Dust Bus to Filadelfia, Concepcion

---

Bueno!

Well, we are in Immaculate Concepcion, Paraguay right now. I´ll get back to talking about that in a second, but first I want to discuss a couple other things-

1. Bus from Santa Cruz to Filadelfia- After our experience with the wayward bus to Samaipata we wanted to make sure we would get to Filadelfia. So I asked all of the bus guys multiple times, made sure our ticket said Filadelfia on it, and had the ticket seller introduce us to the bus driver who also assured us that the bus would go TO Filadelfia. Not near it, not past it, but TO the center of town. Si si, centro, centro they all said cheerfully. So we got on the bus. One good thing about it was that it only took 15 hours as opposed to the 24 hours we originally were told. Unfortunately, when the main paved road turned to dirt the ride became so dusty that we had to cover our faces with our shirts, and so bumpy that everyones luggage was falling off the overhead racks. Sleep was nearly impossible, though with the aid of my little motion sickness pill, I still managed to get a bit. Also, the bus was stopped not once but several times throughout the night to be searched by narcotics officers. Bolivian immigration came at about 3 am conveniently. To our surprise, Paraguayan immigration didn´t happen until several hours later, maybe around 8 am. No problems with either, thank goodness. While stopped at immigration I again confirmed with the bus driver that we were to be dropped off in Filadelfia. Si si si sinorita, no hay problema. So imagine our surprise when about 45 minutes later a bus guy came and asked us where along the main road we wanted to be left. Oh, I said, so this bus doesn´t actually go to Filadelfia center? No no.. OH OF FREAKING COURSE. Luckily, Stephen knew the name of the crossroads or cruces closest to Filadelfia which is Villa Choferes del Chaco, and they kindly left us there. It felt like the middle of nowhere and it basically was. 20 k south of Filadelfia with no bus due to come by until hours later. So we hitchhiked into town with a kind young man in a pickup truck. I sat in front and Stephen in back, which gave the driver the opportunity to ask me all manner of questions, ie.. How old are you, are you married, do you have kids, etc.

2. Filadelfia- We got there with the intention of staying 2 nights and ended up staying one night. It actually reminded us both a little of Woodland CA with big skies, dirt roads and Ford F250s. And bud light in a can of course. The interesting thing about Filadelfia is that it is the main hub of the Chaco Mennonite colony. Many of the people are fair skinned and speak an odd version of German. These are the well to do land owners who managed to make a good living farming this desolate landscape. We went to a small museum with Mennonite artifacts, I bought a pair of jeans at a small store, and we sat in the Garden of Memories. After about half an afternoon we realized that there wasn´t a whole lot to do there so we decided to leave the next day.

3. Concepcion- Another bus ride, this one 7 hours but blessedly less dusty, brought us here to Concepcion. Both of us like it here. There are still a lot of dirt roads but also more vegitation since its on the Rio Paraguay. Siesta is from about noon to about dark. Its a town of scooter gangs, everyone young, old, male, female alike, everyone rides scooters. The people here are really friendly, everyone waves and gives us the thumbs up sign as they scooter by. We arrived at a pretty good time as the town is celebrating fathers day this weekend with music concerts and tonight there is supposedly some type of rodeo. Our hotel is Hotel Frances, the nicest in town. We enjoyed the pool this afternoon because even though its technically winter, its hot to us at 80 something degrees. Tomorrow early we are going to try to take a riverboat to Asuncion. They only leave on Sundays, otherwise we probably would hang out longer.

Hasta Luego,

S and S

---

Photos

Bolivian Immigration
3 am. Cold, tired. See the money changing ladies on the right.

Filadelfia in a dust storm
IT aint got there yet.
It aint aheadin thattaway

Mystery fried ball thing
Turned out to my confusion it was an entire hardboiled egg, deep fried. I´m down with that.

Wonderful Dinner in Concepcion
We ate last night at a steak house called Toninho y Jandiri. It was almost magical, an all you can eat feast of perfectly seasoned and cooked sizzling steaks, beans like mom used to make, rice, and various salads. Oh yes, lots of ice cold beer served in cozies to keep cold. All this for 16 bucks, well worth it.

Music in the square- Concepcion
Kids from a local music school put on a fathers day concert, playing guitar, and harp of all things. These harps were just beautiful..

Concepcion Bell Tower
We asked an old man at the church if we could climb the tower and he let us up there, on the condicion that we pray a lot. We got a good view of the town.

Pool at Hotel Frances
Deserted, peaceful and refreshing. My legs actually got sun after 6 Boston years in hiding.

Rio Paraguay
Sunset

Mr. Chicken
This guy sat in front of his restaurant all day, and every time we walked by for the first couple of days (which was many times) he´d yell ¨CHICKEN!! CHICKEN!!¨

Chicken Dinner
So we had to eat there at least once.. And it was really good! Complete meal, with ICY cold beer in a bucket to boot, all for 8 dollars.

Bonding through Chicken
After the meal I persuaded the owner and his son to pose for a photo with Stephen, next to the chicken pit. I told them it was going to be online.

Comments

[mom]

Paraguay.
Reading your blog makes me feel that I'm there with you. Thank you for giving me this experience, and I didn't even had to be in that dusty bus to Filadelfia. Loved the Sunset picture. Hard fried boiled eggs? LOL Yack! Mom

[Madre]

Anteater extraordinaire!
My deepest thanks for tracking down the anteater! Don't forget there are at least 4 species -- progressively smaller in size. Who knows what the next zoo will have. Great sigh of relief on your arrival at Filadelfia -- looks like old Gila Bend, AZ in the summer. Stay safe and don't forget your sunscreen!

[MonCon]

so who had to run fast?
So who had to set the camera up and run and jump in the pool to take the photo? Miss you guys!!! Love the mystery fire-ball-egg-thing face.

[Lindsay and Lori]

I thought our state fair had every deep-fried food option, but I must say a deep fried boiled egg is new to me! You two are so bloody brave with all that you've ingested since you've been away! What's up with the lying bus drivers? And most importantly- we've been happily Tivo-ing SYTYCD for your return! Stay safe!

[Sandra and Stephen]

Hey MonCon
Ha ha, I had the pleasure of setting up the camera and dashing into the pool... Looks pretty convincing though, right! (Miss you too!)

[Sandra and Stephen]

Yah!!
Can´t wait to watch ém with you! We watched half an episode back from season 2 the other day and it made me yearn... Many thanks!