Moments in Chaco Time: Place Names

These varying parts to the trans Chaco all have one underlying problem: poverty. The soil has potential, it’s high phosphate country, it could grow cotton, soya and corn, but it suffers from a six month dry, and a large area of saline aquifers. The names of pueblos and town, estancias and farms, tell a tale of hard work and high expectations, and sometimes the simple reality of the Chaco: Aguas Muertas and Vaca Muerta; the killing water that finished off the cattle, Rio Muerto and Aguas Verdas; the pessimistic reality of dead green waters. Yet there seems to have been a degree of optimism, a “heavy hope “, or more likely: strong hopes at Fuerte Esperanca.