 Paraguay
Paraguay
Prayer Coordinator
Shirley Lack
sglack1@aol.com
Paraguay's
Team Websites
Full country name:
Républica del Paraguay
Area: 407,000 sq km
Population: 5.58 million
People: 95% Mestizo
Language: Guarani, Spanish
Religion: 97% Roman Catholic,
3% Mennonite and other Protestants
Government: constitutional republic
Facts for the Traveler
Visas: For a stay of up
to three months, foreigners from neighboring
countries only need national ID cards and
do not require a visa. US citizens require
a visa, as do Canadians, Australians and
New Zealanders, who also need a spotlessly
clean police record, a bank statement and
a desire to pay a fee of up to 50.00.
Health risks: cholera,
dengue fever, hepatitis, malaria, tuberculosis,
typhoid
Time Zone: GMT/UTC -3
Dialing Code: 595
Electricity: 220V ,50Hz
Weights & measures:
Metric
Culture
Theater is a popular medium, with occasional
offerings in Guaraní as well as in
Spanish. Visual arts of startling unconventionality
can be seen in many galleries. Paraguay's
pre-eminent literary figure is the poet-novelist
Augusto Roa Bastos.
Paraguayan music is something of a curiosity
- despite the fact that the majority of
the population still speaks the native tongue,
the music is European in origin, with little
or no traces of Black, Brazilian or Argentinian
influences. The guitar and harp are popular
instruments and songs are usually slow and
lachrymose. Dances, such as the polka and
bottle dance (so-called because performers
swing around with a jar on their head) are,
however, much livelier. Agustín Barrios
(1885-1944), one of Latin America's most
revered composers for the guitar, often
performed his music in full Guaraní
costume, promoting himself as the Paganini
of the guitar from the Paraguayan jungles.
Roman Catholicism is officially the country's
religion, but the influence of the church
is less pronounced than in many other Latin
American countries.
Meat dishes as well as tropical and subtropical
foodstuffs play an important role in the
Paraguayan diet. Grains, particularly maize,
and manioc (cassava) are incorporated into
almost all meals. Try tucking into locro,
a maize stew, mazamorra, corn mush, mbaipy
so-ó, a hot maize pudding with meat
chunks, and sooyo sopy, a thick soup made
of ground meat and served with rice or noodles.
Desserts include mbaipy he-é, a delicious
mix of corn, milk and molasses. Chipas,
made with manioc flour, eggs and cheese
are sold everywhere, even at major intersections
in Asunción while you wait at traffic
lights. Tea or mate is consumed in vast
quantities as well as mosto (sugar-cane juice).
Environment
Paraguay is a landlocked country surrounded
by Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. The country
is divided into two unequal portions by
the Río Paraguay, the third largest
river in the western hemisphere. To the
west of the river is the Chaco, a largely
infertile and sparsely populated tract of
land that makes up nearly 60% of the country's
area. To the east, where almost all the
population is concentrated, is a well-watered,
elevated plateau of grasslands, with patches
of subtropical forest stretching all the
way to the Río Paraná on the
Brazilian and Argentinian borders.
Wildlife is diverse and includes a number
of birds such as the parrot and parakeet,
wood stork, hyacinth macaw and the once-thought-to-be-extinct
Chacoan peccary, plus large reptiles such
as caiman, anaconda and the boa constrictor.
However, due to the dense human population
of rural eastern Paraguay, mammals such
as the giant anteater, maned wolf, Brazilian
tapir and jaguar are fast disappearing.
The climate in eastern Paraguay is humid,
with rainfall evenly distributed throughout
the year. Temperatures are almost universally
hot in summer (January to March), averaging
35°C (95°F), but can drop as low
as 5°C (41°F) in winter (July to
September). Frosts at this time are not
uncommon, but there is little or no snowfall.
Temperatures are higher in the Chaco and
the rainfall is more erratic.
Teams
in Paraguay
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