Driving to Acahay in Paraguay – Visiting the Aida I Tilapia Aqua Farm

We arrived in Paraguay just in time for the trip on Friday morning. The streets were packed and the buses were packed with people going to work and school. We had to cross the outskirts of the city to reach the growing neighborhood of San Lorenzo. This is where sister-in-law Aida and her husband Luc make their home in the city and where much of the business of their Tilapia aquaculture farm, Granja Aida I, takes place. It was a forty-minute drive in two vehicles carrying seven people. and luggage. We stopped at the house only briefly to freshen up and I took the opportunity to notify the family back home that we had arrived safely. We then hit the road again on our way to the water farm.

Along the way I noticed the similarities and differences between San Pedro Sula, Honduras and what we were seeing in Paraguay. Before, if you have seen a Latin American city, you have seen them all. They all still share the same third world conditions, like poor economies, bad roads, horse-drawn carts, poverty, unemployment or underemployment, corruption. Hey, looks like I’m talking about California!

However, there are distinctions at least between Central America and South America. Which appear to be caused by influences from the United States and Europe. Generally speaking, the Central American countries and Panama are linked to the United States through business and immigration. South American countries are more aligned with Europe than with the United States. For one reason, the cost of goods imported from Europe is usually cheaper. As an example, there are very few American cars here. I have seen a GMC minivan, an old Ford pickup and a Jeep. All the other cars I’ve seen are European or Japanese models, plus some from South Korea. Cultural and political ties with Europe are also important here. Emigration from South American countries is more likely to result in relocation to Europe, especially Spain, than to the United States.

After driving for an hour or so southeast on Route 1, we stopped for breakfast at Restarante Parador, a combination grocery store and roadside restaurant in the town of Paraguari. It is buffet style with food already cooked. I didn’t like the look of fried eggs, so I opted for a chicken empanada, which was basically a fried chicken sandwich on a bun, and a cup of delicious creamy hot chocolate. This was a bit different from the empanadas I’m familiar with, a meat filled pie.

We continue on the two-lane highway for another half hour until we turn onto Route 2 before approaching the town of Acahay. This is where the children of Aida live during the week so they can go to school. The streets of the village are paved with red stones, but the road to the farm is not paved at all, it’s just a clay dirt road that turns into a mud road when it rains. Fortunately it hadn’t rained today. The most common means of transportation here, besides walking, is motorcycles. These are the smaller models rather than the larger Harley motorcycles. In addition to the usual two-wheeler variety, many are three-wheelers with various small pickup configurations attached to the rear of the bike.

In another ten minutes we finally reached the farm, a very large two-story building of tan brick with a Spanish tile roof and surrounded on all sides by large fish ponds. The interior is beautifully finished with ceramic flooring and wood trimmed concrete. The second floor contains a library located above the living room, a model train room, several bedrooms and bathrooms, and has a balcony that overlooks the dining room and kitchen.

The first order of business, of course, was to take a nap. We had managed to get some sleep here and there on the way from Lima, but we were pretty tired at this point. When we woke up from our dream, Luc and Aida’s children, Suzy, 18, Sophie, 15, and Pierre, 8, were home from school. This was an occasion of joy for them, as well as for us, because it was the first time that they met any relative from Aida’s side of the family. Not only that, the sisters Aida and Beatriz hadn’t seen each other in seventeen years, so it was a wonderful reunion!

The main dish of our celebration dinner was, of course, tilapia. But instead of the fillets that we normally have at home, each fish, after cleaning, was fried and served whole. Each person had a complete fish plate with head, tail, fins, scales, skin and bones plus salad. I managed to choose the meat, but stopped short of the head and tail. Some people did it all, including fish eyes, but I’m not that much of a foodie.

After dinner, pianist Suzy treated us to selections from Beethoven and Mozart that she played on an old French upright piano. She also plays the violin with the local orchestra. Then it was time to dance to modern recorded music. Alexa impressed everyone with her dance steps that she has learned in six years of lessons. Before we knew it, midnight had come and it was bedtime for this big boy. Who knows how much longer the youngsters stayed awake?

Robert R. Talley
Author and publisher