Paraguay the Land of Tereré

15.11.23 Today we are traveling from Bolivia to Paraguay! We have no idea what to expect here and let ourselves be surprised. But before we cross the border, we eat some Bolivian street food. Invigorated and full of anticipation, we roll up to the border on our steel horses. To our great surprise, we realize that we are the only ones. Well, in this case it will be a quick process! No queue, nothing! Super! So into the air-conditioned room to the counter. But it's darkened and there's nobody here except the cleaning staff. They explain to us that it's lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m. and customs is therefore closed. A quick look at the clock. Hmmm, it's exactly 12 o'clock. So we bridge this hour by sitting and cooling down. A truck driver joins us with a cheek full of coca leaves. We have a chat, but he has so many leaves in his mouth that we can barely understand him. Finally, the counters are opened and a friendly Bolivian customs officer is waiting for us. We take a quick look at the paper, stamp here, stamp there and continue to counter number two. The Paraguayan customs officer looks a little stern, looks at the documents, adds another one and one is taken away. He asks a few questions and we continue to counter no. 3. The lady at the counter is probably responsible for exporting the vehicles. It takes a little longer here. She almost touches our vehicle documents with the tip of her nose... glasses would probably be appropriate. She reads, copies, scans and re-reads and now wants to have a look at the motorcycles. She walks around the motorcycles, goes back inside and stamps them. She continues to the 4th counter. The truck driver is waiting in front of us, still in full cheek and standing in front of a dark counter. I ask him if this is the right counter for importing vehicles. He nods and whispers to me that the gentlemen are asleep. Hmmm, at first I thought I hadn't heard him correctly and peeked through the window with my nose pressed flat. It's dark behind it and two officers are snoring away in their armchairs. This could take longer. First lunch break and now siesta? So I bend down, peek through the small opening in the window and greet the gentlemen with a loud "Hola, buenas tardes". The officers jump out of their chairs, turn on the lights in a rush and look in our direction, puzzled. I wave nicely and smile at them. Hola, is this the counter for entering Paraguay? They nod. One is still a bit sleepy and the other is quite grim. We get the grim one - shit happens - and the truck driver gets the nicer one. Well, what the hell. He starts talking to us and to our horror we don't understand a single word. Somehow it seems Spanish to us. Was that Spanish or a dialect? It's "Guaraní"! That's the local language here alongside Spanish! With a lot of patience, smiles and friendly gestures, we try to communicate with the official in Spanish, using our hands and feet. He doesn't really thaw out and is annoyed that we barely understand him. His nice colleague eases the situation, bends down and sticks his neck through the peephole to help with the translation. How long do you want to stay? Where are you going? How much are your vehicles worth, etc.? Hardly anyone has asked us that yet. And we also had to decide which border crossing to use to leave Paraguay. No idea! We have no plan. We explain in a friendly and somewhat awkward manner. The grim man looks even grimmer now because we don't want to give an answer. The nice one, however, becomes nicer. So we decide in favor of the "good guy" and talk to him from now on. He settles the matter with his colleague, who barely gives us a glance. The nice official thaws out more and more and explains everything about the "Tereré" to us in the meantime. Tereré is a cooling drink, similar to mate tea but, as mentioned, a cold drink with ice cubes. You sip tereré all day long. It is a Paraguayan specialty - according to the friendly official - and is particularly useful after a hangover and for heartburn and stomach complaints. We listen with great interest, ask questions and he even offers us a sip. Now our papers are finished and stamped. However, the grim official, who is still grim, wants to inspect our motorcycles. Oh well... This is going to be interesting. Outside, he looks at the 30-year-old "Barana" and the 23-year-old "Wanda". He is fascinated by all the stickers on Stefan's bike and suddenly seems very interested. Suddenly his eyes sparkle and he wants to know where Stefan has been and has the stickers explained to him. A smile actually appears and he says very kindly "puedes seguir. Buen viaje"! We reply "Gracias" at the same time, get on our motorcycles and roll off - straight into the Chaco of Paraguay! Temperatures of over 45 degrees await us. The last time it rained was three years ago! Heat, dust, sand and lots of sweat are our companions for the next 1000 km eastwards.

After the border, we drive 200 km in one go and stop for fuel. Wow, is that easy! After Bolivia, we are used to different refueling times and habits. Put in the fuel nozzle and fill up the tank. Yes! It's half past four in the afternoon and we're already sweating profusely. The sweat is pouring down without even making a move. Now we have two options. Either we look for somewhere to stay while the sun burns us away or we drive 260 km further to the next town, Mariscal, with a bit of a hot headwind. In between there is only the Gran Chaco and us - no shade, no water, dry forests and thorn bush savannahs, wild animals and a lot of dust, that's it. We decide on the latter option and drive on. But first we want to cool down a bit and get our T-shirts and hair wet, which should make the journey a little more pleasant. We ask the young gas station attendant if there are toilets with cold water. He shows us the way. How nice, finally some refreshment for the body! We turn on the cold water tap, then the hot water tap.... Only warm water comes out of the tap. The pipes are so hot that there is no cold water. Well, better than nothing. Put your head under the water, it will cool you down a bit while riding, at least a little. The sweat drips off, everything sticks and we feel as if someone is blowing on us with a hot air dryer.

We park our motorcycles, hug and kiss each other with joy. People actually speak to us in Swiss German! Our eyes widen. We hadn't expected that. Sure, it's a Swiss colony, but we were a little surprised to hear the Swiss German dialekt of Bern!

17.11.23 After resting for two days and enjoying the pool, we drive on to Neuland, 100 km away. Oh yes, there's no camping here. Too much heat! You really need air conditioning to survive. In principle, every accommodation has a pool and these are often filled with salt water, as you first come across salt water when drilling for water. Very interesting! In any case, we already have the feeling of being in Switzerland or Germany. Many people have emigrated to Paraguay and settled on an estancia (huge farm). It feels strange not to speak Spanish but German. In Neuland we meet even more German speakers. We feel like we're in the wrong movie. So we decide to get to the bottom of it all.

BOTTLE TREE - Samu'u oder Palo borracho

Some tree trunks are full of large thorns. The tree trunk is made of fibrous material, which serves as a water reservoir in this dry region.

A brief insight into the past: at the end of the 19th century, Russia revoked the privileges of the Mennonite colonies in New Russia, which prompted many to emigrate to North America. Descendants of these emigrants emigrated to South America from around the 1920s, including to West Paraguay in the Chaco. From 1932 to 1935, there was a bloody war between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Chaco because of alleged oil deposits. Another emigration movement took place in 1945 during the war. Mennonites from Canada and the USA offered help to refugees from Russia who were fleeing to Germany, as they were in danger of being sent back to Russia. As a result, thousands arrived by ship. In Paraguay, in the Chaco, they were granted exemption from military service and religious freedom. These were/are the claims of the Mennonites. So they settled in their new homeland. Neuland is the youngest German-speaking colony and was founded in 1947. Another well-known colony is Filadelfia, for example. The Mennonites have built up their own educational, financial, health and economic system. Low German is still often spoken in the colonies today. About half have European roots, others are Spanish-speaking or have an indigenous mother tongue. It is not a purely religious community, but a community with a distinct cultural background. It is incredible to imagine what the Mennonites have built up in the Chaco. The first emigrants arrived in a barren land in the Chaco. A savannah, aridity, heat and sand. But they started farming and agriculture and managed to make the land fertile. It is unique and admirable what this community has achieved. The Chaco is still a very sparsely populated area today. Heinz Epp took over three hours of his time to tell us the story of the conquest of South America by the Spanish and Portuguese and how the Mennonites came to Paraguay. It was incredibly exciting! Paraguay has had a very painful and sad history in the past, a troubled country. And we heard this again and again from the locals, it is still in the minds of their descendants. But the people we met were kind-hearted and always open and interested in talking to us.

THE REWARD

Hotel Bavaria, an oasis in the center of Asuncíon.

20.11.23 We start the day clean and fragrant. Today's destination is Ciudad del Este. It is the second largest city in eastern Paraguay and borders Brazil. The Rio Paraná and Rio Paraguay flow through the country here. The gigantic rivers are important trade routes on which transport ships travel over 1200 km from Paraguay to the Atlantic. Paraguay means in Guarani: pará=ocean, gua=to/from, y=water. However, we plan to visit the motor club "Los Caballeros Templarios". We got in touch with Rolando "el Capitán" through Jürgen and Lili, whom we met at a motorcycle meeting in Domat Ems (Graubünden/Switzerland) a few weeks before our trip to South America. We contacted him at the border and informed him that we were on our way. By our standards, we arrive in the city quite late in the evening at 8 o'clock. It's already dark and we drive past what feels like a thousand lorries waiting at the side of the road in a huge convoy. This is the border with Brazil. The "Puente Internacional de la Amistad" (International Friendship Bridge), which crosses the Rio Paraná, connects Ciudad del Este with Foz do Iguazu in Brazil. The "Triple Frontera" border triangle between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina is also located here. As agreed, we drive to the agreed location where we want to contact Rolando. As we don't have a phone card and therefore no internet reception, we explain our situation to a young man on the street on arrival and ask if he would be kind enough to call Rolando. Friendly and helpful as the people here are, he grabs his cell phone and makes the call. We are always amazed at how open and helpful the people here are. Rolando greets us warmly, as if we've known each other for ages, and takes us straight to our accommodation. Afterwards, we have a beer with a couple of caballeros from the club... It gets late and we fall into bed tired. The next day, an asado is already planned at the motoclub! Let's Rock'n Ride!

Motorbike-club "Los Caballeros Templarios"

Muchas gracias por todo hermanos! Fue un placer conocerle!

We have been adopted by the Motoclub, so to speak, and we spend the next few days with the boys. Above all, however, we are joined by Fagner... He is now our tour guide and his motto is "zero stress". Cool, let's go then!

The Rio Paranã, which supplies the water for the world's largest electricity plant Itaipú (in Guaraní: Itá 'rock', i 'the', pú 'sings'). A gigantic river!

Visiting Saltos Monday

OLIMPIA FROM THE MOTOCLUB IS A MOTORCYCLE MECHANIC

The motorcycles are being refurbished and "Barana" now has a new speedometer cable! Muchas Gracias Olimpia!

Paraguay - the country that lies at the heart of South America. What a wonderful experience. Thank you very much and see you again... we are moving on to Brazil.