Blogs from Chaco, Paraguay, South America

Driving south on the Trans-Chaco Highway I passed some vaqueros (cowboys) driving some cattle next to the road. They looked so happy doing their work that I had to stop and ask for photos. They agreed so I have pictures of real cowboys on a cattle drive in Paraguay.... read more

Since I read the children’s book called “Henry’s Red Sea” (1955) by Barbara Smucker as a youngster I’ve been fascinated by the place where these refugees settled fleeing from Stalin’s cruelties and the terror of World War II. Mennonites settle many places and move again, but one the strangest places where they made a community is in the Chaco Region of Paraguay. It’s 250 miles into the wilderness and then the wilderness continues another 500 miles across the border and into Bolivia. Filadelfia is the place I’m staying in the Mennonite Colonies in Paraguay. Some pioneers first came from Canada to the Chaco in 1927 to nearby locations, but Filadelfia was settled by German speaking refugees from the USSR starting in 1934. A flood of refugees joined them fleeing the suffering of World War II, and ... read more

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 ... read more

Up at 5 a.m. to catch our taxi to the Hotel Excelsior, already waiting for us in the Casa Mennonita parking lot, chatting with the guard. “Tranquilo,” he said about our general anxiety, offering me a sip of his mate. The Excelsior turns out to be a very fancy hotel - no wonder the price (over $100) we’d been quoted, which seemed outlandish for Asuncion. A long wait in the hotel lobby gave us time to chat with several people we’d bumped into over the week - Dave and Millie Dyck from my MCC days, and Tom and Rebecca Yoder Neufeld, last seen at Canadian conference - and suddenly realize the woman standing behind us was Carol Weaver, whom I haven’t run across since college. All at 5:30 a.m. in Paraguay. Ya just never know. We ... read more

We verlaten het vlakke Paraguay en vertrekken met de nachtbus richting Bolivia: we zijn bijna in de bergen! De bus wordt volgeladen met taksvrije goederen uit Ciudad del Este, waarmee de busmaatschappij waarschijnlijk meer winst opstrijkt dan met het vervoer van personen. Onze bagage wordt dan maar in de passagiersruimte opgestapeld. We dachten dat dit nooit zou lukken maar toch... Het is de eerste busrit waar we een warme maaltijd voorgeschoteld krijgen: een kippenbilletje met wat rijst en een droog broodje en een cakeje als dessert. We rijden door de Chaco, een prachtig ongerept gebied in West-Paraguay maar we zien er weinig van omdat we ’s nachts rijden. Er wordt afgeraden het gebied op eigen houtje te verkennen omdat het zo dun bevolkt is dat het dagen duurt eer er iemand passeert die je kan helpen ... read more