South American Adventure

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Hi All,

Now to continue from where I left off. Sorry about not saying "good-bye" with the last entry but in some places you have to pay to use the internet and the money ran out that you have to put into a control box to use some computers.

Paraguay.

I believe that I was at the stage where Patty, "Frisky's" brother came on the scene at the village of Cosme. He had been working in Australia for some 28 years in the building industry, in Qld. and N.S.W. He too was also another "Frisky" fathering many children to an number of women, I think he had 2 marriages. Paddy's English was good although heavily accented. He talked about this life in Australia and also the lives of the early settlers in Cosme. He could recall where all the settlers lived in the village and he was proud of his connection to Australia. He hopes to return one day, hopefully he will.
Next we went down to the cemetery to see the grave of the pioneers. There was one for the Wood family and also others that Paddy said belonged to other pioneers that were unmarked. An interesting thing about cemeteries in S.A. is that if you can afford it, the graves are quite elaborate. Some are decorated with tiles and some have Holy Statues on them which are incased on 3 sides by brick / concrete, with a glass front which can either be removed or swung open to put into this enclosure lighted candles. Mr. Wood also pointed out another strange thing that neither Mary or I had noticed within the graveyard; all the Paraguayans who were buried there, their gravestones faced the west- towards the setting sun, whilst all of the Australians graves faced to the east. No explanation for this was given, but there must have been a reason. Perhaps it was because of William Lanes ban in the early days of the settlement, of not letting the men associate with the Paraguayan population and the women in particular. This is just speculation on my part though.
Whilst we were at the cemetery Frisky was preparing a "Paraguayan Barbeque". This consisted of a 44 gallon drum cut long ways with a grid on which the meat was placed, and the lid, the other half of the "44",being placed over the top to form a cover. Frisky had slaughtered one of this small piglets as well as a chicken for us to have for lunch. We sat under the shade of trees and whilst the weather was hot there was a cool breeze blowing. Lunch was served under the Queenslander with the pig, chicken and other Paraguayan staples. There was a thick corn based type of bread although this is the closest I can come to describe this fare. It was about 3 to 4 inches square and about an 1 and a half inches thick. It was really filling and was exactly the same sort of food that was eaten when New Australia and Cosme were settled. After lunch was completed the 3 of us said our goodbyes and then headed off to see new Australia.

The journey to this settlement meant retracing our trip over the rutted road to Caazapa and through Villarrica. We then took another road to join the main highway between Asuncion and Cuidad del Este. ( More about this town later). This journey took about 90 minutes. The turn-off to this settlement is a paved road which runs into the township and it's about 8 Km. off the main highway. The reason the road is paved is also interesting too.

Whilst I have called this town New Australia that is not strictly correct. This was the original name give to it by the settlers and it also applied to the surrounding counrty-side as well. When the settlement here split and the "true believers" went to Cosme with Lane, the folk gradually left and either returned to Australia or settled elsewhere in S.A. Lane had also managed to recruit new settlers from the U.K. and as the Australians left, the village became a settlement of people from the U.K. It was these people that changed the name to Nueva Londres. ( New London). This is now its present name.

How come the road was paved? When Strossner was the dictator some bright spark who was trying to gain some merit with Strossner said" Why does Paraguay need a village with the name New London? Why not re-name it after General Strossner's father?" So the village was renamed after the dictators father and Strossner came to to official re-naming, so the road had to be sealed! After the dictators demise the name was changed back to New London.
There is nothing remaining of the Australian connection in New London- it has become just another Paraguayan village- albeit with a sealed road.

After this we returned to Asuncion. Sunday we went to have lunch with Mr. and Mrs .Wood at an nice restaurant. The fish from the River Paraguay was delicious! Later we went to their home to see various videos of these settlements which were made in Australia (one in 1974 with a very young looking Caroline Jones). As we were leaving for Brazil the next day, we said our goodbyes to the Woods and met Mrs. White for a light supper in a shopping centre. This turned out to be a small shopping spree, things are very cheap in Paraguay. She said that there was a nice hotel that her nephew had been instrumental in setting up and was interested to see it. So we headed across the road to "Le Mission". This turned out to be a "boutique hotel" with 35 rooms. There used to be an old house on this site owned by a very old, very religious and wealthy lady. It had statues of Saints, beautiful spanish furniture etc. All was preserved and placed in the hotel when it was completed. As you enter the foyer there is a long hall with a mirror at the end and this gives the prespective that you are undertaking a journey to Paradise. There is also a very large painting one one wall with shows the Jesuits being expelled from Paraguay. This is one of the most beautiful and tastefully decorated that Mary and I have ever seen. Whilst the accommodation at this hotel is expensive they are booked out for 6 months in advance. Paraguay has certainly been a country of contrasts!!

We said our fare-wells to Mrs. White and headed back to the hotel for our journey into Brazil. But once again Paraguay had one more surprise for us. As we were headed for the hotel we heard music coming from a large tent set up in the main square. Now Mary can't hear any type of music and not investigate its source so off to the tent we went. There were chairs set out in front of the stage and various musical groups came on stage and preformed. Of course there was the Paraguayan Harp- it appears that no performance is complete in this country with out one. Someone rolled a large banner down the middle aisle which divided the the patrons into 2 groups. The final tune must have been the National Anthem, for the banner was raised and held high above the crowd and everyone stood up- including us. ( Do you remember when we used to have to stand up for our National Anthem, at school, the pictures etc long before multi-culturism was ever heard or thought of?). It shows that whilst the vast majority of these people may have very little in material things they seem to possess something that we have sadly lost. Then we had a 15 minute fire works display which would rival anywhere else in the world. Brilliant!
Monday we boarded a bus for Iguassu Falls in Brazil. This was a journey of about six and a half hours passing the turn off to New London after about 2 hours. These buses are double deckers and well appointed with comfortable seats and a waitress. As we were the only non South Americans on the bus we had to go through all the customs and passport controls at both border crossings. The other just had to have the manifest stamped by the authorities. So we entered Brazil. Just a few more comments about Paraguay before we move on.
The countryside around New Australia was almost identical to the Darling Downs in Qld. The only difference would be the number of palm trees growing in the fields, they are everywhere.
The city of Cuidad del Este would be bigger than Asuncion, or it appears so. Its main purpose is trade with Brazil and Argentina. As I said earlier goods are cheaper in Paraguay and large numbers of people come across the border from these 2 countries to purchase good in Paraguay. Enquiries as why this is so would provoke the answer that most importers in Paraguay don't pay import duty to the Government. The sales of items in this city bring hard currency into the country. The city was a complete traffic jam. Cars everywhere and hundreds of retail shops in search of customers. Finally Paraguay was always going to be a high light for me as I've always had an interest in the Australian connection with this country. The people that we met there , the Woods and Mrs. White really made the trip all that more enjoyable and the hospitality shown by Frisky and this family will never be forgotten. Mr. Wood is a real character. He is a businessman and his mobile phone, which rings on a regular basis, plays "Waltzing Matilda". We gave him an Akubra hat which really suits him. It was the best thing that we could have given him, I believe that it's now permanently attached to his head. I feel that he represents a part of Australia that seems to be sadly lost. Whilst he is very proud of his Paraguayan heritage he is also proud of his connection with this country. It was not uncommon to hear him come out with expressions like "good tucker, mate," and sing old Australian songs too.

It is not hard to be a millionaire there either. With an exchange rate of about 5000 Guaranies to the Ozzie dollar, 200 bucks and there you go!

So next time we take you to Brazil.

Love to all

Gordon And Mary.

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