Bolivia to Paraguay via Transchaco

[Danna el nomada]

Hi there,
I'm currently in Santa Cruz and will go to paraguay soon. I was checking the routes an I'm not sure how to drive on the Transchaco. in my Map there is the Nationalroad Nr.6 from Boyuibe, Bolivia to Guaranì where the border is and than further to La patria, Paraguay. I heard now this part is not passable coz of poor road conditions and no borderposts on the Bolivian side...is that true? have anyone done it on this road?
All the buses from Asuncion to Santa Cruz pass through Rivarola, Pa. and Ibibobo, Bol. and than to Villa Montes. So is there a reason?

I'drealy like to to the whole transchaco ...so would be glad to hear some comments of poeple who have done it.

Many thanks,

Dan

[Danna el nomada]

Hi there,
I took finaly the same road as the buses between santa cruz and Asuncion take.
Its a 6 to 7hous drive from Santa cruz to Villa Montes on good bolivian roads. than next day start at 8a.m to Ibibobo, a 60km and half of it offroad with alot of sand and with my fully packed KLR hard to drive. exit stamp in the bolivian migration in Ibibobo. than another 60km on fresh paved road to the borderline Bolivia/paraguay where sign out your bike for bolivia and get your new temorary import for paraguay. they share an office there...(so no posibilities to swap forged papers) they were realy friendly though! than about 90km on more or less good road conditions to la Patraia where you reach the original Trans chaco route nr.6. its a 120km to Mariscal on very poor road with sand and holes and lots of stones. once in mariscal you have to get the entry stamp in the Paraguyan Migration! Than another 90km to filadelfia where you get a bed for 15USD from the Mennonites. the whole trip took me about 9 hours with stops only at the migration and military checkpoints. it was a rough but adventurous trip! oh and you have no petrolstation between Villamontes and Mariscal. there is an old men who sell gasoline in La patria if you run out but I´ve done it with my full 24liter tank and got to mariscal with my last drop! but I had a 5liters reserve with me for any case....
Enjoy the transchaco!!

cheers daniel

[troyfromtexas]

I did the same route as Daniel last month and can confirm all the info he provided. However, from La Patria I bought some food and road up the Trans Chaco to the Agripino Enciso park. About 100 meters past La Patria the road turns to gravel and sand. A bit challenging, but fun. Make sure you have gas, water and food, becuase there is little up that way. I camped in the park. According to the registration I was the only visitor in the past two weeks.

I then road down to Mariscal to get my passport stamped in immigration.

Enjoy!

[Danna el nomada]

Hey troy,
are you still in Paraguay? do you have any recommendation for a cheap hotel with parking in asuncion?

saludos from concepcion,

Daniel

[Vorteks]

In Calle Mexico, in front of the Parque Uruguaya, you got at least 3 options : hotel Miami, Residencia RRA (at the Saint Tropez restaurant) and another option further up the street. All around 10 Euros/night with a parking two blocks away

[troyfromtexas]

Originally Posted by Danna el nomada

Hey troy,
are you still in Paraguay? do you have any recommendation for a cheap hotel with parking in asuncion?

saludos from concepcion,

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

I'm no longer in Asuncion, but I can recommend a hostel. I stayed at a somewhat new hostel called Hostal El Jardin (Azara 941). The owner let me park my bike in the patio area under a nice tree. The hostel is clean and nicely maintained. Enjoy!

[Bea & Helle]

Hi guys!

The last comment in this discussion is about 3 years old.

As we are planning to do this strech in a couple of days we are looking for someone who did this trip not too long ago and can tell us if the infomation provided from the other bikers are still correct?

As we want to continue from Villa Montes via Tarija (Rute 11) to Uyuni (Rute 21) we are also looking for up to date information about this road as we heard from other bikers (this information is about 9 month old) that it must be a very bad track and they recommended to go from Villa Montes to Argentina and then come back via Villazón. But this would be a massive detoure we are not keen on.

If some of you have done this are in the last couple of month, please let us know your experiences!

Thank you very much!

Cheers, currently from Asunción,
Bea & Helmut

[mika]

Hi there,

sorry, but dont have up to date information on this route, but I have done it twice about 3 years ago. I dont think it is a problem to ride this route, depending of course on landslides or other restricting road conditions. just talk to the truck/bus drivers in villa montes. you could also go a bit further North thru Montegudo, La Higuera, Sucre, Potosi ... but you know that. enjoy Bolivia.

Greetings from Central Asia
mika