Roaming South America

Coronel Bogado, Paraguay

June 21, 2023

Coronel Bogado, Paraguay, has a population of about 20,000. The town was founded in 1913, and the name of the town is the name of a famous Paraguayan war hero—José Félix Bogado. Being a relatively new town there isn't much historical info available, only information about the man himself, and that info concentrates on his years serving in the military.

There is no historical or interesting architecture here, they have two plazas, and a long linear park that appears to be popular with runners and walkers. The linear park is quite nice, the main plaza is as well, the second plaza is a residential area park that needs some maintanance. The downtown area is easily walkable and a pleasant downtown.

Economically, the town depends on agriculture—Agriculture, Cotton, Wheat, Cassava, Yerba mate, Peanuts, Beans, Soybeans, Corn, Beans, Rice, Watermelon. They also have a sawmill or two, a furniture factory, a sausage factory, and the town is known as the capital of Chipas. Chipas are similar in shape and size to a donut, more or less, but are made of, most commonly, cassava starch, corn starch, fat, milk, and egg. They are commonly eaten for breakfast or for snacks throughout the day, There are Chipa vendors along the streets and many businesses that sell many varieties of Chipas.

Coronel Bogado has a warm temperate climate. The average daytime high of 26° C (79° F), and the nightly average low of 17° C (63° F). The city's elevation averages 68 meters (223 feet). The average yearly rainfall amounts to 1868 mm (73.5 inches) of rain.

So, my impressions: Coronel Bogado is a pleasant enough town. While there is nothing particularly exciting or interesting here it is a nice place to visit, though I wouldn't go out of my way to see it. I stayed one night here only because it was along the route I am currently traveling.

My goal is to find a new place to live. So to reach that goal, I am traveling most of South America, visiting the countries of Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, and Chile, passing through Argentina, visiting Paraguay, passing through a bit of Brazil, and finally visiting Uruguay. I have a list of towns, about 70 that meet these qualifications: Cities with average day temperatures of 22-28° C (72-83° F) and night temps of 14° C (57° F) and higher; and a population between 28,000-300,000. I analyzed climate and population data of around 700 towns in the countries mentioned above and then pulled out the ones that meet the previously mentioned criteria, which leaves about 70. My preference leans towards towns of less than 100,000 people.  And, now that I have visited more than 30 towns/cities, I've decided I will probably want an inland town. I love the beach and walking in the warm water, but getting sunburned is just too easy, even on a cloudy day. At least here in Ecuador. I've also decided that any town with more than 100,000 population will be too big. I've decided that any small town/city (less than around 80,000 population) that meets the temp specifications and has a supermarket and ATM is one worth considering to live in.

My goal is to visit the towns and discover which one calls out to me - "Chip, Chip, make your new home here, this is your new home town". That hasn't happened yet, but the towns listed below are very close to giving me that feeling. At any rate, I am not visiting tourist attractions or archeological sites, etc, those will have to wait for another trip through South America.

At this point in my journey, I had ten towns on my Top 10 list, but I narrowed it down to four:

• Tingo Maria, Perú
• Moyobamba, Perú
• Catamayo, Ecuador
• Puyo, Ecuador

During my travels in Ecuador I visited 32 towns/cities. In Perú, I visited 26 towns/cities; in Chile, only five towns; and in Argentina, I visited 15 towns. In Uruguay, I visited five towns, and in Brazil, three. So far, I have visited 17 cities in Paraguay.

Next up: Santa Rosa, Paraguay.