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  • All right, class.

  • Do we have everyone here?

  • Argentina.

  • Brazil.

  • Uh, Colombia Almost missed you there.

  • El Salvador, Cuba, Ecuador.

  • I think that's everybody.

  • Let's get on this field trip, eh?

  • What?

  • Where'd you come from?

  • Been here the whole time.

  • My name is on the list, See?

  • Oh, Uh, yeah, You're the one that talks weird and drinks your patio.

  • Everyone, I'm your host.

  • Barbs.

  • Putter Guy is probably the weirdest, most backwards Latin American country.

  • You can see white people speaking in native indigenous language, and at one point it was illegal for people of the same race to marry each other the same race.

  • And on top of that, women can, like, balance 10 bottles on their heads, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

  • First, we need to pair a go and find this place on the globe.

  • Shall we otherwise sometimes called the Corazon de Sudamerica or the heart of South America, Because it's like in the middle.

  • Interestingly enough, one of the department is named after an American president anyway, but why is one of the only two landlocked nations in South America bordered by Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil and is the only country in America's toe have never had a coast.

  • Olivia once had one, and they don't like to talk about it.

  • Part why is made up of 17 departments with a capital and largest city in Westeros, Senora, Santa Maria Della Asuncion or, in short, Asuncion.

  • Here.

  • Of course, you can also find the busiest shipping port, the port of Violetta along the Paraguay River, as well as the largest and busiest airport.

  • Most people fly into Silvio Pettirossi International, whereas the second largest city of Skip further to the east, aptly named the Ciudad del Este, or east city, has the second largest and only other international airport.

  • What any international speaking of which see these islands in the river right here?

  • Yeah, they used to have a huge waterfall called the Wyatt Off falls or set they gave us.

  • They were flooded by the reservoir created by the type who damn the second largest dam in the world, completed in 1982 shared with Brazil and according to most maps, it seems like this island right here is kind of split among the border with Brazil, but nobody really pays attention.

  • Getting around in Paraguay is mostly concentrated within the areas east of the product.

  • Why River, which holds over 90% of the population.

  • This area is called the Pattern Enya region.

  • This whole area, right here to the West is known as the Grand Chako region, which also used to belong to Bolivia.

  • But they don't like to talk about it anyway.

  • It makes up about 60% of the country, yet only holds about 5% of the population, and only one main highway goes through it.

  • The number nine highway, which enters into Bolivia, the Alto Potter Glide department in itself only has about 18,000 people, whereas just the capital city in itself has over half a 1,000,000 fun fact.

  • Despite being landlocked, they actually have the largest navy off any landlocked country in the world, mostly patrolling the rivers.

  • Also, another fun fact.

  • Many potted wines will tell you about how big the country used to be before the Triple Alliance war.

  • Any Guay?

  • Some of the top notable sites that you guys the pot of wine jogger people suggested we mention, include places like the National Museum of Art in Asuncion, the Botanical Garden and Zoo, the museums of ethnography and natural history, Trinidad and these Jesuit missions.

  • The streets of Aragua, the Valet me caverns, the hero's pantheon.

  • The placebo does Lopez, Independence House Museum, Asuncion, Metropolitan Cathedral Co.

  • Nimble headquarters, federal Cotterill Station and the historic center of Asuncion.

  • Not to mention some pretty nice waterfalls and this national park that I really can't pronounce e bi Cui Qahtani word, not Spanish.

  • We'll explain culture stuff later, but in the meantime, land stuff.

  • So as you've probably been able to gather by now, most of the fun stuff happens on the east side of Paraguay.

  • But that doesn't mean the West has nothing going on.

  • For one, the country lies on a larger subregion that extends across the southeastern coast of South America.

  • Known as a Rio de la Plata basin where all the major rivers come together and empty into the Atlantic Ocean right next to Buenos Iris, this area is generally flatter, with small rolling hills and no extreme elevation changes.

  • The tallest point, the country several petro is only 842 meters in height, not too far off.

  • You confined the largest lakes like Paula, and like Vera, just south of the capital, the country is divided generally into five small ecological subregions divided by the longest river that, essentially by sex the entire country.

  • The pot Agwai River, where the country gets its name from in the east, you have the northern up lands and the Parana Plateau, where the highest hills can be found.

  • The Nambu plane, the lowest part of the country, and to the west you have the Grand Chako, the relatively flat dryer, incredibly boring part of the country, made up mostly of farms and cattle ranches.

  • Interestingly enough, though, if you go up in the Chako, you can come across the defense.

  • Shortest Chuckle National Park, which has this 40 kilometer wide thing, called the several the on a strange, brain shaped geological structure that pops out of nowhere.

  • And nobody really quite knows how.

  • It was formed.

  • Much of the boundaries of Potter wire, made up of rivers like the Pickle mile, APPA, Austria and the two main ones, the Parana in East and the Pollock y in the middle.

  • Because there are no mountain ranges, much of PETA guys climate only comes in two seasons.

  • The warm winds from the Amazon up north bring the wet season around October to March in the cold winds from the Andes bring in the dry season from May to August.

  • Because the land is so flat in much of the areas, the winds can pick up speeds pretty fast after 160 kilometers per hour.

  • On rare occasions, they may even develop into small tornadoes.

  • However, most tornadoes hit the pompous regions of Brazil and Argentina instead.

  • Yeah, that brain shaped hill thing looks pretty cool.

  • Put it on your bucket list.

  • Any kwai.

  • It's time for my triple shot of espresso break, which means no one comes in and finishes off this segment.

  • What the You know it's still on vacation.

  • Okay, Caleb.

  • Then Now, although much of the land lies below 300 meters, it is an all flat.

  • The abundance of waterways and rolling hills creates a somewhat mildly congenial scenery with pleasant waterfalls and national parks.

  • Recon Find the national Animals, the pompous fox and bare throated Belber classified as a middle income country.

  • Paraguay's fiscal growth has seen a comfortable incline since the eighties due to the abundant hydroelectric resource is they have for expert, and 100% of their electricity is produced through hydropower, making them one of the cleanest energy efficient countries.

  • Nonetheless, out of all the landowners of Paraguay, only about 1% own 70% of the land, most of which used for agriculture and forestry, which makes him about 30% of the GDP.

  • If you look at Paraguay from space, you'll see all these rectangular plots of the West.

  • Those aren't farms.

  • Those air mostly sectioned off holdings for lumber.

  • Yeah, it's kind of a lot and what they produce.

  • Let's just say they're the sixth largest exporter of soy in the world.

  • So an eighth for beef Whoa, there.

  • Also the second largest producer of stevia.

  • Which brings us to food now as a cattle raising country.

  • No shocker.

  • Paraguayans love their beef.

  • They even once held the world record for the largest barbecue in the world, with over 30,000 attendees in 2008.

  • Whoa!

  • Otherwise, some top notable dishes you guys, the Paraguayan jogger peeps suggested we mentioned include things like the national dish soap, a Paraguana Bayu, Millen, esa cutlets, Soyo soup.

  • Very, very Pyra Kahlo, corn pudding with meat.

  • And everywhere you confined to things cheaper, which are cheese bread rolls and Terry, which is basically your barn matey, but prepared with cold water and ice rather than hot water.

  • And it originated here in Paraguay from the grove, where, from the Guarani people there is almost nothing more Paraguayan than drinking territory in a Guam, Pa.

  • Threw a bomb.

  • Bia.

  • Well, I guess the only thing more Parag wine would be the Paraguayan people.

  • Which brings us to thank you, Caleb.

  • I guess you could say that it's time for me to pair a go away.

  • Now, as we mentioned, the people of public why are probably the strangest in pretty much the entire Latin world.

  • For one, they have a really weird history and a really weird way of communicating.

  • Well, that's a bold claim.

  • You sure you want to go there?

  • Yes, but first, the pie chart.

  • Paraguay has around seven million people and is the most ethnically homogeneous country in Latin America, kind of somewhere around 95% of the country identifies as misty, so to some degree, missy still being the mix between European, mostly Spanish and native Amory Indian.

  • This number, however, may be a little skewed, as some reports say, misty so white whenever that may indicate.

  • But either way, the vast majority are misty.

  • So interestingly enough, though, geologists estimate that somewhere around 40% of the total population has some kind of Italian ancestry, as many Italian immigrants came in after independence years, much like Argentina.

  • Otherwise, about 1% of the population is made up of Afro Paraguayans, and the rest are made up of other groups, mostly Europeans like Germans, Russians and Poles, as well as East Asians like Koreans, Japanese and Chinese, with a small Amory Indian minority.

  • Mostly Guarani used iguana.

  • Me is their currency.

  • They use a type C plug Alan, and they drive on the right side of the road.

  • It's interesting you don't really see too many power lines outside of Paraguay.

  • And when to Paraguayans meet each other outside of Prague, y it's like, Oh, what a lovely day it is here and well, let's say Tokyo.

  • Uh oh, there's your where you find out why.

  • Hello, Curiously approachable stranger.

  • I'm from Paraguay.

  • You I am from better way.

  • Yeah, Brian's have a close kinship, like literally.

  • At one point, the government even tried to racially homogenize the populist by becoming the only country in the world to make same race.

  • Marriage is illegal for white people.

  • Same race.

  • Yeah, this dude was a pretty intense dictator, and that's not even a subjective description.

  • His official title literally was supreme and perpetual dictator of Paraguay.

  • Any Guay?

  • What makes a pot of wine upon a guy in while most wanted winds will probably tell you that the number one thing would be the Guarani language?

  • Paraguay is officially a bilingual country, with Spanish and Guarani and indigenous native language sharing equal status.

  • Although more people are actually flew in Guarani, it's like a backwards New Zealand.

  • Imagine that the majority of people who weren't Mori were fluent and Marie and English was their second language.

  • That's basically part of life.

  • But how did it become this way?

  • Well, long story, incredibly short.

  • Jesuit missionaries learned to share the religion, and Spanish conquerors learned the language still have to get ally with the quantum need to fight against the Lincolns Overtime Children were born misty, so but those Guarani Mama's were really keen on teaching their kids their language.

  • Plus it was unacceptable language respected by the Spanish colonizers since it was used to help fight the enemy.

  • And hence it was never really repressed.

  • Today, most people are either bilingual or speak Obata, which is like a mix between Watani and Spanish.

  • And who better to explain that?

  • An actual product lion.

  • So Paraguayan jacket Marty on contacted us.

  • Not only did she help me with this episode, but she was literally randomly visiting l a with her family on vacation while we were filming the product.

  • Why episode?

  • So I said, Do you speak?

  • What a neat she said My mom speaks better, So I was like, Great!

  • You both are gonna be in the episode, Mighty m Look, when you go on Davey And what he told that he had a weapon.

  • Tifa I'm sorry.

  • Okay, so you know someone's Paraguay And when they say a few different phrases in regular Spanish meat, I still But apparently I would say I mean how vocal anything What I need, they would say Am I So most Latin American countries, they have, like, a word that kind of anything like China, like Oh, me but empire.

  • Why we have like what?

  • Any word for it, Which is my Anna in Miami, McCoy and as usual hand.

  • I usually takes over the culture stuff, but she's got a little acting get going on, so she's not here.

  • But that's okay, because we can always have Marianne again.

  • You do that.

  • This is your country.

  • You should do this.

  • Okay, this is your We don't need Hannah for this.

  • As mentioned the water, The languages spoken natively by about seven million people across Bolivia, Brazil, in Paraguay.

  • In actuality, though, the indigenous quite any people in themselves on Lee number at about 300,000.

  • Catholicism's is the dominant religion of about 89% of the country at hearing it.

  • To some degree, of course, it played a key role in shaping much of the country throughout centuries.

  • Cathedrals and old Jesuit mission speckled the land all over.

  • Even in sparsely populated areas.

  • Religious festivals are well attended, like the Festival of San Juan on June 24th where people play traditional games and walk on coals, and leftists of Olive, you're in the Car Cooper on December 8th, with a huge pilgrimage to the holy shrine of the town.

  • According to Paraguay and tradition, August is considered the bad luck month and on August 1st, many people drink to leam, a traditional one honey drink made of the distilled sugarcane juice.

  • The Ruta plant and lemons award off illness and bad luck every year.

  • The Trans Jackal rally is held in September, a three day motor rally.

  • Thousands of miles of dearth pass on the vast, empty western region of the country.

  • Traditional parent y inlays making is called me after the Yeah NAM duty.

  • You see she does is a real life Nando teeth, which means Spider Web.

  • And there's even a Nando de festival in July.

  • And finally, technically, it is still illegal tow.

  • Have gondolas to settle disputes as long as both parties air blood donors, yeah, gun duels.

  • And finally, let's let Keith finish off with the music section.

  • In Paraguay, music has always been kind of an escape from the pressures of life, whether it be a dictatorship or having something over half your population killed off or something like that.

  • So they have three main traditional styles of music.

  • Uh, the lively hello Opa and this thing I can't pronounce Paraguayan Polka was actually influenced from the Czech immigrants and evolved into the Wataniya created by this dude in 1925 traditional instruments fused both native in Spanish elements.

  • You might see things like sugar cane flutes and gore drops, whereas this Spanish introduced this Spanish guitar in Spanish Heart, which turned into the famous Paraguayan AARP Paraguayans Air world renowned for being top heart players.

  • Finally, the one thing you cannot miss if you come to Paraguay's that bottle dance or the Danza de Lawd boat, a tele women dance with bottles or jars stacked upon their heads sometimes balance over 10 at a time is truly a spectacle to see.

  • Kind of like this.

  • So, yeah, if you're going to take anything away from Paraguay, it's polka harvests and bottles, and that's pretty much all I got.

  • Oh, and hey, we are launching Keith T shirts.

  • God, we're launching Keith shirts and it's gonna be awesome.

  • That's right, thank you, Keith.

  • Order his shirt on.

  • Yeah, to elaborate on what Keith said during the Pentagon war or the War of the Triple Alliance part if I pretty much had three countries gang up on them and lost somewhere around 70% of the entire male population through war.

  • Historians claim that this was probably one off, if not the most destructive war on the populace in modern times, that's crazy part of their history.

  • And speaking of history, here's the extremely quick condensed history of Paraguay.

  • Guarani Natives This Roy of Rio de la Plata.

  • Independence from Spain.

  • Francia Dictatorship Carlos Antonio Lopez becomes the first president to the Triple Alliance War territory.

  • Lost.

  • 19 0 for revolution, The Chako War.

  • Elster, Renato The 1992 Constitution, the 2012 Kuta.

  • And that brings us to the next segment.

  • The extremely condensed list of notable people.

  • Some of the people you guys, the part of Brian geography suggested we mentioned include people like Silvio Pettirossi, Jose Felix Estigarribia, Luis Alberto de Parana, Josephina Pia, Augustine P.

  • O Barrios, Berta RoHaas, Robin Would, Theresa Richelle May Augusto Roa Bastos So many soccer slash football players like these people.

  • So there you go Latinos that also speaking native indigenous language and put bottles on their heads while dancing and playing to the heart.

  • Yeah, they must be the life of the party.

  • And speaking of parties, let's see who's to Carrera.

  • Guy hangs out with Xiao Wei.

  • So in the early history, Prada guy kind of deliberately isolated themselves, which is why they retain such a high level of uniqueness unless they've moved on and now party with pretty much anyone.

  • Over time, they've opened up and are now part of numerous bilateral organizations such as the Latin American Integration Association, the Rio Group, the Mercosur and in a suit.

  • Obviously, that means they pretty much get along with most other South American countries.

  • Even Bolivia settled in agreement that ended the border dispute left over from the Chaka War in the 19 thirties.

  • Uruguay is currently the largest nation in the world to officially recognize the Republic of China or Taiwan rather than the People's Republic of China.

  • The relationship goes all the way back to 1957 heads of state and high ranking government officials constantly visit and have signed numerous trade and development deals.

  • Oddly enough, the two states are also antipathies of each other, that is, they're literally on the complete opposite sides of the globe from one another.

  • Interestingly enough, also, Pakistan has also strengthened relations with Potter Guy recently and sharing their expertise and resource development.

  • Products like oil seeds, wheat and cotton are heavily produced in Pakistan, and they hope to invest in power applies agriculture sector in growing such crops to cultivate a mutual trade relationship because of its sizable migrant community.

  • That move during the early 20th century Cottage Y has had relatively close relations with Eastern and Central European nations like Poland, Germany, Russia and Ukraine each have a representative embassy.

  • Any of these communities still speak their mother language and have relatives in their respective European homeland's fun side.

  • No.

  • Paraguay also has about 40,000 German and Russian Mennonites that came in during the 19 twenties and are heavy contributors to paralyze dairy industry.

  • When it comes to their best friends, however, most Paraguayans I have talked to have said it would probably be Argentina and Brazil, although historically these two plus Uruguay kind of gang up and fought relentlessly against them, they've moved on and are now closer than ever, never fighting another war since then, these two are not only their biggest trading and business partners, but socially.

  • They get along as people pretty well, too.

  • They share a lot culturally, like Argentina.

  • Many Paraguayans have Italian ancestry, and they have a huge love of barbecue and gaucho culture with horseback riding and music like cumbia.

  • Many Paraguayans also moved to Argentina for better opportunities.

  • Brazil is not only their largest export partner, and not only do many people in the eastern border of Paraguay, I speak Portuguese, but Brazil also has been a very important friend in the development and investment sector.

  • For pot, a gawky type Ooh damn was a huge deal.

  • And it is probably the biggest link that joins the two nations, although it has come with its controversies.

  • Overall, Paraguay and Brazil are always going to be buddies at the end of the day.

  • In conclusion, if you want to see a backwards place where the indigenous language dominated the colonized one with people that dance with bottles on their heads while sipping cold D from a bullhorn, come to Potter by and before we go.

  • Venue point.

  • Come on in.

  • Mariana's Sarah, thank you so much for being in this episode before you go.

  • Anything you want to say to Potter fly.

  • Well, thank you for writing me on your show.

  • Know who?

  • But a way.

  • There we go.

  • Stay tuned.

All right, class.

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