Crossing Into the Chaco

It's ironic that our team (two from Pennsylvania, one from Idaho) would travel so far only to end up at the Hotel Florida in Filadelfia, Paraguay. Filadelfia is the capital of Boqueron province, population 45,000, which houses a large German-speaking Mennonite community. The first Mennonite colony in Paraguay was founded in 1927.

Filadelfia is located in the expansive western territory of Paraguay called the Chaco, which contains only a small percentage of the country's population even though it is much larger than the "Oriental" or eastern region, where we have been since beginning this trip. To get here we crossed the Paraguay River, which separates the country into these two distinct regions.

Last night Paraguay exploded in celebration when their Olympia soccer team defeated a Brazilian team to capture the "Copa de America." Hundreds of locals in Concepcion had gathered in a plaza to watch the broadcast on a large screen TV, and black and white flags and shirts were flying everywhere as fireworks announced their victory.

Two guys who watched the game at the plaza joined us for today's bus journey, and they are Tim McEntaggart and Charlie Campion, both 22 and from England. They are on a three-month tour of South America, and you can read about their adventures at www.charliestravels.co.uk.

We would like to acknowledge and thank Sieghard Dueck and his family for sharing with us "Home for the Homeless," a documentary chronicling the fiftieth anniversary, in 1980, of the formation and progress of the Fernheim settlement in the Chaco. Their perseverance in a harsh landscape and peaceful integration with indigenous peoples is commendable.