Travel

The Chaco Experience

I just finished this article for our newsletter talking about our trip to the Chaco last weekend.  If you ever have a chance to visit the Chaco, give it a try.  It’s quite the trip (figuratively and literally).
Are you looking for an out-of-town get away?  Head to the Chaco!  We made the five-hour trek up to Filadelfia, home to Paraguay’s largest Mennonite colony, and spent the weekend touring Paraguay’s Chaco region.  The Chaco is a great destination for those who enjoy driving in the countryside and exploring Paraguay’s scenic beauty.  While not as obviously spectacular as Iguazu Falls or the Jesuit Missions, the Chaco features some hidden gems to discover with the help of a local guide.  The Chaco is a fascinating mixture of wildlife, livestock and farmland, unspoiled terrain, and an intriguing melding of Mennonite and indigenous cultures.
We spent Saturday morning in Filadelfia exploring the town square, museum, and Mennonite school.  The museum features relics from Filadelfia’s history, including Mennonite and indigenous artifacts, and a collection of preserved animals found in the Chaco.  Our son enjoyed learning about armadillos, rheas, and cheetahs — up close and personal.  In addition, we saw two interesting Mennonite monuments looming over each end of town.  Filadelfia also has several large German-style supermarkets, and boutique stores that sell everything from wood furniture to ceramics.  Locally made goods are reasonably priced.
At noon, we left Filadelfia and drove to Loma Plata, another Mennonite settlement.  After visiting the Loma Plata’s museum dedicated to commemorating Mennonite history, we took a tour of Trebol’s dairy plant.  Kids will enjoy seeing the big milk trucks and the flowing assembly lines that package their favorite dairy products.  Afterwards, we drove to Isla Po’i, and toured an experimental agriculture farm as well as the former Paraguayan military’s staging area during the Chaco War.  We continued on to Yakaré Sur, a large saltwater lagoon that provides sanctuary to flamingos and other birds in the heart of the semi-arid Chaco.  The view from the observation tower is gorgeous – one of the few places where you can survey the Chaco for miles in all directions.  We passed up visits to Fortin Boqueron, a Chaco-era historic site, and the Tagua Reserve, a reserve for the endangered tagua boar, and end the day with a short tour of Colonia Neuland.  A day’s worth of travels through over 100 miles of Chaco left all of us exhausted.
If you plan to travel to the Chaco, plan ahead.  You can make your trip more pleasant by following these suggestions.  Spend some time in Filadelfia or other Mennonite communities such as Colonia Neuland when the stores are still open.  Virtually everything closes at noon on Saturday and all day Sunday, so do your sightseeing and shopping during weekdays or on Saturday morning.  Stay at the Hotel Florida in Filadelfia.  It’s the nicest hotel in town, and the other hotel options in the area lack basic amenities such as hot water.  The Hotel Florida is popular, so reserve your room early.  Dine at the Hotel Florida Restaurant, which offers a variety of German and Paraguayan dishes.  You can also dine at the Rincon Restaurant or Girasol Parrilla in Filadelfia; however, our guide told us that their food is not as tasty as what the Hotel Florida offers.
Hire a local guide for $90 (half day) to $150 (all day) who can show you what the Chaco has to offer.  Most Chaco roads are unpaved and chock full of potholes.  Consider using the guide’s vehicle (additional $150) to spare your own vehicle from wear and tear.  If you drive in the Chaco, bring plenty of food and water, and be prepared for roadside emergencies.  Your guide can help you navigate the myriad back roads that criss-cross the Chaco.  If you want to learn more about the immense Mennonite cooperative that operates several meat and dairy plants in the area, contact the Fernheim Cooperative (http://www.fernheim.com.py/) well in advance to schedule a plant tour.  The cooperative produces many popular Paraguayan food brands such as Co-op.  Following these suggestions can make an adventure in the Paraguayan Chaco an even better experience!

The Chaco and the Mennonites

My family humored me and let me take them on a two-day adventure to the Chaco, Paraguay’s western rural area.  We drove on Friday afternoon to Filadelfia, a town about five hours northwest of Asuncion not far off the Trans-Chaco Highway.  I’ll write more about the adventure tomorrow, but let me leave with you some background on this place one could call "the wild west" of South America.
 
Filadelfia, as is many towns in that part of Paraguay, was founded by the Mennonites, a Christian denomination, in the 1930’s.  The Mennonites, who emigrated from Prussia (now a part of Germany) to Russia in the 1760’s and 1770’s, migrated en masse to Paraguay in 1929 (as well as the United States and Canada) following persecution and explusion from the Soviet Union.  The Paraguayan government granted several large land parcels to the Mennonites, particularly in the Chaco, where the government hoped to solidify Paraguay’s hold on a large section of the country with few people.  Life was very difficult for the early Mennonites as they domesticated the wild Chaco — a fairly inhospitable place with little rainfall and poor soil.  Several indigenous groups — Guaranis and others — lived as hunterers and gatherers in the Chaco, and many resisted encroachment by their new neighbors.  The Mennonites and indigenous continue to co-exist, and many indigenous now work for Mennonite enterprises.  After years of fighting poor agriculture conditions and surviving threats from the indigenous and poisonous, the Mennonites shaped this part of Paraguay into what is now the country’s breadbasket.  Mennonite families live on large, square estancias parceled out between former Mennonite colonias such as Filadelfia now incorporated as Paraguayan towns.  The area has a large network of unpaved roads criss-crossing the Chaco maintained by the Mennonites.
 
The Mennonite’s "Cooperativa" is one of Paraguay’s largest business operations.  Each year, the "Cooperativa" produces much of Paraguay’s meat and dairy products as well as foodstuffs (the "Cooperativa" also exports some of its products overseas, particularly beef and peanut oil).  The "Cooperativa" also provides the area with a multitude of services, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, hospitals, pharmacies, and shopping centers.  If ever there were an example of monopoly, the "Cooperativa" would be it.  The enterprise’s operation and logistics network is nothing short of amazing.  It provides feed for animals, trucks raw milk to milk factories, turns milk and other foodstuffs into processed goods, and ships it to markets.  I was amazed to see how comprehensive and efficient the Mennonites’ "Cooperativa" is in helping Mennonites — and many indigenous — earn a living and providing them with a quality of life much better than would be possible if they didn’t work together to survive and flourish.
 
The Mennonite culture in this area is interesting.  We saw many tall, blond people of Germanic descent walking the streets.  "Plattdeutsch," an old variant of German, is the common language, although Spanish and Guarani are also prevalent.  I noticed a cultural divide between the Mennonites and the non-Mennonites (mostly indigenous) in the communities we visited, including Filadelfia, Colonia Neuland, and Loma Plata.  I noted a cultural divide between the Mennonites, who seemed to be more affluent, and other Paraguayans.  As a result, the two groups seemed to frequent different locations (e.g. different restaurants and grocery stores).  While not overt, it was not difficult for an outsider like me to pick up on this cultural separation.