Filadelfia
Filadelphia
Filadelfia is the capital of Boquerón Department in the Gran Chaco of western Paraguay. It is the centre of the Fernheim Colony. It is about a 5 hour drive from the capital of Asunción.
the museum telling the story of the
German Mennonite immigrants
Filadelfia was founded in 1930 by Russian Mennonites who fled from the Soviet Union. Filadelfia lay near the front of the Chaco War, but was little affected. It became divided in the Second World War, with some of the originally German colonists supporting the Nazis and later being expelled.
Photos of the Mennonite Experience
Today the town is home to a museum, a library, a radio station and a hospital.
The colony's villages lie around Filadelfia, as do several native reserves, home
to much of the area's native population, from the Chulupí, Lengua, Toba-Pilaga,
Sanapaná and Ayoreo groups. A modern supermarket is located in the centre of the
town, which is the last place to get groceries before heading farther out into
the Chaco. Most of the town's potable water supply is drawn from underground
cisterns, being replenished by intermittent rainfall; the underground water is
too salty to drink.
wide streets in Fernheim
paved
The newly asphalted highway from Asunción continues past Filadelfia for another 70 km (40 mi) and runs out at the military checkpoint Mariscal Estigarribia. From this point onwards, the road to the border town fort General Eugenio A. Garay with Bolivia is almost impassable.
Text from Wikipedia
but only paved in town
at the corner of Hindenburg Avenue
Coop store
pretzels
Mennonite woman at the checkout counter
many use motorcycles
or walk
Mennonite owned Agribusiness
milk processing
milk products
for holding water
wind pumping water into storage pool
moving water
town dwelling
early German style dwelling
generated their own electricity until connected to national grid
Loma Plata airport
Colonial Museum
the hotel in Filadelphia
craft store
local hand made items
tree stump puller to clear the land for agriculture
first locomotive
on the move
truck stirring up the dust
Paraguayan lacework
