Journey in the unknown country of Chipa and Terere: Welcome to Paraguay

---

Visiting Paraguay wasn’t part of my planning at all. However, as I was at Iguacu Falls, which are close to the 3 countries: Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, I thought “why not go to Paraguay as it’s so close?”. I was indeed not quite satisfied by my trip in Brazil, which was a too touristy and crowded for me after Namibia. According to my guidebook, Paraguay is “South America’s forgotten corner, although the most traditional country on the continent, a country, where tourism isn’t yet so developed but it has a lot of charm for anyone, who is adventurous enough to go there”. Reading that I thought that it was exactly the kind of places off the beaten track, that I love to visit.

So after taking 3 different buses to cross the border -1^st bus to the Brazilian border post, 2^nd bus to the Paraguayan border post and 3^rd bus to the bus terminal- and getting the required entry and exit stamps on my passport, I was finally in Paraguay. From the 1^st look at it, I could see the difference of development with Brazil: buses are cheaper but of worse quality, lot of homeless people in the streets, chaotic city life. But, don’t stop here and think “oh, no, I don’t want to go there, it seems too unsafe, because Ciudad del Este is definitely not reflecting the image of the whole country, according to me. Paraguay is indeed composed much more of small villages and quiet towns with a beautiful countryside. Even Asuncion, which is the capital, doesn’t look at all like a huge city with tall buildings.

I loved Paraguay for a lot of reasons:


• Its interesting history: with the Mennonites colonies and the Jesuits Road
• Its natural places
• Its very friendly people
• The colorful small houses in the villages and towns
• The good food


So, if after reading this list you don’t want to visit Paraguay, I don’t know how to convince you anymore 😉 Well, maybe looking at my pictures and reading the following description will help you, who knows :D.

By the way, if you get the chance to go to Paraguay and need information about the country or want to meet local people, I advise you to contact Mr. Diogenes Caraballo ([e-mail]) from the firm EÑANDU PARAGUAY – meaning “feel or know Paraguay”-. This firm is organizing regular tours with local people to the best natural places in the country for a fair price. I got to know that guy in Laguna Blanca and his girlfriend with whom he runs the firm and they will for sure be happy to help you and advise you about Paraguay (in English or in Spanish!).

Ok, now let me tell you more about my one-week trip in this unknown country. At first, I went to the South-East of Paraguay on La Ruita Jesuita in the cities of Trinidad and Jesus. To go there was, like often during my trip, quite an adventure: I got in a bus from Ciudad del Else very quickly but unfortunately, the speed of the bus wasn’t then that quick at all… The speed limit was 60km/h but every vehicle was overpassing us, so I would say that we were driving at maximum 50km/h. Knowing that there was 230 km to my destination and quickly doing the maths, you realize that I wasn’t going to arrive that fast there and it was already 3pm… Without mentioning the fact, that I had no idea of where to sleep for the night exactly in Trinidad. Anyway, after 1,5 hours driving that slowly and stopping every now and then to let people get on and off the bus, we finally stopped for almost an hour to change our tire. It was a long wait but at least I thought that we will drive faster afterwards. So, at 8pm, after a 5-hour drive and in the darkness, I was left on the side of the road, 1 km away from Trinidad, which was at the end of a small tarred road. The bus driver was however nice enough to indicate me in which direction I should walk to find a place to sleep. A few moments later, I arrived in Trinidad and found the hotel “Hotel de Las Ruinas”, which is a few meter away from the ruins of the old Jesuit place of Trinidad. (I would however strongly advise anyone NOT TO GO to that hotel, which is not clean and creepy for the highest price I paid to sleep in my whole trip in this country! I would advise you to go to one of the guesthouses –called Posadas-, which are also close to the ruins and where you will get a much better quality for a lower price! For more indication, contact SENATUR tourist information, which has a list of all the Posadas in Paraguay).

Anyway, I was happy to be able to visit those ruins, especially because I was lucky enough to arrive right before a Lights and Sounds show began there. So, I visited the ruins of Trinidad at night and early morning. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site but I was by myself visiting it for most of the time. Together with the ruins in the city name Jesus those ruins are truly rimpressive: there is so much left of the buildings and you can imagine people building it years ago.

While going to Jesus from Trinidad, I did some hitchhiking – as there was no public transportation going there- and met twice some nice people. The 1^st vehicle, which gave me a ride was of local people, so I was at the back of the pick-up with some agricultural tools. I am getting used to it now and in fact I love such adventures now 😉 The 2^nd vehicle was a group of medical people (doctors, nurses) from Poland, who was working in Paraguay to give some medical support to people near the capital Asuncion. They are staying 5 weeks in the country every year for 4 or 5 years now. They have much less material than in Poland but they can still diagnose some diseases and help the local population. I was amazed by what they are doing. I don’t have medical skills, so I respect a lot people, who have and who are coming to countries like this to help. We visited Jesus ruins together and then they gave me a ride to Encarnacion, which is the big city in the South.

As I was quite tired, I decided to stay in Encarnacion for the day instead of going to San Cosme, which is the 3^rd big ruins site there. I don’t regret my decision as this rest was needed and it gave me time to organize some of my things, but I would advise anyone to go to San Cosme and to the island close by, because I saw pictures of it and it seems really nice there.

I really like the city Encarnacion: even though, it is supposed to be a big city, you don’t feel it in the streets. It’s a quiet place with nice and colorful houses and a beach at the riverside. From the beach, you can look over Argentina, as the city Posadas is on the other side of the river. It’s maybe a normal thing for some of you, but I was amazed by just looking at another country over the river!!

For information, Encarnacion is famous for its carnival, which lasts several weeks in January and February there and is quite cheap, so if you wanna get the carnival spirit in South America, you might want to stop there. If you are looking for a hostel there, I advise you Kerana Hostel for the friendliness of the staff, cleanliness of the rooms, fair price and good location close to everything (bus station, beach and city center).

At that hostel, I tried for the 1^st time the national drink called terrere. It’s a refreshing drink made of cool water –transported in a thermos- and herbs. They put herbs in a small glass, you drink it with a metallic stroll and you add water inside the glass again and again. It’s a sign of community as most of the time people will share the glass of tereré. I was offered it by people from Asuncion, who came to Encarnacion for the carnival.

From Encarnacion, I didn’t know where to go next exactly so I let life decide for me: I sent requests to hosts on Couchsurfing anywhere in Paraguay and waited to see who will reply me positively and where this person was living. That way, my next destination got to be Asuncion, the capital city.

I stayed 2 days in Asuncion and I could see how friendly and hospitable Paraguayans are. Alberto, his parents and his friend were all great people. I like spending time with them, especially being able to share mealtime with them.

Alberto took me to a lot of places in and around Asuncion: the nice district of San Geronimo with the colorful houses and the great view over the city, the city Aregua with its old train station, its yellow house, its church, its craft ceramics and its lake, its huge market with every goods possible. Every place was great especially San Geronimo district. On the other hand, I was quite disappointed by the lake near Aregua as it is quite dirty and polluted.

I would like to come back to talk about the churches in Paraguay. They are indeed really different from our churches in Europe: there is no colorful glass window, nor high pillars and ceilings like in Gothic or Baroque style but only some small ceramics paintings and a ceiling hold by wooden pillars. I was thus surprised when I entered the 1^st church in Asuncion, as I wasn’t expecting the interior to look like this.

In Asuncion, just before taking a night bus to the Chaco area in the North of Paraguay, I went with Alberto and his brothers to a soccer game. The stadium there was very small in comparison with Maracana stadium but also most of the other stadium I had been to. I could only compare its size with the stadium in Columbus, OH, USA, where soccer is definitely not that important. The ambiance there was on the other hand very impressive. Like in Brazil, people are cheering up their team all the time. However, they would also be quite aggressive against the other team, crying “puta” a lot to make the other team feel not concentrated. It was the 1^st time for me, I was seeing such behavior (but I guess it must be quite similar to a game in Paris with the team PSG or in England, where hooligans are quite important). Like in Brazil, I was really happy to be able to attend a game, especially as our team Cerro Porteno won and I was wearing the team jersey again 😊

So, as I said after Asuncion, I went to the North to the Chaco area. There, it is mainly nature with very few inhabitants -most of them are indigenous tribes- but also 3 colonial city founded by Canadian Mennonites.

I went to one of those cities called Loma Plata. It’s the biggest of the colonies but in comparison with European cities it’s definitely bigger than a town. There, I got a tour with the guide working at the city museum. His grandmother was a child, while her family came to settle down here. I could learn a lot about the history of the Mennonites since their arrival in El Chaco in the 1920’s. There was nothing at that time and it took them decades to create the city with roads and houses, and then with hospitals and school. It’s now organized a community around the cooperative. They are earning mainly money from the dairy industry (Trebol brand for yogurt, milk, butter,…). I was however kind of shocked by their notion of integrating the indigenous tribes in their community. I think it’s good as they say that they are giving access to welfare programs to this community or hiring them but on the other hand, while touring both the indigenous tribes district with houses like in squatter camps for some and the Mennonites district with large properties, I didn’t feel that they were integrated them that much. Moreover, those people have no way to be able to get properties in the colonies, as people have to entitle get the land there and the land belongs to the Mennonites. There are very strict rules to access properties there. Mennonites are much richer than the average Paraguayans and have a very good health and educational system. They are talking Spanish and German, some of them English. For the one, I met they seem to be very friendly and helpful people. I got some help from a very nice family who gave me a ride to Laguna Capitan, offered to come to pick me up on the next day and offered me lunch afterwards. Such people are amazing, it gives you a new energy to continue a trip, which can be sometimes difficult alone –especially while having to hitchhike to remote places- and a give you back faith in the fact that there are truly genuine people out! So special thank you to the family Wiebe!

As I said from Loma Plata, I went to Laguna Capitan with the help of this family. Laguna Capitan is a remote natural places with a half-dry salt lake, where there are dead trees –like in Namibia in Sossusvlei – and where the birdlife is huge. There were also some mammals there –I could see their steps in the soil- but I didn’t get the chance to see some. I saw however something I would have prefer not to see: a tarantula!! I was indeed quietly reading in the grass at Laguna Capitan campsite, when I saw maximum 2 meters away from me, a tarantula moving in my direction!! I quicly took my things away, went to take my camera, took some pictures, while the tarantula was moving in my direction – quite scary- and then went away. WOW, this was something!

From Lama Plata, I went to Laguna Blanca, stopping at Conception for the night. There, I got a reduction for a hotel room as the bus driver, to whom I explained that I was looking for a cheap place to sleep, took me –with the bus!!- to an hotel downtown and told the guy at the reception that I –his friend- needed a cheap place to sleep. Thanks to him, instead of Gs 60.000, I only paid Gs40.000 😉 Laguna Blanca was one of the highlight of my trip. Firstly, because there I was among complete nature walking alone among wheat fields and cows, seeing nice small houses along the road in the collective bus and spending 24 hours at the beach with a warm lake. Secondly, because I met great people there! I got to know people from the Enandu Paraguay group but also other people staying for the weekend. I love meeting locals, so I had a great afternoon and evening with them. On that day, I could speak a lot of languages: English with some of them, who could, Spanish with the others, French, with a girl who studied in Lyon and German, with a guy whose parents are from Troisdorf, Cologne. Meeting this guy was a nice coincidence, as Troisdorf is a town, close to where I used to live and work the 1^st time I lived in Germany in 2010: the world is so small 😉

After this great weekend in Laguna Blanca, I took a bus to Asuncion, hoping to be able to go to Salta Cristal – a nice waterfall in the middle of the forest-, but I didn’t manage to get there… It will be for the next time 😉

One thing that I like comparing between the difference countries are the public transportation. In Paraguay, like in Namibia or in Lesotho, buses can get for instance very packed! My last bus journey in Paraguay was indeed so packed that for 5 hours I didn’t get a proper seat but only sat on the refrigeration system for the whole time… For the moment, however, the record is still in Lesotho, with the bus, which was so packed that we couldn’t drive uphill 😉

I also like to taste food in each country. Firstly, Paraguay is the country of chipas. Those are cheesy breads, which can have different forms and consistence. I liked them: they are very cheap and fill you up quickly. There will always be vendors of chipas-or hamburger, sandwiches, drinks- getting on the buses to sell you them for your journey. I also got to discover a lot of traditional dishes –bori bori, sopa paraguayana, guizo,…- thanks to my host Alberto in Asuncion. I loved all of them. In Laguna Capitan, Enandu Paraguay invited me for dinner where I could taste Choripan –Chorizo sausage with bread- grilled on the bbq 😊

Summary to travel in Paraguay:

Must see places: Laguna Blanca, La Ruta Jesuita and El Chaco
Average daily cost (on a budget=hostel + eating snacks): 15€ at the maximum

Cost of visits (grouped visit La Ruta Jesuita): around 5€

Public transportation: 0,30€ per journey
Most long distance buses: 10-15€

---

Photos

Futbol game !!!
With my host Alberto

Comments

[FABRE]

Paraguay
Récit toujours aussi passionnant. Mais il serait peut-être plus agréable de le lire avec un verre de terere. Je pense, également, que le Paraguay est un Pays beaucoup plus calme que le Brésil. Le caractère est plus typique , plus sauvage et d'une mentalité légèrement différente. Bravo et félicitations pour ce mini reportage Claude et Cécile