South American Adventure

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Hi All,

At 7.15 a.m. Mr. Woods, Mary and I set off for Cosme ,the second settlement of the Australian pioneers in Paraguay. This village is about 220Km. S.E. of Asuncion. We were traveling parallel to the railway line that the settlers used when setting up at New Australia. They got off at Villarrica then had to face a 3 days journey by ox-cart to their new life. The railway was closed about 15 years ago but the old stations and the odd old steam engine can still be found.

Villarrica (pronounced Via-rica) is a large unattractive town but it is well known for its artists and musicians. Mr Wood's cousin is a very well known and famous cartoonist, although little known in Australia. After here the next port of call was Caazapa (Car ah zapa) This was very attractive little town on a small rise. There is a main square and also a park named in honor of the cartoonist Woods. Here we purchased some supplies to take out to Cosme. This was where the fun started. We were warned that it would not be possible to go to Cosme if it had been raining, and this was the rainy season, and we soon found out why. The village is 32Km. away from Caazapa and this would rate as the second worst road I have ever been on. (Worst in Queensland). We bounced around over deeply pitted furrows, over old derelict wooden bridges that some of the wooden planks were missing. Mr Woods pointed out some of the old original wooden bridges that the pioneers built. Only parts of them now remain and are not used. We endured this trip for about 40 minutes arriving in Cosme some time later. Initially it looked no different to any other Paraguayan village that we had seen but then we turned into a driveway and surprise surprise there before our eyes was a traditional Queenslander. As we got out of the car there was a man coming towards us and he was introduced as Fransisco, known as Frisky and justly so too.

Frisky could only speak a few words of English, we were introduced to his Paraguayan wife,who name escapes me, and also this children. He has a 15 year old daughter and she is one of the most beautiful girls that I have ever seen. With her light brown skin, a mixture of Australian and Paraguayan blood- just beautiful! Mr. Woods and his cousin (Frisky) shared a mug of yerba mate. This is a Papaguayan type of tea which is shared between friends, each drinking from the same "straw". This is Frisky third wife and he has fathered numerous children, so he is aptly named. He has never been to Australia and appears to have no interest in doing so.

We were later joined by Frisky's brother Paddy. Paddy had lived in Australia for some 28 years and his command of English was good. He mostly worked on construction sites and claims to be a qualified master builder. It was he who constructed the Queenslander in which Frisky and this wife live so,me 7 years ago. It was built over and incorporates some of the old original house built by Frisky's grand father.

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Comments

[Patrick Andersen]

Paraguay
Love your story about Paraguay Gordon and looking forward to more. Seems like the internet is a bit iffy though! Hope you got lots of piccies to show us. Blessings to you both. Pat