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After a very short night bus from Asunción, I arrived at 4am in the city of Filadelfia, which is the largest settlement in the Mennonite Colonies that make up most of this area of Paraguay. The Mennonites are a Christian group which originated in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century, but due to religious persecution had to flee to Russia, where they stayed until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Since then, a large number moved to the Americas, and as Paraguay allowed them to set up their colonies on its territory, many came here. The 3 main Mennonite colonies are in the north of Paraguay, in the area known as the Chaco, which had previously been found impossible to colonise due to its harsh climate and rugged terrain. Many of the original Mennonites died shortly after arriving due to the inhospitable nature of the area, but the fact that all 3 colonies in the Chaco have survived and now flourish is a testament to their perseverance. As most of the soil in the Chaco is not fertile, the colonies are very spread out, with farms and villages only on the small plots of land that are actually workable; consequently the
3 colonies cover a huge area. The Chaco region covers 60% of Paraguay’s territory but only contains 2% of its population, which illustrates just how barren most of it is. Filadelfia is the capital of one of the colonies - Colonia Fernheim, and although it isn’t the most beautiful city in the country, it is definitely one of the most interesting. I think now was probably a good time to visit - it’s dry season and it’s winter, so temperatures are only mild (low twenties), whereas in summer it gets rather hot. The Mennonites still speak German (or a dialect of) as their main language, so the town is pretty much bilingual. In most of the shops people spoke to me in German first, before I spoke Spanish to them, so German is still the dominant language. That said, there are also a large number of indigenous people who have moved to the town, so now 6 languages are spoken, and although most people know Spanish only as their 2nd language, it is the language that unifies all of these different groups. But it is strange walking down a street in a Paraguayan town and hearing German everywhere, as well
as seeing white-faced, blue-eyed, blonde-headed teenagers cycling past you. It really is a culture shock after Asunción. The only road in town that is paved is the main thoroughfare: when walking down any of the other side roads, and a car goes past at a reasonable pace, you have to hold your breath and close your eyes as it’s so incredibly dusty. This is one thing that reminds you that you’re still in Paraguay and not in Germany.
Besides the innate Germanic feel to the town, the other interesting aspect is the cooperative which owns most of the land and businesses (including the hotel I stayed at) and which pays for the schools, hospital, roads etc. in the colony. Colonia Fernheim is a bit like a semi-autonomous socialist state within Paraguay. Everyone pays a voluntary income tax of 10% to the cooperative to pay for all these services, and most people seem to work for the cooperative. And as the city has expanded economically over the past few decades, this system clearly works here; in many ways the quality of life seems higher here than in other parts of the country, despite the hostile environment.
Another thing that’s
The Museum
Formerly the administrative centre odd is that as you walk down most of the roads off Avenida Hindenburg (the main road), it does sort of feel as if you’re walking in an industrial estate, as there’s lots of warehouses, quite well spaced out, and it doesn’t really feel like a town centre. The main industrial works is actually right in the centre, and covers and enormous area. I actually had a tour of this giant industrial plant, seeing the oil presses, mini-firestation, vintage tractor store, mini electric power plant, abandoned cotton warehouse, water treatment works, before finally the peanut factory. It was a very interesting tour in fact with a very friendly person who seemed to be the man in charge. He was constantly switching between German and Spanish as he spoke to different workers.
I had hoped to see a bit more of the Chaco itself before heading back south, but it really is difficult to explore it properly unless you have your own vehicle or can afford to hire a guide. The landscape around Filadelfia is very flat, semi-arid bush, so not that interesting, though if you could actually manage to spot some of the wildlife it would be. The only
wildlife I’ve seen, as I haven’t been properly into the bush, is a hare and lots of interestingly-coloured birds. I did also see a pecari in someone’s garden in Filadelfia - this is an endangered type of small wild boar indigenous to the area. So quite lucky to see one, even if it was domesticated. The best wildlife spots are much further north, but there are few roads (and no paved ones), so getting there is out of the question. The area is also full of historical battle fields and war monuments (also isolated and therefore not easy to get to), as the Chaco played host to the bloodiest war in the Americas in the 20th century, when in 1932 Bolivia invaded after rumours the Chaco was rich in oil. After 3 years of war, and despite having only one third of Bolivia's population and considerably less resources, Paraguay had held on to the vast majority of the Chaco, and the borders were finalised in a peace treaty. Ironically there was no oil in the Chaco, but large reserves of natural gas were found, but in the small part that was incorporated into Bolivia.
The next stop for me
after Filadelfia was Loma Plata - the centre of the neighbouring colony of Menno. The night before it had poured down with rain (despite being the dry season), and as hardly any roads or paths are paved, it was like walking through a mud bath. Public transport in this area is a bit erratic too - I caught the only bus of the day to Loma Plata leaving at 7am, having been told the only bus back was at 3pm, though upon arriving at Loma Plata I was told the only bus back was at 10:30, giving me only a couple of hours to explore the whole city. In hindsight, this was actually a good thing, as Loma Plata is very similar to Filadelfia, but not as nice. And with the mud everywhere, walking around all the different areas of the city was not too appealing. The whole city seems to be based around the Avenida Central, with all the industrial sites located at the heart of the city, which doesn’t make it that attractive. The 2 museums were shut even though there were supposed to be open, so overall I didn’t get that good an impression of Loma Plata.
I’m just about to leave the Chaco and head to eastern Paraguay. I’m going to stop off in a city called Concepción before heading to a rather isolated lake called Laguna Blanca (public transport permitting).
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