Parque Nacional Teniente Agripino Enciso, Paraguay

After a night of roadside camping and the sun rising over my shoulder, I rode back down the dirt road retracing my tracks.

I made it back to the main road. I found the intersection where I had turned... and the sign for Parque Agripino Encino. And, I even found the park.

It appears that the sign was placed to mark the turn into the park. However, the entrance was 80 meters straight and then to the right. I thought to myself... why would they place the sign right before the dirt road... it was a mystery to me. When I arrived at the park I asked the park ranger this very question. He said that a number of people make the same mistake and turn right at the road. I asked why they do not move the sign to the other side of the intersection... it would solve the problem. He just shrugged his shoulders.

Happy that I had finally reached the park and officially in El Chaco, I went for a walk around the area.

What I discovered was that El Chaco does not have a lot of striking scenery like the Andes or extreme scenery like the Patagonia or wildlife like the Amazon.

But, there was a lot of very subtle elements to the area that made me pause. I had to look closely.

I would not call this beautiful, but interesting.

Cacti were common.

And uncommonly unique in their own way.

Some little things that I have never seen before.

Like this crazy tree with a thousand spikes up its trunk.

Like this tree with bark like curly locks.

And a birds nest made of thistles and thorns amongst the arms of a cactus.

Ahhhh... El Chaco...Paraguay.