Crossing the Paraguayan Chaco

[Jorge]

Hi!
I am travelling from Buenos Aires to Santa Cruz de la Sierra
(Bolivia).

I would like to cross through the Paraguayan Chaco, from Asunción or
Concepción (Paraguay) to Santa Cruz (Bolivia).
It is almost 1300 km, looks a nice to cycle, but not very populated,
just few mennonites towns.

In google maps I see there are some farms, but I wonder if it is easy
find food and water (I would prefer not to bring Filter).
Has any of you cross o listen about this área. I will be glad to
receive any usefull information.

I will be ciclying that area end April-May 2012, if anyone wants to
come, will be welcome.
I have some more information about my trip on:
www.biciviajero.es

Best wishes,
Jorge

[Jeff - http://jk.cgoab.com]

I thought you were going to ride through La Chiquitania to Santa Cruz?
I was looking forward to reading about that!

I rode the Paraguay Chaco route in 2008. I went the other direction,
from Villamontes (Bolivia) to Conception (Paraguay) to Ponta Pora
(Brazil). In Paraguay, that route is all paved, and the western part
(west of Concepcion) is very flat and easy. In Bolivia, the road (from
Villamontes to Ibibobo to the border) was not paved when I was there,
but they were just starting to pave it, and I heard that it is paved
now. But in 2010, I received this info in an e-mail from Eric of
http://worldbiking.info:

"The road from Villamontes to the border is a sad story:
actually all paved to Paraguay but for the last two thirds of the
section(the
one that was not paved when you passed) they put up huge blockades of
dirt and trees
(impassable even by bicycle) every kilometer or so. So we wasted a lot
of time
to go around those: very frustrating ! As often in this part of world
the
pavement was done cheaply and started to break shortly after the road
was opened.
They have to do it almost all over again. In the meantime they want to
prevent
anyone driving on it."

I have not heard of any cyclists riding this route since 2010.

Anyway, there is never more than 150km between small communities where
you can get water and food. It is very dry (and very hot) in western
Paraguay. There are no creeks, only a few small ponds and reservoirs,
created for the cows, so your filter will not be very useful. You can
read my journal for more details. http://jk.crazyguyonabike.com
(scroll down to July 2008). Jeff

[Matt]

Hey boys, 

With Baptiste we traveled from Villamontes to Asuncion in august 2011 (http://frenchguyonabike.blogspot.com/2011/09/123-chaco-paraguayo.html). Same conditions, pavement but some blockades (most of them you can cross with the bike now). Dry and not much place to find food and water, becareful. Not really interesting and beat boring this part.

good travels

matt

2012/2/12 Jeff - http://jk.cgoab.com <jkr...@gmail.com>

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[Axel Miguez]

I was planning to do the same trip but from bolivia to asunción. I´ve some friends in paraguay so the help me with some research. They said the same as matt. 800 boring kms, no water, long distances without nothing, paved in bad conditions though, and very small forest, so you wont find any shadow to rest while the sun reaches the 45º.

still a challenge though

Best

_Axel

[Jorge]

Thanks so much to all, really usefull your experieces.

Jeff, it is true, I was going through Brasil (El Pantanal) and then
the Chiquitanía-San José and Santa Cruz.
But it looked to me so fascinating the Trans-Chaco rute... that is why
I made this requets.
your notes also really interesting (to realice that I shouldn´t make
that route)

Matt, I look and read your blog in the paraguayan pages, also the
conclusion is that I should not make that route.

And finally Axel, thanks a lot, three opinions and the same
conclusion.... I will go back to my firs idea of going through The
Pantanal (I read it is really nice) instead the road from there to
Santa Cruz must be quite boring, there was a train.... in 1999, I don
´t know if it works any more... My plane comes back to Spain from
Santa Cruz, so I´ll go any way.

Best wishes,
Jorge
www.biciviajero.es

On 14 feb, 15:46, Axel Miguez <axelmig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was planning to do the same trip but from bolivia to asunción. I´ve some
> friends in paraguay so the help me with some research. They said the same
> as matt. 800 boring kms, no water, long distances without nothing, paved in
> bad conditions though, and very small forest, so you wont find any shadow
> to rest while the sun reaches the 45º.
>
> still a challenge though
> Best
> _Axel
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 8:45 PM, Matt <bidoum...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hey boys,
>
> > With Baptiste we traveled from Villamontes to Asuncion in august 2011 (
> >http://frenchguyonabike.blogspot.com/2011/09/123-chaco-paraguayo.html).
> > Same conditions, pavement but some blockades (most of them you can cross
> > with the bike now). Dry and not much place to find food and water,
> > becareful. Not really interesting and beat boring this part.
> > good travels
> > matt
>

> > 2012/2/12 Jeff -http://jk.cgoab.com<jkr...@gmail.com>

> >> read my journal for more details.http://jk.crazyguyonabike.com

[Jeff - http://jk.cgoab.com]

I actually enjoyed the Trans-Chaco route. There were lots of
interesting animals and plants that I didn't see anywhere else. But
the Pantanal is amazing, and most people would prefer going there. The
"Estrada do Parque" between Miranda and Corumba (not the paved highway
BR-262, but the unpaved MS-184 and MS-228) was a highlight of South
America for me because of the wildlife. And Bonito is a nice little
town, with a cheap campground and lots of natural tourist attractions
(which you can only visit on an expensive tour bus). But the other
parts of Brazil near the Pantanal, like around Dourados, are boring
modern farmland. And there is a lot of traffic on the main highways in
Brazil.

The Chiquitanía route from Corumba to Santa Cruz (Bolivia) is still
unknown. I don't know if any cyclist has gone there before. It is
probably not paved all the way, and it looks like the road is next to
the railway most of the time. When I was in that area in 2008, that
part of Bolivia was just a big mysterious blank area on my map. But
now you can see it all on Google Earth. It looks pretty civilized. And
Santa Cruz is huge.

Anyway, have fun and let us know how it goes. Jeff

[Dylan Kentch]

I left Villamontes on January 2, 2010 and reached Asunción on the
10th. I have to agree with Jeff about seeing wildlife that isn't
anywhere else. Something bumped me through the tent wall one night
while I was sleeping. Water was never an issue insofar as finding it
and having enough, but sometimes it tastes like chemicals. I drank
all of it and didn't overly mind the taste. I didn't have a filter.
There are enough gas stations that have running water that I wouldn't
keep an eye out for stagnant mud ponds.

It is paved all the way coming from Bolivia but when I was there the
road blocks were still there. Easy enough to push your bike over, but
you will have to dismount a bunch and that can be annoying but not
super inconvenient. Hottest I saw was 40°C south of Filadelfia.

[Jeff - http://jk.cgoab.com]

Hey Dylan, I was going to refer to your crazyguy journal, but it's
gone. Where'd it go?

[Jorge]

Great way to get from Paraguay to Bolivia:

Thanks a lot for all your advices, that is why I finally did not cross the paraguayan Chaco. Too hard for me.

I decided to bike to CONCEPCIÓN, nices 3-4 way from Asunción.

There is an amazing boat called Aquidaban that goes up the PARAGUAY RIVER to Bahía Negra in 3 days.

But I landed before, in PORTO MURTINHO (Brasil), from there you can reach in 2 days "BONITO", turistic but great place to rest 3-4 days and visit wonderfull placed around.

Then, 2 days biking to "EL PANTANAL", wet area with thousand of animals. If you go biking you do not need to pay for a tour, you will see lot of animal if you take the only possible path inside the natural park (no the road). You will get to Corumbá.

From CORUMBÁ I had to take the train to ROBORÉ because I had no more time, but the road is perfect.... Roboré, is even more interesting than Bonito to stay 3-4 days around.... and much cheaper.... then it is also easy to bike to San José de Chiquitos (interestint) and then to SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA.

I hope this coment can be usefull to someone.

Just read my blog or write me if you need further information:

www.biciviajero.es

js_ar...@yahoo.es

Buena suerte a todos los bicicleteros por América!!!