Paraguay Background Info.

This country has suffered one of the regions most durable and brutal dictatorships, harbored escaped Nazis and remains dogged by corruption and contraband. It´s dictator was only outed in 1989, its vice president assassinated in 1999 and continues to have degrees of turmoil. Paraguay is a major producer of cannabis. It´s small on the map, but larger than Germany, and almost exactly the size of California. There is a population of 5.5 million people, of which approx. 20% are immigrants of Germany, Japan and Korea. More than 95% of the population live in eastern Paraguay and around the capital, which is Ascusion. There are dual languages of Spanish and Guarani, and some people in the north speak German rather than Spanish. The landscape changes from well watered plateaus of rolling grasslands with patches of sub tropical forest, to extensive inhospitable plain drought tolerant scrub. There are several National Parks and in the north Chaco, which accounts for over 60% of the territory, only under 3% of the population actually live there. This may be one of the last frontiers where the people are not used to seeing tourists. Up north is where the Mennonites live. They speak German and initially came frpm Canada in 1927, after authorities reneged on guarantees against conscription. They believe in adult baptism, the separation of the church and state and pacifist opposition to military service. Afterwards came refugees from the Soviet Union and Ukrainian Germans arrived, many of whom served unwillingly in WWII. There is a population of 10,000 Mennonites. We had a limited amount of time to spend in Paraguay, so we saw the capital on the west, the other large city of the east, and some ruins in the south.