Food
Girasol Churrasquena Filadelfia’s most popular (and most expensive) restaurant. There is a buffet, and the meat options flow freely. Tel: 0491 32078, Unruh between Hindenburg and O Miller, daily 11am- 1:30pm 6pm-11pm, Gs. 40,000-60,000
El Rincon Under the same management as Girasol, El Rincon is a similarly good restaurant tucked away in the Portal del Chaco mini mall. Menu includes pastas, pizzas, and fast food. The house specialty is the all you can eatpicana corrido meat platter. Tel: 0491 432 496, 0981 876 935, corner of Avenida Hindenburg and Calle Amistad, daily 11am-2pm, 6pm-12am, Gs. 45,000-60,000
Restaurant Hotel Florida The hotel’s restaurant is quite good and popular with guests and non-guests alike. Pizzas are a tasty and affordable option. During the cooler hours of the night, dining in the hotel’s courtyard can be pleasant. Tel 0491 432 151/5, Avda. Hindenburg Nr. 165S across the street from the Fernheim Cooperative offices and the Jakob Unger Museum, www.hotelfloridachaco.com, restaurant hours daily 6am-10pm, Gs. 30,000-60,000
Supermercado Cooperativa Fernheim The storefront for the Fernheim Cooperative is worth visiting to see the wide variety of goods produced in this Mennonite colony as well as the various items imported from Europe. There are also a number of reference materials on the Chaco and the Mennonite colonies in both English and German. Tel: 0491 417 000, corner of Avenida Hindenburg and Calle Unruh, Mon-Sat 6am-11: 30, 2pm-6pm
Supermercado Boqueron A surprisingly large supermarket with a variety and selection rivaling that of supermarkets in Asuncion. The adjoining food court has a buffet as well as a la carte options. Of Filadelfia’s restaurants, this is the most affordable. Tel: 0491 432 128, Corner of Boqueron and O Miller, daily 7am-12pm, 2:30pm-8pm, Gs. 45,000-60,000
Getting There
The turn off to Filadelfia is located at km 443 of the Trans Chaco Highway. From here, take a right and continue for approximately fourteen kilometers. The entrance to town is marked by a large cement sculpture commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Filadelfia’s founding.
Both Nasa-Golondrina (Tel: 021 551 731) and Stel Turismo (Tel: 021 551 647) operate daily buses from Asuncion to Filadelfia. Tickets cost between Gs. 65,000 and 70,000. Most buses leave Asuncion in the late evening or night, arriving in Filadelfia in the wee hours (the bus ride takes six to seven hours). Buses run along Avenida Hindenburg past both Hotel Golondrina Avenida and Hotel Florida. Travelers continuing on to Bolivia can take a Nasa-Golondrina bus to Mariscal Estigarribia and catch buses to Bolivia at the Immigration and Customs checkpoint. The Nasa-Golondrina bus terminal (Tel: 0491 432 492) is located on Chaco Boreal and O’Miller.
