Paraguay - A journey to the heart of Latin America

I've never been to Latin America, so it's quite apt that my first trip there (to Cuba) coincides with the end of my 'virtual' journey to Paraguay.  In a weird way, I've learned so much about Paraguay in the past month that I feel prepped for a Paraguayan trip.  As we're actually going to Cuba, it's going to be like diving in at the deep end!

During this learning experience I've read (or tried to read) two books related to Paraguay.  Probably Paraguay's most famous book I, the Supreme (Yo, el Supremo) by dissident writer Augusto Roa Bastos is quite a heavy read, intrinsic in its detail, but strangely hypnotic in its wordplay - think James Joyce with quixotic Spanish phrases.  Needless to say I didn't finish it.  Unfortunately having a full-time job precludes the amount of time it would take to digest a mammoth creation like Bastos' book.  It's one for retirement, or a long train journey across Siberia!  Still, I'm glad I got through the 150 or so pages that I did and it gave me a flavour of Bastos' (and Paraguay's?) existential angst. 

The story is mostly based on the life of Paraguay's original dictator, Francia, and the craziness of his mind.  A political pamphlet (or pasquinade) is found, basically threatening the life of the President in a very violent way.  The President is, understandably, upset by this lampoon and engages in a torturous analysis of the situation, with his amenuensis, Patino, being his main audience.  El Supremo demands that Patino find the author of the pasquinade within an unreasonably short period of time.  As I was reading the novel, it occured to me that El Supremo had written the pamphlet himself, that his servent realises this and finds himself in the intolerable position of not being able to reveal the truth, as that would surely mean his death.  The logic of El Supremo is totally warped and the book is really all about living at the whims of a madman and how frightening that must be.

The other book I read, and an absolute must for anyone interested in the history of Paraguay, was At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by John Gimlette.  Gimlette has a real passion for Paraguay and, although it's difficult not to reel in the absurdity of some of the situations he finds himself in and the eccentricity of the characters he meets, you can sense that he has a genuine love for a country that could easily have been so different, with better leadership and less challenging circurmstances.  Gimlette describes Paraguay as a kind of Cinderella, a beautiful young maiden with three bigger sisters, except she never really gets a chance to meet her prince and live happily ever after. 

From Gimlette's book I learned about the different regions of Paraguay, the various people that have tried, and more than often failed, to make Paraguay conform to their utopian dreams.  I read about the Irish courtesan, Eliza Lynch, a people's princess and a truly fascinating character, she reminded me of Lola Montez and the King of Bavaria.  I read about the primitive communism of the Jesuit missions, about the fact that El Supremo banned marriages that weren't interracial and strutted around like some kind of mini-Napoleon.  I read about fascist Paraguay of the 1930's and later the many Nazis, like Dr Mengele, who sought anonymity in the Paraguayan jungles.  I read about the cruelty of Stroessner's regime and his exile in neighbouring Brazil.  I read about the tropical waywardness of Asuncion, how the jungle lives on in this city of millions, about the 'peinetes de oro' or ladies of the night, about how the English of the Victorian Age romanticised Paraguay and made it out to be some kind of sensual paradise, how Joseph Conrad condemned it in his parody of a South American democracy Nostromo. 

I learned about the Korean and Chinese businessmen of Cuidad del Este, a city that Gimlette says 'hadn't been planned, but had just erupted'.  I learned about the Casado family of Buenos Aires who owned an estate in the Chaco which was three times the size of Switzerland.  I read about the Japanese colony of Paloma, about the Guarani word for television which means 'machine that imagines'.  I learned about lungfish that bury themselves in the soft  mud of the Chaco during the dry season, I learned about the once feared Lenguas tribe and the Ache, ghost people of the forests, with their cannibalism and infanticide. 

Most of all, I learned to be fascinated by Paraguay and the sheer number of interesting people and anarchic adventurers who have passed through there.  About a month ago, I started with a knowledge of where Paraguay is, the name of its capital and not much else.  It's amazing how much there is to learn about Paraguay, like a parallel universe, its history and stories have happened in the obscurity of tribal languages and the uncertain beating of South America's dark heart. 

For regular readers, I'm going to be in Cuba until the end of March - travelling for real this time, rather than through the eyes of others.  Don't worry, I'll be back soon enough, with a new place and some new learning experiences. 

Image credits

The rather vampirish image of El Supremo (Francia) is from Wikipedia and is copyright free.

The image of the cover of John Gimlette's book At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig is from http://www.openlibrary.org/

Paraguay - The Gran Chaco

In searching for Paraguay's version of Bayan-Olgii (the remote province of western Mongolia) I've come up with the Chaco. The difference between Paraguay's remote province though, and that of other countries, is that it takes up 60% of Paraguay's total land area. Despite the fact that only 2% of Paraguay's population lives there.

It sounds like a place where nature remains untamed by man, a place of thick, thorny jungles, dangerous snakes and spiders, remote forest tribes, salty earth and Mennonites clad in black.

Despite all of this, Paraguay seems determined to hold on to the Chaco, even fighting a war over it, with Bolivia, in the 1930's.  One of the Chaco's main gateway towns is called Villa Hayes, after the 19th US President, Rutherford B Hayes, who was asked to arbitrate, by Argentina, after the War of the Triple Alliance. Argentina was hoping to gain the Gran Chaco, as part of its territory, but Hayes decided it should remain with Paraguay. Not remembered for much in his own country (and most of that negative) Hayes has gone down in Paraguayan history as a national hero.

Having been persecuted in Europe and fleeing conscription in the various different homelands, it's not really surprising that the only Europeans who would settle on a terrain as hostile as the Chaco, would be the Mennonites. The Mennonites are defined by their pacifism, but also their religious extremism, choosing uncomplicated, traditional lives over the unholy commercialism of the modern age.

I've come across some of their descendents before, in Uzbekistan. Originally being invited by the Russian Tsars to live peacefully and farm along the Volga River, Stalin had them moved to Central Asia during the Second World War. Being mostly of German and Dutch origin, they were considered to be 'internal enemies' of the Soviet state. Many of them fled to North and South America and the Paraguayan government sold vast tracks of the Chaco to settlers and gave them a certain amount of autonomy so that, until this day, the Mennonites of Paraguay live in a 'state within a state'.

Without sounding too negative, I can't help wondering how sustainable Paraguay's control over the Chaco is. Like the Russians in Siberia, or the British in the Falklands, sustaining a population and sovereignty over the Chaco, might prove difficult for Paraguay. Already a lot of the land in the Chaco's eastern border has been bought up by Brazilians and some of the Chaco's main smuggling towns, like Pedro Juan Caballero, have more to do with the economy and cultural influences across the border, than with far-away (and difficult to get to) Asuncion.

Image credits

The picture of the villagers in El Chaco was provided by flickruser Fiona L Cooper - Fiona is originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but has been teaching English and teacher training in Paraguay for the last few years.  You can find out more about Fiona and her life on her blog http://fionalouisecooper.blogspot.com/

Paraguay - Asuncion and the Taiwan connection

It may surprise people to know that Asuncion is twinned with Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Not that the Taiwanese would notice, with Taipei having no less that 45 twin cities. As far as twinning goes, I guess that makes Taipei the belle of the ball.

So why Asuncion then? What could Asuncion and Taipei possibly have in common? Well, the answer is easier than you think. If you stood in the centre of Asuncion and drilled a hole right through the centre of the Earth (not that this is possible but, please, humour me!) when you came out the other side you would be in Taipei. Well, somewhere in Taiwan anyway, I haven't quite worked out the Maths!

This is because the region around Asuncion and the entire island of Taiwan are antipodes, ie. opposite polar points, (from the Greek for opposite foot). If, like me, you're pulling out your atlas to find your find your own antipodes, well, prepare to be disappointed. In a planet where the surface is mostly covered in water, the chances of two land antipodes (like Paraguay and Taiwan) is extremely rare. Most of the United States ends up in the South Indian ocean, the giant landmass of Eurasiafrica ends up in the Pacific! I wonder if this arrangement keeps the world balanced somehow!?

Of course, when we use the word Antipodean in English, it's almost synonymous with Australia/New Zealand, whereas, in fact, it just means the opposite side of the world. A Paraguayan could call someone from Taiwan antipodean, whereas we would never think of it that way.

The closest we've got to a match in Europe are the antipodes of New Zealand and Spain/Portugal. In 2006, according to Wikipedia, the famous American humorist Ze Frank encouraged viewers of his daily webcast to create an antipodean sandwich, by placing two pieces of bread on antipodes in Spain and New Zealand, with the earth being the sandwich filling. I don't know if anyone in Paraguay/Taiwan has tried the same thing.

Image credits

The image of Asuncion is by flickruser everdaniel - he is a web designer and Asuncion is his hometown, although he now lives in Encarnacion with his family.  You can see more of his work at http://www.everdaniel.com/

The image of Taipei is by flickruser fr064722 a.k.a. Aro, who is from Taipei.

Paraguay - Asuncion and the Anatomy of a City

Five times found to be the cheapest city in the world to live in (by Mercer), Asuncion, or to give its proper title, Nuestra Senora Santa Maria de la Asuncion, is one of the oldest cities in South America.

Founded in 1537 it was, like a lot of South American cities, named after the religious feast on the day of its foundation (August 15, the Feast of Assumption). Its also known as the 'Mother of Cities', as it was used as a base for the foundation of other cities, most famously, the resettlement of Buenos Aires, after colonisers were driven away from the original settlement there.

Not having visited Paraguay, it's difficult to get a sense of what it's really like but, using Wikipedia, Google Maps and other Internet sites, I have tried to build up a picture, in my imagination, of Asuncion and its many districts.

Asuncion is stretched along the Paraguay river, with Argentina (and Asuncion's slightly dodgy Argentine sister, Clorinda) lying across the river, to the south and west. Apart from the city of Asuncion proper, the almost three million people who live there are spread out in a series of satellite towns, namely to the south and east, but also, to a lesser extent, in the north.

I get the impression that it's a hilly city, especially around Lambare. The satellite towns include Villa Elisa with its German and Scandinavian roots, the industrial cities of San Antonio in the south and Mariano Roque Alonso in the north. There is Limpio, one of the oldest settlements, 25km to the north of the city. There is the airport district of Luque, also the headquarters of CONMEBOL, the South American equivalent of UEFA.

Asuncion city seems to have what most cities have, the University district of San Lorenzo, the pleasant riverside middle-class district of Sajonia, backing on to the working class districts of Obrero (literally workers) and Tacumbu, where the city's main prison is located.

Seemingly forgotten about, in the shadow of Catedral, on the swampier side of the Artigas (the main road heading north) is the district of Dr Ricardo Brugada, also known as La Chacarita, probably the poorest district in Paraguay. In stark contrast, on the other side of the Artigas are the flowery streets of Manora and the well-heeled districts of Villa Morra and Recoleta, an alternative focal point to the more run-down old city. And there is Hipodromo, not surprisingly, a focal point for the city's sports facilities.

The writer in me is already constructing a novel full of characters, living out their lives in the very different parts of the city. I guess what I've described could be any city - Barcelona, Moscow, Paris, Bangkok - you just need to change the names of the districts - it's the basic anatomy of a city!

Image credits:

There's something I really like about the photo of Asuncion, which is by Alexander Steffler, who is from Texas and took this photo from an apartment he was living in, in 2004.  You can see more of Alexander's photos at his flickrpage http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-s  I'm pretty sure I've seen another one of Alexander's photos, Asuncion by night, perhaps on Wikipedia.