Guestbook
Below are some reviews of El Roble we have obtained from the travel diaries of some previous guests. A more extensive description of the farm and some experiences in Paraguay can be found here in Eva's Diary. If you have stayed with us before, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
Concepcion, The Place to See in Paraguay
Email contact: jdml402 [at] hotmail.com
Travel Dates: Jan 30, 2008 - Feb. 16, 2008
Weather Conditions: Sunny and Hot, with a heavy rain once a week
Route & Terrain: Bus from Asunción to Concepción. 5 hour journey for G 60,000 (US$14)
Trip Essentials: Camera
The BEST PART of Paraguay is El Roble, a German owned farm about 15KM north of Concepción. Unbelievable Experience. Peter, the owner, has built a small paradise oasis on 40 Hectares of land in between Concepción and Belen. Beautiful accomodations with fan, AC, fridge, nice bathrooms with hot water. Camping also available. A natural spring fed pool. Nearby river beautiful and great for swimming. It includes 3 home cooked meals a day. If your burnt out on empanadas and steak this is the place to be. Fresh juice of all varieties, and the best food with tons of vegetables, and tons of flavor and spice if you like. Everything but the potatoes are grown on his farm.
He doesn´t get many tourist and you can tell he really enjoys having westerners around to talk to and show around. You´ll see the Real Paraguay side of life. We went to Agricultural schools, bread factories, local homes, trips on the river, saw beautiful architecutre in isolated rural towns. Incredible experience. He´s also an expert on local flora and fauna.
Price varies depending on the sleeping quarters you choose. But everything is included in the price, laundry, food, tours around town and to the nearby river. He really wants to show you a great time. It´s not touristy and great fun. Get there before he´s discovered by Lonely Planet. It´s awesome!
His house has boars, geese, caiman, turtles, frogs, lizards, fish ponds, all sorts of parrots. He rehabilitates abused birds to release back into the wild. Absolutely beautiful.
Check it out. It is a wonderful experience.
I came for a week and stayed for six months. After three years of teaching within the London school system El Roble proved an impossible place to leave. Brilliant food, endless stories late into the star filled night combined with cold Pilsin and potent cigars. A small moto on which I could live out my Steve McQueen fantasies bouncing along dirt roads without helmet or worries. Deep fast flowering rivers to dive into and cool down. Evenings spent playing volleyball and football within the local villages. Endless shade to read and listen to the humming birds and parrots that filled the trees all around, and the occasional adventure taking the cargo boats up to Bhia Negro: take a few books and a chess board, find a slither of space to sit, ask no questions about the large suspicious packages that get picked up from the estancias on route and settle in for the greatest sunsets, stars and random conversations you can imagine.
By the time I finally boarded the bus for Santa Cruz, with Peter singing the Hotel California lyrics ‘you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave,’ on the dusty road outside, double History with class 9BG on a Tuesday afternoon felt like a horror from a previous life.
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