three days on a donkey: Field Trip to the Chaco

I had the opportunity to take a few days and head west to the Chaco Desert! It wasnt really a rest holiday from insanity but very fun and educational! I was traveling with Mila Wilmoth one of my favorite PCVs! After a few minor transportation troubles (Mila missed the bus and had to chase it in a taxi!) we were on our way to Filadelfia in the department of Boqueron in the western part of Paraguay. It was hot. It was windy. there was lots of blowing sand! There was tumble weed. The only thing that was missing was the background, "Oooh oooh wooo ooo" (Imagine a old western movie). We went to investigate the lives of the Mennonite Colony that has settled in the middle of the Chaco.
A few things were learned:

Not all Mennonites wear bonnets
or churn their butter at home
They have been paying taxes since 1940 (contrary to what Lonely Planet says)
They DONT pick cute PCV hitch-hikers
They run one tight ship - the bell rings at 7am and then again at 1130 and they start again at 2 til 6. What the bell says, goes.
When a Indigenous Tribal leader heard about starving people in Africa - he asked why there arent Mennonites in Africa? The Menno community works closely to support the indigenous tribes that live around the colony.
Most Mennonites are very white and seem to burn easily under the sun - odd since they live in the middle of a desert!
They make amazing milk, yogurt and butter! (and DULCE DE LECHE!)
The colony in the Chaco is composed of Mennonites from Russia, Germany and Canada.
For the past 300+ years they have been fleeing communisum and military service, looking for a place where they could have religion in schools and be left alone!

We had a fabulous time! Here are few of the pics!