In Paraguay I live in the town of Piribebuy. Piribebuy is located in the countryside approximately 80km from the capital city Asuncion.

Piribebuy is very much a tourist town. It is located amongst a range of hills none of which rise much above 300 metres. Those hills and open spaces provide the fresh clean air and the clear bathing streams for which the town is famous.

It is within easy reach of day trippers from Asuncion and has holiday homes located throughout its ample greenery. Weekends during the holiday seasons see the town center and the country parks packed with visitors.

The local population has all this available close to hand all year round.

Piribebuy is not however just a magnet for tourists. It is also a historic town.

During the War of the Triple Alliance it was for a time the capital of Paraguay and one of the major battles of the war was fought in the town. Something that is commemorated every year.

Furthermore it is a cultural center with hand woven ponchos and other craft works produced in the town.

And finally on the outskirts of the town center is a distillery where Fortin one of the best selling of the national cane spirits is produced from the sugar cane which grows nearby in vast fields. The distillery is occasionally open for visits by tour groups.

The town of Piribebuy has a population of approximately 20,000. Half of these live in the compact town center and half in the surrounding countryside. With the countryside considered to be an integral part of the town Piribebuy claims an area of just over 200 square kilometres.

Much of those 200 square kilometres is open countryside covered by a seemingly unbroken cloak of green.

The town is broken down into a number of more manageable size districts. The town center contains five and the countryside almost thirty more.

It is in one of those country districts the I live.

The name of my home district is Ita Moroti’I. It begins where a dirt track leads off from the tarmac road 10km outside the town center.

Once leaving the tarmac the dirt track winds its way along following a valley bottom in a great sweeping arch for 15km before finally rejoining the main road where it drops down the hillside and onto Paraguari.

The first 5km of the track make up the district of Ita Moroti’I. There after it becomes Naranjo and then finally Barrio Asuncion.

The name Ita Moroti’I comes from the native Guarani language. It translates as Little White Rock. Nearby are the districts of Ita Moroti and Ita Moroti Guazu, or Large White Rock.

Running as it does along a valley bottom land rises away from the track on both sides. To the left the slope is gentle and occupied almost entirely by farm land. Fields of sugar cane or grazing cattle.

To the right though the view is far more spectacular. At first the ground falls away slightly but the a couple of hundred metres from the track it rises sharply in the form of sheer sided cliffs that tower over the valley floor.

Once the river is bridged a couple of kilometres from the main road the view of the cliffs is almost unbroken. They form the front line of a row of hills that stand between Ita Moroti’I and the center of Piribebuy. From their summit the view of the palm tree covered countryside extends for many miles in every direction.

Over the hills is the most direct way to Piribebuy. Before the arrival of tarmac roads and powered vehicles narrow tracks though the hills the local population and their ox carts with access to the town.

Also following the contours of the valley between the track and the cliffs runs a stream. Receiving its water from nearby hillsides the waters as crystal clear and under the shade of a tree cool even on the hottest summer day.

The heavy clay soils of the surrounding fields are worn down into fine sand by the time the reach the stream. This makes for a soft and clean riverbed.

The stream like many other hill streams across Paraguay draws large numbers of bathers all summer long. To play, the swim or just to simply relax.

With the waters in Ita Moroti’I being near the source they are clear and unpolluted. Further downstream the water may be littered with rubbish from country parks or agricultural run off from farms but here the only pollution is pieces of floating foliage.

I am privileged to live in this area of outstanding natural beauty.

In front of the house I look out upon tree covered cliffs that run from horizon to horizon and at night star gazing behind the house is unspoiled by a single artificial light.

It is with good reason that Piribebuy is well know throughout Asuncion for its scenery and fresh pure air.