Granja El Roble (11.04.2014 - 15.04.2014)

www.paraguay.ch

In Belen, 20km east of Concepcion lies the Granja El Roble. Run by Peter from Germany together with his Paraguayan wife and their three kids. Besides some chickens, pigs & cows from his earlier days as a milk producer Peter has giant fish ponds for Tilapia, Surubí & Pacu. But the main income are the cabañas, the restaurant and the entrance to his little zoo. By word of mouth it came to be known that he has a heart for discarded pets and hurt animals, so they end up in his place. When we visited him he had a blind Anaconda (probably run over), a discarded howler monkey (became too aggressive), different parrots and doves, a Screamer bird (evil creature), a Toucan and best of all a Tapir as his guests!

A stay at El Roble is always full board, meaning three meals a day which you eat together with the family on one long table. You can relax in the garden, in the pool or one of the hammocks. You can gaze at the fish in their aquariums or in the koi pond. Play with the various pets or follow the Tapir around the house. In the morning they drive the kids to school, so you can tag along and have a look around Concepcion. We visited the tiny (and rund down) museum, which nevertheless welcomed us heartily and showed us around, free of charge. 

The main "attraction" is Peter itself. After twenty years in Paraguay he has always a tale to tell or a documentary (about the country or in which he helped/participated) to show off. 

From Concepcion leaves a boat once a week to plough up north with the possibility to cross into Brazil later. Since having heard of this opportunity we (okok, I) wanted to take this route. Sadly the catholic nature of latin america made this impossible, on new years eve and easter the boat doesn't run =/

So we headed north-east by bus to the border of Brazil, wanting to reach Bonito...

LOVE IT!

Asuncion & Concepcion (08.04.2014 - 11.04.2014)

To enter Paraguay we had to cross through Brazil again. We hopped of the bus at the border control in Ciudad del Este and got our entry stamp. To get some Guaranis, the paraguayan currency, we entered one of the many shopping malls in Ciudad del Este. It is the least valuable currency in the Americas with one million valuing around 200CHF, but Guarani is also an indigenous and official language in Paraguay which kids lern at school.
Walking past the shopping window I couldn't help but notice the low prices for the GoPro Hero3+, which I planned to buy for my next trip... Not much later I was the proud owner of one of these little wonders! Super excited!
We had an enjoyable six hour ride to the capital as our bus was of the big sleeper chairs type.
In Asuncion the next day we strolled through town, snapped pictures of the presidential palace and city hall and had a gigantic picada. A picada is a platter with assorted cheese, meets, sausages, olives & etcetera. We would call it "es Plättli" back home ;)
Heading north to Concepcion we caught a bus which ventured into the Chaco before turning east again.
Paraguay is split into two pieces by the Rio Paraguay with East Paraguay on the eastern shore and the Chaco on the western side. Where the eastern part is densely inhibited and developed the west is sparsely populated, mainly by indigenous groups, and difficult to access. Over this semi-arid land Paraguay and Bolivia fought a bloody war in 1932 which cost more than hundred thousand lives and was "won" by Paraguay two years later.
Our accommodation in Concepcion was the totally run down and dirty Hotel Center, so we where glad when we got picked up the next day to head to Granja El Roble!

Travel anniversary - one year away from home...

Yesterday was it exactly one year since I left Switzerland on the 11th of April 2013. Who would have thought that I would end up in Paraguay a year later ;)

I even got some cake and a candle!

Travelling latin america, a little statistic

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