Filadelfia

Understand

Founded by German Mennonites in 1930, today Filadelfia is the largest and most important city of the Chaco with a population of about 18,000 inhabitants. It is also the capital of Boquerón department and the administrative center of the Fernheim Cooperative, one of the largest in Paraguay which, in turn, is responsible for running many aspects and services of the city like the hospital, the main supermarket, the savings bank, the school, and many others, which are paid for by the profits from the cooperative. A large fraction of its population descends from German Mennonites who immigrated from the former Soviet Union in the 1930s. Though most people associate Filadelfia with Mennonites, there are a number of non-Mennonite residents as well. The fact is that the Mennonites comprise 30% of the population and run most of the local businesses and tourist facilities. There are four indigenous communities — the Nivaclé, the Guaraní, the Enxet and the Ayoreo — who account for 60% of the population. The remainder are Latin Paraguayans and foreigners who are neither Mennonite nor indigenous. Filadelfia is the most cosmopolitan of the communities of the Chaco; walking down the streets you are likely to see blond farmers in overalls, modern-looking Latinos speaking on cell phones, and indigenous women wearing long skirts decorated with bright cartoonish prints.

History

The word ‘Fernheim’ is a composition of two German words, which stand for ‘far away home’. The first settlers moved in from the Russian Federation under the sporsonship of the then German president Paul von Hindenburg and found a new home in the central Chaco of Paraguay. In 1930, a group of 1572 people arrived from Russia and established the Fernheim colony. Originally, they organized themselves in 12 villages of 20 – 25 farms each. The following years they added up other smaller groups and nowadays they total 25 villages plus the city of Filadelfia. For the administration of the colonizing society and the

Getting there

Overland is the only way to get to Filadelfia.

By bus Buses terminate at the 1 NASA office on calle Chaco Boreal; you may also disembark on the hotels located along Avenida Hindenburg, the main street. Some buses stop in Loma Plata first and then continue on to Fildelfia. The main bus company serving the area is NASA-Golondrina (not to be confused with top service bus company NSA).

to Asunción 467 km (290 mi), ~7 hr, 5 buses per day (7:15, 13:00, 14:30, 21:00, 22:00), GS.140,000 (Feb 2023) to Loma Plata 21 km (13 mi), ~45 min, 1 bus per day, GS.10,000 to Mariscal Estigarribia 75 km (47 mi), ~2 hr, 2 buses per day (14:30, 21:00, 3:00) GS.30,000 (Mar 2023) to Concepcion 2 buses (11:00, 20:45), Gs.115,000 (Jan 2023) Santa Cruz, Bolivia – The bus travels between Asunción and Santa Cruz and is extremely slow (the Transchaco Highway is only paved as far as the Bolivian border). Buses generally travel only at night - meaning that you miss out on any views of the Chaco, and roadblocks on the Bolivian side of the border can cause your journey time to double. There is at least one bus daily. The trip takes 21-24 hr, costs US$40-60 (bargain if you can), and flights might actually only be marginally more expensive, depending on the time of booking. Any intermediate exit or boarding (like Filadelfia or Villamontes) will likely cost the same as the complete trip. But if your nerves are strong, you will get the price down bargaining directly with the bus driver.

By car Filadelfia has good road connections to Asunción and the other Mennonite colonies of the Chaco. Even if the road is not paved it will be well kept by the Fernheim Cooperative. The city center is 15 km (9 mi) off the Transchaco Highway. Asunción is 467 km (290 mi) to the southeast, and the Bolivia border is 303 km (188 mi) to the northwest; travelling time to both sides is about 7 hours.

Getting around

The town sprawls several kilometers in all directions and there is no public transportation, except for a few taxis, but the terrain is flat and most of the interesting places and tourist attractions can be easily reached on foot as they are along or close to Avenida Hindenburg. The only taxi stand is near the bus terminal.

See

Museums There is an excellent array of well-kept museums that showcase the history and social development of the colony. The museums are owned and managed by the Fernheim Cooperative and are all free. However, only the Jakob Unger museum is permanently open to the public. For visiting the other museums you will have to arrange the visit through the tourist office.

1 Jakob Unger Museum, Avenida Hindenburg at Calle Unruh (in front of Hotel Florida), ☏ +595 491 417329. M-Sa 07:00-11:30, M-F 14:00-16:00. A very good museum spread over two buildings. The oldest building was built in 1933/34, shortly after the founding of the colony, and is one of the few remaining original administrative houses of the city and it was used for civil and religious ceremonies. It was converted into a museum in 1980 and named after Jakob Unger, a Mennonite specimen collector, who was the first of the pioneers to perform a scientific study of the fauna of the Chaco from 1950 to 1975. The first building is devoted to Mennonite history, and there are many artifacts from the original colonists including the printing press for the newspaper Mennoblatt, which is still published today. There is also a collection of relics from the Chaco War. Out front stands a large saw, the first machine in the community saw mill. In the second building is the natural history section, which houses an impressive collection of stuffed animals from the Chaco, including a jaguar, armadillo, coatí, puma, anteater, wolf, tapir, tree sloth, skunk and a boa constrictor. There are also 210 out of 250 bird species found in the area, and a large section devoted to insects. Items are well-labeled, so visiting the museum is an excellent way to learn about the region's fauna. The back room is dedicated to the various indigenous groups the predated the Mennonite's arrival to the Chaco and include utilitarian objects, textiles, feathered headdresses, handicrafts, weapons, and ceramics. The museum has a pleasant garden, the Pla

Do

In town Relax in one of the shaded city parks like the 1 Parque de la Memoria and the 2 Parque Urundey, watching the butterflies and birds flit around the interesting bottle trees (shaped like bottles, high in water content - used to keep cattle hydrated in drought). Explore the tree-lined avenues and dusty streets and take in the mostly regular, solid German architecture in the affluent Mennonite neighbourhoods. You can participate in a Mennonite religious service. There are various Mennonite churches around the city. All are open for foreigners and the tourist office can arrange visits and guide you to many of them. The 3 Iglesia Adonai and the 4 Mennoniten Gemeinde Fernheim are the most centrally located. Mennonite churches are not particularly glamorous in their architecture (are qu