I don’t remember anything about smoking at all, one way or the other. The drug of choice in Paraguay is Tereré.

Ok, my experience is very limited. My brother was in the Peace Corps and he liked it well enough to stay an extra year. It’s a third world country, don’t doubt that. There is plenty of dysfunction and corruption both historically and currently. We had to bribe the police while I was there, it’s simply the expectation. They tend not to see social welfare as something a government might do something about. There are lots of laws but less following of the law. There is for sure not a safety mindset. There are no trains because at one point they pulled up the tracks and sold them for scrap because they needed the money.

The people are wonderful. The land is gorgeous. Food is distinctive but unremarkable. Some really traumatic stuff happened in Paraguay’s history that continues to affect its present. There’s so much that is deeply weird and endlessly fascinating.

You should know Spanish at a minimum and they also speak their own language, Guarani, because Jesuit missionaries allowed them to retain it. Keeping Guarani was very progressive at the time but had the unintended consequence of isolating Paraguay from the rest of South America. You can also live on a German colony or a Japanese colony in Paraguay.

If nobody else pipes up, my brother lived there for three years and I once visited for precisely two weeks which is more than most people can say. What questions do you have?

We really can. We have to!

I feel this as a gay person. Oddly enough I probably feel it just as strongly as a swimmer! Whenever I move to a new town I join the local masters swim club first and foremost.

You first.

I have concerns about your media diet. To say nothing of posting this in an international forum where there are likely fellow members who have experienced actual fascism or actual dictatorship.

Happy Thanksgiving.