Paraguay

The Paraguay River cuts Paraguay into two very different halves. To the west lies the Chaco, a hot, flat expanse of thorn forest, palm savannah and salt pans, where cattle ranches and Mennonite colonies such as Filadelfia lie far apart. To the east, red soil, low hills and forest hold nearly all the towns. The far larger Paraná forms the southern and eastern edge, its rapids drowned by the Itaipú dam.

Spanish explorers founded Asunción in 1537 and set out from it to settle the lands downriver. Jesuit missions gathered Guaraní communities into planned towns whose red sandstone churches stand in ruins at Trinidad and Jesús. Independence came in 1811, and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, El Supremo, ruled alone until 1840 and sealed the country off. The War of the Triple Alliance of 1864–70 killed a great share of its people, and in the Chaco War of 1932–35 Paraguay held most of the Chaco against Bolivia. Alfredo Stroessner ruled from 1954 to 1989.

Friends pass round tereré, yerba mate in iced water with crushed herbs, from a shared cup. Chipa, a ring of cheese bread made with cassava starch, is sold at every bus stop, and sopa paraguaya, despite the name, is a solid cornbread. The harp leads polkas and the slower guaranias of José Asunción Flores, and Augusto Roa Bastos wrote I the Supreme about Francia. Soya beans and beef go downriver by barge, and Itaipú’s spare power is sold to Brazil.