Hello Paraguay

Villamontes Bolivia to Concepcion Paraguay

Good-bye Bolivia, hello Paraguay. Things got very hot in Villamontes. The temperature reached the high 30’s by 10am and stayed there until well after dark, so by Canadian standards it was stinking hot. We realized that we have little knowledge on dealing with heat, cold we are trained up on. In reality it is a very similar coping device, in the cold you hide indoors to stay warm, in the heat you hide indoors with the A/C to stay cool.

The border process would prove to be very different this time, according to our research we have to stop in a little town 60km from the border called Ibabobo to get our passports stamped for exit from Bolivia, then at the actual border we would complete the Aduana paperwork for the bikes, both Bolivian and Paraguay Aduana, then the Paraguay entry stamps in our passports are completed in Mariscal, 200km into the country. This was going to be the largest no-man’s land ever.

To say the road is in rough shape from Villamontes to Mariscal is an understatement. I try to paint the picture; we are riding along on a pretty good paved road that is being overtaken by the shrubs on the sides, 

then we come up to a Detour sign pointing to the South. The paved road ahead is blocked by 15 foot high dirt piles that were installed across the road at some point, there is a path cut through the pile wide enough to drive a truck through and we could see a couple of large trucks in the far distance. The detour route was sand, and there was a dust cloud in the far distance. The GPS showed to go the route of the dirt piles and the detour road went in the complete wrong direction and seemed to end, on the GPS anyway. We decided to take the dirt piles route and if it was impassable then we could circle back and take the detour. 

The two trucks were fuel tankers and they let us past so we would not have to eat their dust, shortly after we crossed the last dirt pile and were greeted with brand new pavement. This was a nice treat, except now the GPS showed we were off any marked road, basically a green spot on a white screen, but we were heading East so we should come to the border at some point. Before we get to the border there is a Military checkpoint that records our passport numbers before sending us on our way to the border a couple of km’s down the road.

The border is controlled by a yellow bunkhouse 8 x 45gallon barrels and a couple fence rails. We look around an see a couple of small sheds in the trees and deduct that this must be the border offices and the three guys sitting under the tree must be the officers. Sure enough they were and with a little coaxing they completed the paperwork for the bikes and we were on our way.

The road on the Paraguay side was exactly as reported, continuous potholes varying in size up to about the size of a VW bug. I am not exaggerating, we took a few pictures of the bikes parked in the holes. My best guess is that because the base of the road is built on sand and swamp that provides no support for the heavy trucks that travel this route. The result is approx. 200km of non-maintained road that has turned into a suspension systems’ worst nightmare. Once in the town of Mariscal the Immigration office is closed and we are forced to get a room in the only hotel in town, a nice place if you like the smell of swamp water and are not scared of large bugs, oh and of course they charge extra for the ambiance.

Our lovely accommodations.

The Gran Chaco is about 647,500 km² (250,001 sq mi) in size, though estimates differ. It is located west of the Paraguay River and east of the Andes, mostly an alluvial sedimentary plain shared among Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina. It stretches from about 17° to 33° South latitude and between 65° and 60° West longitude, though estimates differ.

Historically the Chaco has been divided in three main parts: the Chaco Austral or Southern Chaco, south of the Bermejo River and inside Argentinian territory, blending into the Pampa region in its southernmost end; the Chaco Central or Central Chaco between the Bermejo and the Pilcomayo River to the north, also now in Argentinian territory; and the Chaco Boreal or Northern Chaco, north of the Pilcomayo up to the Brazilian Pantanal, inside Paraguayan territory and sharing some area with Bolivia.

Locals sometimes divide it today by the political borders, giving rise to the terms Argentinian Chaco, Paraguayan Chaco and Bolivian Chaco. (Inside Paraguay, people sometimes use the expression Central Chaco for the area roughly in the middle of the Chaco Boreal, where Mennonite colonies are established.)

The Chaco Boreal may be divided in two: closer to the mountains in the west, the Alto Chaco (Upper Chaco), sometimes known as Chaco Seco (or Dry Chaco), is very dry and sparsely vegetated. To the east, less arid conditions combined with favorable soil characteristics permit a seasonally dry higher-growth thorn tree forest, and further east still higher rainfall combined with improperly drained lowland soils result in a somewhat swampy plain called the Bajo Chaco (Lower Chaco), sometimes known as Chaco Húmedo (Humid Chaco). it has a more open savanna vegetation consisting of palm trees, quebracho trees and tropical high-grass areas, with a wealth of insects. The landscape is mostly flat and slopes at a 0.004 degree gradient to the east. This area is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the Parana-Paraguay Plain division.

The areas more hospitable to development are along the Paraguay, Bermejo and Pilcomayo Rivers. It is a great source of timber and tannin, which is derived from the native quebracho tree. Special tannin factories have been constructed there. The wood of the palo santo from the Central Chaco is the source of oil of guaiac (a fragrance for soap). Paraguay also cultivated mate in the lower part of Chaco.

Large tracts of the central and northern Chaco have high soil fertility, sandy alluvial soils with elevated levels of phosphorus^[1] and a topography that is favorable for agricultural development. Other aspects are challenging for farming: a semi-arid to semi-humid climate (600–1300 mm annual rainfall) with a six-month dry season and sufficient fresh groundwater restricted to roughly one third of the region, two thirds being without groundwater or with groundwater of high salinity. Soils are generally erosion prone once the forest has been cleared. In the central and northern Paraguay Chaco, occasional dust storms have caused major top soil loss.

So that is what Wikipedia has to say about the Chaco.

Our impression of this geographic region is that it would be a very harsh place to live. The soil looks mostly sandy and the vegetation is desert like, short shrubs and patchy grass. The GPS shows side roads but as we pass the intersections it is apparent that none of the roads are maintained in this part of the country and soft deep sand is no fun on a motorbike in 30+ degrees. There seems to be very little water and relentless heat and wind. I guess that is why after riding for a few hours we have seen no habitants in any direction.

The soldiers at the checkpoint are stationed in the middle of this nothingness, poor bastards. The fuel stops are few and far between and luckily the jerry-cans are full as we need the extra fuel to get to Mariscal. The power was out at the gas station and we had to wait for a while in order to fill up, this gave me time to tighten the chain on my bike and with wrenching comes beer, so the ice cold Brahma beer refreshing. I think it tasted ok, I didn’t really give it a chance to hit my taste buds.