Chaco Essence: A Three-Day Immersion Experience

As we travel through the sparsely-populated Chaco region, you will notice the gradual transition of vegetation from the humid Chaco as we travel north toward the dry or Central Chaco.

Our first brief stop will be in the small town of Villa Hayes, named after former US President Rutherford B Hayes and learn about the important role he played in Paraguayan history.

If the school staff is available to receive us,  we visit a rural boarding school with more than 800 students, 90% of whom live at the school because their families homes are very far away. The students come from low-income families, and some of the children have traveled hundred of kilometers to attend this school. In addition to learning about the education available to children in the sparsely populated Chaco, we will also see the amazing carpentry of the students, learn how the school collects and stores rain water for drinking and bathing, and more.

We will arrive to our hotel in the evening.

Meals: L, D

Part 1
In the morning we will visit a battle site from the Chaco War and take a nature walk to see flora and fauna.

Fortin Toledo was considered a strategic point during the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay.

Part 2
The Proyecto Taguá is a chaco peccary breeding project. Once thought to have been extinct, the chaco peccary remains and endangered species. This project breeds the peccary in captivity and healthy peccary are then released to the wild. After visiting the peccary project, we will walk through the nature reserve to see the interesting flora and fauna of the Chaco.

Part 3
We will spend the afternoon in the Mennonite colony.

A local Mennonite will guide us through different parts of the museum.

• The Mennonite History Museum starts with the Anabaptist movement in the 16th century and continues until the Mennonites presence in Paraguay at the present time.
• The scientific “Jakob Unger” museum exhibits a collection of natural and ethnological material from the Chaco, including a collection of 210 examples of the 250 categories of birds that live in the Chaco.
• The colony house, one of the first buildings constructed during the settlement (1933-34), displays objects from the first years of settlement in the colony.

Part 4
Finally, we will visit an interesting small business that is working with indigenous communities to process, package and sell jams and powders from the seeds and fruits native to the Chaco. You will be able to sample jams from cactus, cumquats, tamarind, and other exotic fruits!

Meals: B, L, D

We will also visit the impressive Chaco Interpretation Center, as well as Fortin Boqueron where you can see the hollowed out (and still living) sniper tree and trenches from the war, as well as a museum with important artifacts from the Chaco War..

Optional alternative:
Depending on the interests of the tour participants, as an alternative to the above activities we can visit a salt lagoon - in addition to spotting wildlife such as caiman, rhea, chaco deer, and if you are very luck giant anteaters or tapir, migrating flamingos can often be seen at the salt lagoons June-September.

Return to Asuncion in the evening (long drive - 6 hours)

Meals: B, L