13-Aug-2014 -- After reaching the confluence one degree south of this one in the morning, we drove north on highway 8 through Villarrica and Coronel Oviedo. At the small village of Simon Bolivar we turned right onto an excellent secondary road that passed through one amazingly beautiful town called Doctor Cecilio Baez. There were occasional trees that were covered with bright pink blossoms, and a great number of what we eventually figured out were large ant mounds. Some fields had hundreds of the bright red mounds. Just after the village of San Joaquin we had to turn north at a small cemetery. (As with others cemeteries that we saw in Paraguay, this one was impressive in the care and effort taken to commemorate the dead.)

The road from this point was a real adventure. This was relatively hilly and dry country and the road became increasingly sandy. The only few vehicles that we observed were motorcycles more akin to dirt bikes and one tractor. Our rented 2-wheel-drive car appeared increasingly unwise and I found myself increasingly considering the odds that we would be getting stuck. One or two stretches were traversed only by using every bit of my Florida sand driving skill and considerable speed. Eventually, we abandoned the car and walked the last km or two.

The actual confluence point was in an out-of-season farm field that had recently been burned. The local residents of several houses to the south seemed to retreat at our approach, which was unfortunate but fit with the general suspicion that we observed from rural Paraguayans toward folks like ourselves.

All in all this was a delightful confluence on a cool, beautiful day in Paraguay's winter. The whole effort required only a 2-hour detour from our drive north of houses.