>> sitting right there relatively unexplored a cross section of the tasty original good stuff. >> a petri dish for talent, for culture, the great unknown. go look. i know you're a man who can help me. >> some time in mid 19th century 1850s my great, great grandfather immigrated to south america.

utopian dreams. my aunt used to tell stories he was into arms smuggling or who knows, you know? no idea. ♪

>> for most people paraguay is an empty space on the lap of latin america. a country of only six million where a vast percentage of the land is steaming hot jungle or a huge desert. only a few large cities offer a respite from the impressive heat.

>> a thousand miles up river from the atlantic ocean sits paraguay's remote capitol city known largely for being a post war refuge for freeing nazis and extremely unpleasant dictators. this place of all places in the world is where my great, great, great grandfather disappeared without explanation sometime in 1850s. >> i'm told your a man that can help me. >> how do you do? >> may i call you tony. >> please. >> you're here for the first time. >> first time in paraguay, yes. >> lido bar has always been like the central switchboard. a gathering place.

ladies in orange tanks serve working class food to people of every walk of life. >> this place is very unique. >> i've been here for more than 50 years. >> let's get something to eat. >> it's beef, onion, and hard cooked egg deep fried to perfection. cattle is the big business of this country. it used to be cattle and smuggling. these days it's still cattle. you see a lot of beef is what i'm saying. this is a mystery to most people. what we know comes nazi's and germans and crimes. do you think that's an undeserved reputation? >> it's a nice country. a beautiful country.

>> he was one of a team of people i sent out looking for the mysterious lost bourdain. >> what are you called upon to do? >> normally counterfeiting. in the old days it's said much of this counterfeiting had partners in the government. not so much anymore. >> he was the last of his kind in paraguay. of german heritage he ruled the country until 1989 with a quite charm but behind the scenes was another thing utilizing an outfit of trained secret police he to toured and tossed of helicopters over the jungle. the list goes on. one in four was said to have cooperated willingly or not as

paid informers on their fellow citizens. >> it's quite a history in this country. crazy, tragic, violent. >> things are changing, a lot. and now. >> sometime in the mid 19th centuries or 1850s he immigrated to south america, first argentina but apparently came here. that's really almost all i know for sure. >> did he die of old age? did he die of syphilis? i have no idea. i'd like to know. i'd like to find a grave site. that would be great. my father died at 57. his father in his 20s i believe. i'll be 58 in june. i think i am the longest living male bourdain possibly ever.

>> you're lonely in the world? >> i'm lonely in the world, yes. if i could solve the mystery of john bourdain i would be happy. it would be great if you found out he owned a huge ranch and they have been waiting for his relatives to claim his property. maybe not. i am trying to make some sense of this country. you lived here how long? >> 22 years. what a strange and nice country. >> go to paraguay and find a german to show you around. not so crazy or unrepresentative. people came to this country from everywhere to as emmerson called it make their own world.

>> what's good to eat here? >> i suppose you want something paraguay. >> yes. >> it's rice with fried beef with egg on top. >> i'm there. good. >> and there's a soup that is very very old paraguay stuff. >> that looks good. that looks very good. >> yeah. >> that's good, man. >> i'm trying to make some sense of this country. you lived here how long? >> 22 years. >> why did you come here in the first place? >> i was born in east germany and then in '89 the wall break down and you say wow, you will go. >> i haven't seen anything of this country yet but what i read was the world's back water

filled with banked that had been looted, institutions that didn't work. every carried a gun. it was like the wild west but poor. it's not that anymore. >> a bit of this is true. i by myself got a .45 on my head last week. that's common for me. >> seldom have i seen a country where one after the other you've had the most insane suicidal group of dictators century after century. >> you are right. even in times the better part of paraguay was behind him. they're very very easy to influence and business i believe unchanged until a short time ago now there is a growing middle class. better education than before and that makes the people say no.

>> how was the soup? >> i liked it. the way my wife cooks it. i like it better with chicken. but chicken is more for saturday. >> anthony bourdain parts unknown is brought to you by expedia. whatever trip you can imagine all in one place. expedia. find yours. and by the all new 2015 acura tlx. it's that kind of thrill. go to cnn.com/parts unknown for more exclusive content and unique perspectives from anthony bourdain. turn the trips you have to take,

into one you'll never forget. earn points for every flight and every hotel. expedia plus rewards. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are24/7branches? it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates. with unlimited talk, textes for just a hundred bucks

and now up to ten gigabytes of 4g lte data. want phones with that? hook up everyone in the family with the samsung galaxy s5 for zero down get four lines for $100 dollars and the samsung galaxy s5 for zero down so make the switch to t-mobile today we'll even buy you out of your service contracts

>> there was a lot of silver in the area. so they lost interest in paraguay.

>> this is the only country in latin america where the indigenous language is the official language. >> i am married to a paraguay woman and when her fathers come in they automatically talk that and i'm more or less out. >> el supremo. got to love it. a nearly 200 year succession of dictators began in 1811 when he declared himself el supremo for life. he insisted paraguay become a mixed race society. >> they're neither spanish nor

indians. el supremos prevented marriage between white and white. >> today 95% are of mixed blood. >> and we usually speak two languages. >> right. >> this is the central market? >> this is the biggest one and the most popular one. i'm hungry. what's good here? >> we opted for a little catfish. and okay the saying is that it makes man very powerful.

>> what's he got? that looks good. >> there was a good italian influence in paraguay. so maybe this stew comes from this. it's from all over the world. >> so you invite them and get the catfish stew? >> could you pass me the soup. >> the soup is very unique. >> our dictator lopez's favorite soup was corn soup and one day he ordered his favorite soup and the cook when he opened the pot it was a cake. >> paraguay has not been noted for its history of kinder, gentler leaders. in the 1800 two generations of lopez, father and son, one dictator after the other certainly left their marks on this country.

>> lopez was pretty much known for putting a wrong stamp on a letter. you get shot. so the cook didn't want to get shot. he showed up in front of lopez and says this is soup and the dictator ate it and he liked it and later the entire country eat it. >> so it's cheesey cornbread? >> yeah. >> awesome. good meal. >> so this was the house or one of the houses of madam lynch. >> exactly. >> the journalist, poet, and author has written books on paraguay's history. >> now who was madam lynch. >> a murky background would you say? >> there's talk about that. somebody say she was a great

woman or she was a very evil one. >> she came over on the famous trip from france. >> right. >> in 1840s lopez senior reversed many of paraguay's isolationist policies. he invited foreigners to settle here and built one of south america's first rail ways. it's steam engines taken out of service only a few years ago and he sent his son to europe. >> his mission his father sent him out to get what arms? >> arms and technicians, engineers and machinery. >> junior by most contemporary accounts was an idiot. >> so he came back with a mistress, madam lynch. >> yes. >> which dad wasn't too happy about. >> right.

>> he was very traditional and wanted his son to marry a paguarian woman and do everything by the book. >> she was the daughter of an irish doctor. ambitious, social climbing, fond of nice things. >> clothes imported from france. and there were parties here. >> he showed madam lynch to his father and his father was upset so she was put aside. >> kept as a mistress. >> and that was the way society tried to treat her and she wanted to be treated as the -- >> princess? >> yes.

>> tell me about her famous boat trip. on one of her more notorious adventures as hostess she organized an outing. >> she invited all of society to join her. >> right. >> the river steamer was engaged for the party. >> well, there were some issues between the ladies and madam lynch. >> once on board they treated their hostess like trash. >> so she got upset and threw over board all the food they were supposed to eat. >> she had it all thrown in the river? >> yes. >> then she ordered the captain to stop the boat and let her guests just sit there in that jungle heat for hours. >> throwing tubs of caviar and

whole roasted pigs into the river in front of the starving aristocrats? somehow that pleases me. so guys -- it's just you and your honey. the setting is perfect. you know what? plenty of guys have this issue, not just getting an erection, but keeping it.

well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. and you only take it when you need it. good to know, right? if ed is stopping what you started... ask you doctor about viagra. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor if viagra is right for you.

going back to the very beginnings, various groups with stars in their eyes came here

seeking to create a utopia along the lines, a paradise. repopulate latin america with germans. british, italians, you had everybody. >> yeah. >> i had a great, great, great grandfather come over to paraguay around the 1850s. >> right. >> might have been, myself, a seeker of some kind of utopian dreams. >> originally from france? >> from france, yes. >> what city? do you know? >> my great, great, grandfather was from near bourdeax. so i'm curious about this settlement.

>> the paraguay river still as it was 150 years ago the country's main artery. a thoroughfare for transporting people and goods. >> who lives out there? >> of all the people we see fishing on the river banks. >> are they fishing for dinner? >> most of them are fishing for dinner. they decide by themselves to live here. they could go and start working on a construction place tomorrow.

>> peter organized a trip up river to see new bourdeaux. what was hoped would be a new france. >> the fish today 14 kilo that's half a month's salary and you get with a bit of good luck in one night. >> right. >> outside of the cities paraguay is sparsely populated. indigenous groups, a few settled

europeans, mennonites, germans and a fishing lure and shotgun salesman. >> what are the shotguns for? >> bandits? varmentes? >> to hunt deer and water pig. >> that's a peacemaker. >> any rogue nazis we can shoot now? >> i am tempted by the offer of a cheap shotgun for sale. figures peter would know this guy but reason wins out. >> i don't think we're going to buy a shotgun today. >> me, fear, shotgun, shot sunny day. that's not a good mix. >> unlike madam lynch's guests i'm making sure i eat on this

boat trip. >> the most important part of my meal. cold, frosty beverages. i started early. >> cheers. >> cheers. >> fish and a man goe salsa. >> you have the two most appreciated fish here on the table of paraguay. that's the catfish. >> and that's the -- >> oh, of course. yes. that's tasty. that's nice. >> i'm curious about this whole episode of the settlement. >> they were supposed to be most of them farmers. but just 86 were farmers. >> who were the other people

they were taylors and shoemakers. >> they were put in the jungle and left by himself. >> right. >> why here of all the people in the world. >> people talk about it as a hell. it's hot here -- it's dry, it's red, it's difficult. >> you have all the mosquitos. >> a flatland of cactus and thorns and misery. >> there's a part where you enter the country you are good food. >> did they ever see this as utopia? >> no, i'm sure not.

>> that? >> this. >> wow that's not how i pictured it. doesn't look like bordeaux to me. >> there's nothing much left. i'm told a small museum of artifac artifacts. the site where it once existed. >> it was money for each settler. >> perhaps there was a communication break down somewhere and he might have told them i'm bringing you the finest farmers france has to offer. >> right and he might have told these frenchmen they're going to give you free property. you don't have to do anything. you'll live like kings. just reach up in the trees and fruit and gold bars are dropping.

in fact, they were thrown out and say here you are. that's your land. go ahead. >> these four french guys show up. >> right. >> lopez senior and the government kept their side of the bargain. they provided them with houses, equipment. >> tours and animals and everything. >> needs to have one of these. pressed sandwiches i think. and that's it. dig, grow. >> the settlers quickly discovered that farming is hard work and that the conditions in no way resembled the new france of their dreams. >> that's a big snake.

>> so they get broke and they decide to leave the colony. >> how many french were left at the end of the new bordeaux experiment? did any stay? >> some of them but few. >> any chance he ended his life here ending the unclaimed escape and what was prime cattle country turns quickly to dust. when a pro at any 2014 pga tour event sinks a hole-in-one,

quicken loans could pay your mortgage for an entire year. truly amazing! enter today at pgatour.com/quickenloans

so you guys have some information perhaps of the elusive john bourdain i hear? >> i don't know what he did here. of course i'm hoping for something extremely glamorous. a gun runner, drug smuggler. maybe he died in the saddle. maybe he died happy. maybe he was living out in the bush surrounded by adoring

indigenous women. i don't know. you know if he was a masseur for madam lynch i guess i would be let down. >> i had contact with another historian around the world and the history of your family is very interesting. >> oh, really? >> okay. >> interesting. >> yeah, your family, your grandfather john bourdain came following the sun. >> okay the facts as i know them so far i think are this. my great, great, granddad, john, his son came to live with his uncle. >> 1850 john bourdain moves. >> this is the document that we have showing him arriving. >> there he is. >> in that time, he worked with -- >> with a hat maker. >> a hat maker?

i'm pretty sure he said hat maker which have to say disappoints me like a lot. the whole elusive wing of south american bourdains were project runway contestants of their day? >> in 1855 lopez's son arrives. >> with madam lynch. >> madame lynch was fond of things like french coutoure. >> yes and that changed the way of dress. >> she might have been good for business. >> i'm trying to put this in a light i can be enthusiastic about. like how clearly forward thinking they were. his customers were a hat maker. the people that treated her with such utter contempt. did they live in the colonial homes? in that type of residence? >> yes. >> times were changing in south america too in those days. society ladies craved the latest french fashion. there was money to be made.

i'm bummed. >> he would have died in 1858. >> or before. >> it was a good way to die because he wouldn't have to join this horrible war. >> he missed the war? >> yeah. >> the old lopez died. the young lopez got in power. >> our man becomes president. >> yes, francisco lopez. >> absolutely the most megomaniacal dictator. >> you're right. >> he was unkind to his siblings. >> his brothers were tortured and killed and the sisters were jailed. taken into tiger cages. >> tiger cages. >> tiger cages and the mother

was given some beating. >> the 60 something-year-old mother was flogged and beaten in front of him. not a nice man. >> he believed that he had a chance to get married with the daughter of the emperor of brazil. >> that's right. >> he was refused on very unflattering terms. >> thanks presumably to his expansionist ambitions he dragged paraguay into the triple alliance war. >> he essentially challenged all three neighbors. >> brazil, argentina and uruguay. >> to war. >> this doesn't seem like a good idea. >> in what would become the bloodiest war in latin america's history, hundreds of thousands died. when lopez ran out of adults he sent children into the field dressed only in rags, armed with sticks, painted to look like guns. >> my great grandfather was a

10-year-old boy and he was dressed alike because otherwise he was going to be enrolled into the army. >> madam lynch survived. >> yes. >> but with her money she was allowed to keep her possessions? >> yes. >> in history it's hard to find a more disastrous or more cruel or pointless campaign it would seem. >> when all was said and done as much as 60% of the population and 90% of the men of this country were dead. >> the survivors were just like 50 or 40,000 people.

>> there was nothing here for like 100 years. >> john bourdain dies here? >> yes. >> an adult natural of france by the name of john bourdain. >> cause of death. >> not specified here. >> is there a grave site? >> we're looking. >> we are looking for it. 's that? no hidden fees,

from the bank where no branches equals great rates.

so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are24/7branches? it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do...

try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

so i'm hungry. i'm really hungry. >> you know you want it. it's late. you had a few. no, you had a lot. you want something greasy, savory, juicy and nasty. >> this is it. >> right. that's what today's people eat in the streets. >> an egg a little runny please. soy sauce i think too. like the ruins of ancient troy, egg on top of cheese on top of meat. now get in my stomach now.

awesome. really awesome. and the last thing i give a steaming loaf about anymore, i mean, i am over it. here comes news of the big break through. >> i talked with the historian and he says it looks like your great grandfather what he was merchandising it was definitely not hats. >> really? >> we have here bourdain. >> right. >> and what is he bringing? >> like fire crackers? >> there is not even more than 200 or 300 wealthy families who sometimes in a birthday would crack a little bit. >> are you suggesting something untoward? >> weapons. >> weapons?

>> yeah. >> awesome. my aunt always said he was a gun runner. we figured she was full of shit. she also said she was in the resistance, but everybody in france said that. so, arms. was he a hat-maker slash arms -- >> are all these historians and gene uses on the money? was great grampy an arms dealer? what hat makers needs 200 pounds of gun powder? i've got you now. i've got you now. >> or was he a party supplier, selling fine french hats and fik crackers to school kids? i don't know what to believe. >> and in '58, he died. >> right. >> and he was buried, here, two

miles from here in the rich people's cemetery. we can pretty well say in which area he remains. >> he is there. >> wow. well, i guess we'll have to go look, huh? >> definitely. ♪

when a pro at any 2014 pga tour event sinks a hole-in-one, quicken loans will pay your mortgage for an entire year. that is how it's done. truly amazing! get in the hole-in-one sweepstakes. enter today at pgatour.com/quickenloans and you could have your mortgage paid for an entire year. it's time to bring it out in the open. it's time to drop your pants for underwareness, a cause to support the over 65 million people

who may need depend underwear. show them they're not alone and show off a pair of depend. because wearing a different kind of underwear, is no big deal. join us. support the cause and get a free sample of depend at underwareness.com (vo)solver of the slice.pro. teacher of the un-teachable. you lower handicaps... and raise hopes. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (pro) nice drive. (vo) well played, business pro. well played. go national. go like a pro.

into one you'll never forget. earn points for every flight and every hotel. expedia plus rewards. i make a lot of purchases and i get aness. lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 70,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can.

that's why i take doctor recommended colace capsules. [ male announcer ] for certain medical conditions where straining should be avoided, colace softens the stool for effective relief from occasional constipation. go to colacecapsules.com for savings. [ animal sounds ]

♪ >> there's no escaping it. paraguay loves their beef. perfect ratio, lot of meat, little bit of vegetables. perfect. oh, whoa, that's good. >> this is the. [ speaking foreign language ] a sprawling ranch and it's been in the family back to the war. >> hard life? >> no, we are happy. we have everything. >> 20 years ago, it was not used. in the last years, it's booming. >> where does the boom come from? >> we are the second biggest soybean exporter, eighth biggest cattle supporter. paraguay feeds the entire world for eight days a year. >> how many akers? >> 100,000 hectares.

>> i could eat this all day. and i will. >> barbecue. you are complete. [ laughter ] >> it's good. ♪ ♪ >> mmm, that's awesome. so were there a lot of vegetarians in this part of paraguay? [ laughter ] >> here comes the highlight. >> oh, look at that. pretty. beef short ribs are amazing.

mmm, so good. ♪ >> all of the books i read about paraguay are maybe 15 years old. the first thing, everybody has to go and buy a gun. [ speaking foreign language ] >> this was not the paraguay i expected at all. >> he wants to sing a song for you. >> a welcome song. ♪ ♪ >> it not say welcome stranger.

it says welcome brother stranger. ♪ ♪ >> the man who died here was my great grandfather. >> yes. >> this old cemetery. >> it seems most likely that he was buried there. ♪

>> nobody i know. >> it's very, very likely that the tomb was just overbuilt. >> right. >> something on top. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ applause ] this is the story of a controversial experiment to create geniuses that began