Farmhouse Camping

 

Campgrounds in Latin America are rarely one business enterprises. Often, dare I say usually, a campground is tacked in to another business to make extra money with not much outlay.

In this case it’s not exactly a hotel though they do rent air conditioned rooms, and it’s not only an event space though you could get married here but technically it is a farm with a restaurant and space to park your camping vehicle.  

It’s called, in a mixture of Spanish and German, Granja (“farm” in Spanish) Alte Liede (“old love” in German. That’s because the owner Attilio was born of a German father had a Paraguayan mother.

Rent a yellow room or park a Promaster. We haven’t even used the pool as it’s been a cool gray day with a torrential downpour in the afternoon. 

So most of the day we stayed home and listened to afternoon rain. Rusty wanted to be outdoors so he took shelter underneath GANNET2. He pretty much ignores the sheep which is helpful. 

Our plan is to drive to Brazil where we’re hoping to have a tour of one of the twenty wonders of the world.

Friends told us to take the dawn tour before the crowds, a tour that starts at 5am so it had better be good. After that we will head for the beaches, those famous Brazilian strands 

We had a dinner date forty minutes away and it was a good thing we did as there was precious little sunshine on Tuesday even between rain showers. It required some modest night driving on the way back to the campground but Inge from our previous stop had a hotel room on her way to Brazil and Layne figured the company would be nice. It was and so was my Wiener Schnitzel.

But here’s the truly weird thing: the me I was in German and this was a Paraguayan restaurant. 

And Señora Graciela who waited on us was more comfortable with German than Spanish. She spoke rapid fire Guaraní with her son and spoke fluently with the two other tables if German diners but struggled with us in Spanish. 

Layne got help from Inge to decipher the menu.

And ended up with steak in a mushroom sauce. 

Inge is from Kiel on Germany’s north coast and says when she gets home in ten days her sister has promised to take her out for a fish supper.  The food we had is what I am used to on a German menu but Paraguay is absolutely packed with Germans and in the town of Independencia where we ate there are so many German settlers businesses post their signs in Spanish and German. Americans from the US are decidedly a fringe element. Paraguay the surprising. 

On The Road

It arrived. 

We said goodbye to Inge the German:

And Mark the Englishman:

We paid our bill and got on the road.

Our destination was a campground an hour away between the towns of Coronel (Colonel) Oviedo and Villarica. Oviedo, a city of 55,000 was founded in 1758 and was first named for our Lady of Garlic. Would I kid about such a thing? Apparently garlic was a massively important crop when the city was founded. In 1931 they renamed it for Colonel Oviedo, a hero of the War of the Triple Alliance (which he miraculously survived). I do know it has a first rate supermarket according to the campground owner Attilio. 

I defy you to find anyone who has visited this country and who will tell you Paraguay should be a noted tourist destination. 

I’ve never met anyone who said that. It’s inexpensive, it’s not heavily developed, the people are very welcoming but tourist sites are not very obvious if they exist at all. 

We saw some hills in the distance but mostly we drove through untended ranch land. 

But the highway was a proper freeway and that was a pleasure to drive. And the second alternator was generating amps.

Paraguay Highway 2 is a four lane toll road between Asunción the capital and Ciudad Del Este (East City) the industrial center. 

The tolls are nothing to worry about, around $2:25 and payable in cash.

We zipped past the town of New London next to New Australia. I had no idea but Paraguay has been a magnet for immigrants forever. While we’ve been ignoring it, people moved here to make new lives. 

The campground is an event space and hangout for locals on the weekend. We have it to ourselves, flat parking on grass, shady but with enough open sky to operate Starlink and our solar panels.

Rusty was extremely reluctant to leave the campground where he got beaten up. It takes him a while to get used to a new place so he stuck close to home but usually he likes grass and shade and not being bothered by big dogs. 

There are a couple of people staying in the hotel rooms but we have this to ourselves. 

$12 a night with proper toilets and showers, a jacuzzi and a restaurant on site. 

 

A swimming pool for our use: 

It’s like camping at a Roman villa. 

And cats. They have  a small white dog and an army of cats. 

It was cool and overcast in the afternoon. As we retreated to GANNET2 the rain started. Not too hot, fans blowing, the three of us snug at home for the night.