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Paraguay - post what you know

2K views 77 replies 26 participants last post by  NyGeL 
#1 ·
since scarecrow posted this in the other thread about moldova

scarecrow said:
this is an interesting thread. maybe we should do it once a week for other small unknown countries
and because i happen to think about visiting paraguay in november because of a friend of mine: paraguay is this week's country. :)

some friend of mine from university is from paraguay (his family is of mennonite origin) and he invited me to paraguay this winter. i don't know much about the country and let's just say that things i read on the internet appear to stand in stark contrast to the overall macro-picture he gave me over the last couple of months. they hardly match, to make it bluntly. he's talking about some idyllic country living while according to some sources it's rather a shithole, even though i noticed that the mennonites have a distinct way of life over there, quite different from the rest of the population.

anything? :)
 
#42 ·
hmmm i lived there for couple months when I was 16 so let's see what I remember

-they have a river called the piranas, cuz piranas live there...go figure.
-Asuncion and it's surrounding area are where majority of the paraguayos live.
-they have a city called ciudad del este...majority of the people are taiwaness. In one of the parks, there is a monument of Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary leader that brought the KMT to taiwan. I heard a lot of people smuggle drugs there and it is a very dangerous city.
-there is a huge basilica in caacupe.
-all my shoes became red because there was no road in my village. everything was red clay.
-i think about 90% of the people are mestizos, mix european with local indian.
-their currency is called the guarani, named after the indigenous indian people
-people speak a mixture of spanish and guarani. it was impossible for me to know what they hell they were saying.
-rohayhu means I love you in guarani
-they have a holiday called friends day where people exchange gifts
-1/3 of the population lives below the poverty line
-most paraguayos understand brasileno
-they sometimes have outbreak of dengue fever
-they eat a lot of empanadas and this potato like thing called mañegas (i think that's what it was called.)
-there are some jesuit ruins in trinidad de parana. It's an unesco site.
-The waterfalls of Iguazu is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!!!
 
#48 ·
-1/3 of the population lives below the poverty line
I see that is correct. From a 2006 list from the Fact Book
arranged by me:
Poverty in the Americas:
Percentage of the population below the poverty line.
{from the C.I.A. World Fact Book – 2006 ed.}

Geographically - ordered:

Canada……………15.9% (2005 est.)
U.S.A……………. 12% (2004 est.)
Mexico……………40% (2003 est.)
Belize……………..33% (1999 est.)
Guatemala……...…75 %(2004 est.)
El Salvador…….…36.1% (2003 est.)
Honduras………….53 % (1993 est.)
Nicaragua…………50% (2001 est.)
Costa Rica………...18% (2004 est.)
Panama……………37 % (1999 est.)
Columbia………….49.2 % (2005 est.)
Venezuela…………47 % (1998 est.)
Guyana…………….NA
Suriname……….…70 % (2002 est.)
French Guiana*…...NA
Brazil………………22 % (1998 est.)
Ecuador……………41 % (2006 est.)
Peru………….…….54 % (2003 est.)
Bolivia……………..64 % (2004 est.)
Paraguay…………...32 % (2005 est.)
Chile……………….18.2 % (2005)
Uruguay……………22 % (2004)
Falkland Islands**….NA
Argentina…………..38.5 (June 2005)

*--overseas Dept. of France
1--attached to Guadeloupe
** --overseas Dept. of the U.K.

Carribean Isles:
Anguilla**…………………23% (2002)
Antigua and Barbuda………NA
Aruba***…………………..NA
Bahamas……………...…….9.3% (2004)
Barbados…………………...NA
Bermuda**………………....19% (2000)
B.V.I.**…….………………NA
Cayman Islands**………….NA
Cuba………………………..NA
Dominica………………..30% (2002 est.)
Dominican Republic…..…..25%
Grenada…………………….32% (2000)
Guadeloupe*………………NA
Haiti………………………..80% (2003)
Jamaica.…………………..19.1 % (2003)
Martinique…………………NA
Montserrat**..………......…NA
Netherlands
Antilles***….……………NA
Puerto Rico****…………..NA
St. Barthelemy*1….………NA
St Kitts and Nevis………..NA
St. Martin…………………NA
Saint-Martin (N)*1
Sint Maartin (S)***2
St. Lucia………………….NA
Saint Pierre and
Miquelon*……………….NA
Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines……………...NA
Trinidad and Tobago……..21% (1992)
Turks and Caicos
Islands**………………..NA
U.S. V.I…………………..NA


***--part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
2--Sint Maartin (1/2 of the isle,) is part of Netherlands Antilles
****--commonwealth of the U.S.
*****--territory of the U.S.


Ordered by Poverty rank:

Haiti…………..…..80% (2003)
Guatemala……...…75 %(2004 est.)
Suriname……….…70 % (2002 est.)
Bolivia………...…..64 % (2004 est.)
Peru………….…….54 % (2003 est.)
Honduras………….53 % (1993 est.)
Nicaragua…………50% (2001 est.)
Columbia………….49.2 % (2005 est.)
Venezuela…………47 % (1998 est.)
Ecuador……………41 % (2006 est.)
Mexico……………40% (2003 est.)
Argentina………….38.5 (June 2005)
Panama……………37 % (1999 est.)
El Salvador……..…36.1% (2003 est.)
Belize………….…..33% (1999 est.)
Grenada……………32% (2000)
Paraguay…………...32 % (2005 est.)
Dominica…………..30% (2002 est.)
Dominican Republic……….25%
Anguilla**…………23% (2002)
Brazil………………22 % (1998 est.)
Uruguay……………22 % (2004)
Trinidad and Tobago.21% (1992)
Jamaica.……………19.1 % (2003)
Bermuda**…………19% (2000)
Chile……………….18.2 % (2005)
Costa Rica……….....18% (2004 est.)
Canada……………..15.9% (2005 est.)
U.S.A……………... 12% (2004 est.)
 
#44 ·
One of my friends told me when Paraguay play football, they speak Guarani on the field.
 
#50 ·
True mate, many chileans players who faced paraguayan teams in international tournaments said the same thing, the paraguayans players speaks in guarani at the field and not in spanish :lol:
 
#73 ·
Paraguay had an embrionary industrial development and it wanted access to the sea to export their products and to import machines and equipment. As they got no deal from Brazil and Argentina, Solano invaded Brazil and Argentina hoping to catch them off guard and make enough pressure to find a deal. It obviously backfired and when their invasion lost momentum, Brazil led the attack on Paraguay and occupied the country, deposing Solano. So the land grab was considered "reparation" for the aggression.

Another interesting result of this war was the creation of the Army in Brazil, who would come back from the war with abolitionist and republican ideas, prompting the end of slavery in 1888 and the deposing of the Emperor, establishing a republic in 1889. :)
 
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