Roaming South America

Pilar, Paraguay

June 25, 2023

Pilar, Paraguay, has a population of about 33,000. The town was founded in 1779 with the name Villa del Ñeembucú, in 1783, it was renamed Villa del Pilar, in honor of the Virgen del Pilar.

The town was founded by Captain Juan de Jara. He and a contingent of men were to prevent the then acting governor of the area from escaping the province. In the early years Pilar was the only working port in the country, and they traded in almost exclusively yerba mate and cotton. In 1930, a textile factory was built and the power generating plant also provided power to the entire city. In 1983, the Paraguay River flooded and just about wiped out the city of Pilar. Shortly after that the city started work on a dike that almost surrounds the city. Today, the dike is completed but now they are in the process of building a bridge over the Ñeembucú arroyo and paving a street on the top of the full length of the dike. In 2000, Highway 4 was finally paved all the way across to Encarnación, thus the town of Pilar was no longer isolated from the rest of the country.

The economy of Pilar depends on agriculture and livestock, and services/trade, and the textile company is still one of the largest employers in this part of the country.

Pilar has a warm temperate climate. The average daytime high of 26° C (79° F), and the nightly average low of 18° C (64° F). The city's elevation averages 124 meters (407 feet). The average yearly rainfall amounts to 1769 mm (69.6 inches) of rain.

So, my impressions: Pilar is a pleasant town. More streets are cobblestone than paved, the downtown is long and stretched along the highway that enters the town. There are a couple of plazas and some parks, and the historic church. The 'costenero' (the boardwalk/malecon atop the dike) is under construction and is walkable and driveable, but not even remotely close to completion (don't pay attention to the wikipedia, it's completely wrong). Pilar is a likable town, but still, for what I'm looking for, it just doesn't make the cut.

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 20 cities in Paraguay.

Next up: Asunción, Paraguay (again).