Day 34: 20 September 2017 – Santa María Fé

Up early for breakfast; I stole two bananas from the sideboard and went to feed the [howler] monkeys in the town square. There was a family there, with some very young; all very tame. One of the younger ones was happy to take a banana from my hand and sit on the bench with me to eat it.

Breakfast with monkeys ..

We visited the town museum in Santa María. It was very interesting, and full of bits and pieces from the old (1669) church, with many hand carved statues. The Jesuits taught the Guarani how to carve, and some really took to it.

Main entrance to Capilla Loreto, Santa Rosa

We left Santa María by a secondary road for Santa Rosa. It was a lovely drive, an attractive road, very red and dusty, as was Sta. Rosa with its old Loreto chapel, and the remains of an old church and clock tower. On to Coronel Bogardo, the Chipá capital, where we had meat and chicken stuffed chipas with beer – very tasty. Chipá is the thing here – and I love them.

Chipa, tasty bread rolls made with cheese and cassava root flour

Drove on to Encarnacion – an open city, with modern waterside development for tourism and lots of parking for the beaches, but not today. We checked in to a hotel where we had ice creams, beer and a shower/siesta. The request for beer was met with a puzzled look (why would we have beer?). Strange hotel.

Encarnación is a major beach resort, but not apparently in September

It had been another very hot day. We had supper in a local Italian Restaurant. Scheduled for tomorrow: Jesuit Ruins.

Day 33: 19 September 2017 – Asunción – Santa María Fé

Left Asuncion early in horrendous traffic, made worse by the terrifying lack of any apparent traffic rules. This was particularly noticeable whenever two dual carriageways crossed with no roundabout or traffic lights. I can seriously say that this was the worst city for driving I have ever experienced, and I have travelled quite a lot! Getting out of the city was a nightmare too, even with the sat nav, but without it would have been impossible as we saw no road signs at all, and precious few street signs.

No traffic lights, no roundabouts – not for the faint-hearted

Once we had escaped the city and got out into open country it was very different – a much greener landscape than we had seen before in the Chaco area. We stopped in Yaguarón to see a beautiful old (1777) Franciscan Church – it is the only reduction to have its original church still standing in it’s original form. Yaguarón is a very attractive town with a different feel to it compared with where we have been before. It is laid out on a grid system with leafy residential cobbled streets and well built, red-tiled houses.

Franciscan church at Yaguarón

From there we drove on to San Juan Bautista for lunch (chicken, mandioc and salad with sopa paraguaya). The landscape very different from the Chaco – agricultural country with tall trees and abundant leaves, lawns, hedges and flowers around the buildings. Generally a wealthier feel to this part of the country.

Sta María Hotel, in Santa María Fé

After lunch we drove on to Santa María Fé, where stayed in the Sta María Hotel, a beautiful low building which seems to run spiritual retreats. It was established by Margaret Hebblethwaite who was the author of C’s guidebook along with various co-operative initiatives to provide work and income for local people.

Local arts and crafts

There was a workshop where women were making As we entered we spotted an artesania cooperative next door and C bought a some stitched wall hangings and other crafts as mementos of the trip.

Hotel Dining Room

After a long day’s driving we had supper in hotel (roast chicken and vegetables and a bottle of Chilean Red), and a quiet evening. After eating we sat in the square for a while. Too dark to see the monkeys we’d been told about but we listened to a night owl.

Day 31: 17 September 2017 – back to Asunción

Going home day, so a bit sad. Up early and got last standing shot of Caroline’s plumbeous ibis.

The beautiful plumbeous ibis once again

We spent a good part of the day on the long (500km) drive, stopping once to see Beryl the missionary (who unfortunately wasn’t there) and once for lunch at the same place we had stopped on the way out. Got to Hotel Danieri in Asunción in early afternoon, somewhat exhausted, showered and soon felt better.  

The long journey back down Route 9 to Asunción

 Rest of the day was relaxation and recuperation, in which checking email, drinking beer and diary writing figured fairly prominently. For supper we walked around the block looking for somewhere to eat and ended up in the bistro opposite, where we had a mountain of good food. Found that we had over-ordered and asked the waiter to donate the pizza to someone who needed it!

Day 28: 14 September 2017 – in and around Filadelfia

Caroline relaxing and apparently checking email???

Up early (05.30) for breakfast and on the road slowly towards Filadelfia. Stopped a couple of times along the road, by lakes, etc., and did some birding – very hot. Lunch at a small farm, Chaco Lodge, Laguna Salida an estancia of some 10 hectares of which 9 are given over to a nature reserve. There is a system in place to connect reserves to extablish an eco-corridor.

These are Ñandu – the greater rhea, not to be confused with the lesser rhea (choique)

On arrival we were greeted by an Indian and two exuberant puppies who seem to look after the place. He apparently lives in the shell of the old farmhouse, cooking on an outdoor fire. Must be a very isolated existence. There was no water at the farm, but fortunately we were well stocked.

This peccary skull shows how hot and dry everything was

We went around another dry salt lake and some trails while Ulf got together an excellent lunch – give the guy his due, he performs real wonders on a single ring with pretty basic equipment.

Impenetrable is the word …

Walked over to Laguna Flamenco, a vast flat area of shallow water and sand. Saw a group of flamencos and tracks of fox and tapir. The Chaco is an area of dry forest which is impenetrable owing to the density of the undergrowth and the propensity of the plants to have many and large thorns. Thorns are common, as they are an adaptation to drought conditions losing less water than leaves.

Coypu by the side of the road

Back on the road after lunch – in this part the roads form a grid system so it’s like driving a route across graph paper – long straight and ever so bumpy. stopping ed a few times –saw a couple of coypus by the roadside– and then had a puncture so went into Filadelfia to get it fixed. Took advantage to go to Supermercado to buy beer and tea.

Getting the important supplies

Then on to another Mennonite Estancia Ganadera (Iparoma), where we were scheduled to spend the night – very comfortable, young Mennonite couple traditionally dressed – and on arrival had a couple of beers and a siesta.

Compare a hen’s egg (r) with an egg from the greater rhea

The Mennonites cooked for us this time; a tasty evening meal combination of roast chicken, rice, pickled dill, beetroot and a rich sauce.

A smart Mennonite dining room for supper – a contrast to lunch

A treat for us after dinner was a night walk around the estancia where we saw night monkeys (Aotus azarae) and the chaco owl (Strix chacoensis).

Oscar took this photo of the Chaco owl

Day 27: 13 September 2017 – Laguna Capitán and environs

Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis) – a somewhat noisy bird

Woken very early by something cackling horrendously outside my window. Turned out to be a Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis, a very noisy bird: you can listen to one here), and we were to see (and hear) quite a few more of them.

As we were up we had an early breakfast followed by a walk around a. nearby lake. We saw a few waders around the shore and with the bins we could see a small group of peccaries in the distance.

Oven bird getting started on the nest …

Oscar has an encyclopaedic knowledge of species names in three languages and an impressive ability to identify them at a distance by their calls. Caroline particularly enjoyed looking at all the different nest structures – so fantastically varied and truly astonishing constructions, e.g. the oven birds and the thornbirds.

… and a little bit later

By 11.00 it was simply too hot to continue walking so we went back to the ranch for beers, an early lunch and a welcome siesta.

Birds were everywhere – these around the place where we were staying

After the snooze I went with Oscar to walk around another lake – to get there we walked across a desolate landscape of dead trees and salt pans – with very dense brush/shrub on either side. It was really quite frightening, very far from anywhere.

We walked a few kilometres around the almost dry lake; we saw lots of birds, and the footprints of various animals crossing the salt flats to get to the water. Oscar diagnosed these tracks as those of tapir, collared and white lipped peccaries, deer, and others but we only saw distant peccaries.

A thorn tree …

The Chaco is noted for it’s thorns and not without justification. We saw many examples – the longest some 6 inches and apparently poison tipped. Oscar told us that the soldiers in the Paraguayan army use them in a very nasty way as a poisonous dagger. As a birder it is easy to spike youself whilst looking elsewhere and Oscar showed us the scar on his forehead!

… and a thorn (which caused a puncture earlier in my trip)

Back to the ranch for shower and another very substantial dinner of stuffed cabbage leaves, rice and salad. It is amazing what Ulf produces from a primus stove – each bit cooked individually and assembled in a glorious final plateful.

Ulf, entomologist and chef …

We then drove and walked around the local lanes and lakes with a flashlight looking for wild life (or at least the eyes of). Saw three opossums, a Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) and a small armadillo.

Geoffrey’s Cat – stock photo (from https://www.deviantart.com/snowporing/art/Geoffroy-s-Cat-213095864)

Back for a bit of a drinking session, joined by a rather enigmatic German who claims he has sold up ‘everything’ and is ‘driving around the world’. Pleasant enough company, and the beer as usual good.