Off the Beaten Track

Piribebuy

During the War of the Triple Alliance, the village of Piribebuy, east of Asunción, served as the national capital. Today it is a quiet backwater, notable only for an excellent church, a strong local drink called caña, and an interesting museum that is opened on request by a Chaco War veteran. Wounded three times by Bolivian bullets, the man will gingerly take you around a number of deteriorating exhibitions - then lead you to his own bloodied and torn uniform on display.

Fortín Toledo

Fortín Toledo was the site of trench warfare during the Chaco War and is now host to a reserve nurturing a small population of Chacoan peccary, a Pleistocene relic thought extinct until its rediscovery in 1975. The reserve, sponsored in part by the San Diego Zoo, welcomes visits by interested onlookers but only if schedules permit. Nearby lies a string of abandoned fortifications and a Paraguayan military cemetery.

Nueva Australia

The frequently renamed Nueva Australia in eastern Paraguay was a short-lived socialist experiment founded by late-19th century Australian immigrants. Named Hugo Stroessner (after the dictator's father) on some maps, this dissension-riddled colony attracted a number of settlers thanks to ambitious propaganda about the area's economic potential. However, the colony failed to meet expectations and finally splintered in 1896.

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