothing can really convey how strange this place was, the photos don't even come close.
All the restaurants were closed, but we did find an ice cream parlour that was open. Not exactly a balanced meal, but I think we deserved the treat with our weekend away seeming to go rapidly down hill. Opposite was a small general store where we decided to stock up on some supplies in case all the shops and restaurants were closed on Sunday. To get us through the evening we decided to by some of the cheap local rum (caña) and lemonade. At about 35p the rum was a bargain, even if it smelt more like whisky!
We decided to take a slightly different route back to our hotel and only got a little bit lost, though we did walk past a street with my name. When we arrived back, the owner was a lot more awake and happily told us that she'd found someone to take us to the lakes. That person was Walter who we'd spoken to before and, although his prices were a little expensive, we decided to go for it rather than come all this way for nothing. While Beaux made arrangements with him on the phone, I ordered us a beer in German. Never did I think I would be speaking German in the middle of Paraguay!
After another hot shower we headed out for a delicious steak at the Chaco Grill. Fortunately there were a few more people about so the place felt a little less weird, even though we had been barked at by some rather scary dogs on the way. Walking home at about 9.30pm on a bank holiday weekend we expected to see some parties, or at least some kind of life...but other than about four people hanging around outside the community centre, the place was deserted once again. Beaux thought that maybe we should do something stupid like break into the church, but was put off by the fact that we were in a very strange place and could be tried under their own laws!
When we arrived back to the hotel, the woman excitedly told me (in German) that one of the guys sat outside could speak very good English so we should go and chat to them. We figured 'why not?' so bought a beer and went and sat outside. The guy's English wasn't that good so Beaux mostly spoke Spanish to them, some of which I understood, and some she translated. We discovered that they were actually from Lebanon but had moved to Asuncion 15 years ago. They had come to the Chaco to hunt pigeons. So, just when we thought our day couldn't get any stranger, we ended up sharing Shisha with some Lebanese guys!
When we arrived back to the hotel, the woman excitedly told me (in German) that one of the guys sat outside could speak very good English so we should go and chat to them. We figured 'why not?' so bought a beer and went and sat outside. The guy's English wasn't that good so Beaux mostly spoke Spanish to them, some of which I understood, and some she translated. We discovered that they were actually from Lebanon but had moved to Asuncion 15 years ago. They had come to the Chaco to hunt pigeons. So, just when we thought our day couldn't get any stranger, we ended up sharing Shisha with some Lebanese guys!
On Sunday we made sure we got up for our breakfast (which was included in the room price) then headed back to bed as Walter wasn't coming to get us until 1pm. Walter turned out to be the deputy mayor, and had brought his daughter along with him as she was learning English at school. Our first stop was at some cotton fields and Walter picked us some fresh cotton - just like cotton wool.
We drove past quite a few reservoirs - as the Chaco is so dry, rain harvesting and water storage is vital for their crops. We saw a number of hawks, a flock of parrots and some tiny pigeons (they come in three sizes here) as well as a turtle crossing the road.
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| Cows with humps - apparently the hump is the tastiest part to eat! |
As we got closer to Laguna Capitain, Walter got out his binoculars to show us some flamingos in the distance. They were grey, rather than pink, as they had only recently arrived in the Chaco from Chile and had not eaten enough of the local snails (which contain Carotene) to turn them pink.
We stopped by Laguna Capitain, which actually has great facilities for people to stay, just no caretaker to run it. The accommodation is now solely used for religious retreats by the Mennonites. I found the number of snail shells around the lake quite off putting, but at least they were just shells. One of the lakes had a little diving platform, which Beaux went to check out as she was determined to get some swimming in at some point over the weekend. After sitting on the end of the diving board, and deliberating a little, we finally convinced her that she would regret it if she didn't go in. She went to get ready whilst we tucked in to homemade Mennonite chipa, cake and terrere. Beaux went for a very quick dip in the lake, and was not particularly happy about the slimy boards when she had to climb out (the thought of snails in the lake was enough to put me off).
We then headed off for a trek through the scrub/forest, taking such a winding path that we were mildly concerned that we might get lost... We eventually emerged through the bushes onto what I can only describe as the middle of a Dali painting. Dead trees, horses in the water and pink, spoon-beaked birds (they'd obviously been eating the snails).
On the walk back we saw a number of gopher holes, some armadillo prints (but unfortunately no armadillo) and tasted the fruit from a cactus (which was actually incredibly similar to dragonfruit). Walter also showed us a bush with enormous thorns which he said can be used as hair spikes.
On the way back Walter drove us through an indigenous village, although I think it was more of a local Paraguayan village rather than that of any indigenous tribes. Although it was interesting to see the contrast between the Mennonite town and this village, I felt rather like a tourist in a safari park, peering out of the windows of this massive 4WD.
As well as getting to see some more of the real Chaco, it was interesting to talk to Walter about the history and origins of the Mennonites. From what we gathered their main focus is working hard and making money. Walter referred to money and the cost of things in almost every conversation. He also discussed the mixing of the Mennonite and Paraguayans in the towns. Apparantly some of the Mennonites don't want to share their land with the Paraguayans, they figure that they are the ones that have worked to build up the town, so why should others get to benefit from it now. Fortunately Walter doesn't share these views. We also had some interesting conversations about the work ethic of the different cultures. Walter's obsession with money meant that the final part of our tour consisted of him driving us around the rich part of town so that we could see all the grand houses!
After dropping us off at a restaurant, we had three hours to kill before getting the night bus back to Asuncion. We'd only just got on the bus and got comfy when it stopped and we had to change buses. Unfortunately we ended up sitting in front of some very loud women, one of whom had a child on her knee. For the first three hours of the journey, we both kept dropping off, only to be woken up by the hand of either the mother or child on our heads. At one point I looked up to find the child hanging over the seats, watching Beaux and I sleeping! This combined with the fact that the guy in front of me had reclined his seat so that there was not physically enough room for my legs, made for a rather uncomfortable journey. Just when I thought I could stand it no longer, the bus stopped and the people behind and in front of us got off, so we spread out and took 2 seats each - some sort of comfort at last!
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