i'm told you are a man who can help me? some in the 1850s my great, great, great grandfather, emigrated to south america. was reported to die here. but might have been a seeker of utopian dreams. my aunt told stories. he was into arms struggling, but no i didn't.

♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪

for most people, paraguay is an empty space on a map of latin america. ♪ a country of only 6 million, where a vast percentage of the land is steaming hot jungle or a huge scrub desert known simply as the chaco. only a few large cities offer a respite from the oppressive heat. ♪ [ singing in foreign language ] >> 1,000 miles upriver from the atlantic ocean sits paraguay's remote capital city. known largely for being a post-war refuge for fleeing nazis and a long line of

extremely unpleasant dictators, this place of all the places in the world is where my great, great, great-grandfather disappeared without explanation sometime in the 1850s. i'm told you are a man who can help me. how do you do? >> you are for the first time in the country? >> first time in paraguay, yes. >> lido-bar, has always been like central switchboard, a gathering place. ladies in orange vests cook and serve old-school, working class food to people from all walks of life. >> this place is very unique. i've been here for more than 50 years. >> all right. let's get something to eat.

i'm hungry. >> big envelopes of beef, onion, 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 and some smuggling. you see a lot of beef is what i'm saying. mm, oh, that's good. this country is a mystery to most people. what little we know of the country generally comes from nazis and germans hiding in paraguay for war crimes. do you think that's an undeserved reputation? >> i don't think that's fair. it's a beautiful country. >> pedro is a private investigator. one of a team of people i sent out looking for the mysterious lost bourdain. >> what types of investigations are you called upon to do? >> normally counterfeiting. >> this is sort of the counterfeiting capital of the world. in the old days it was said that much of this counterfeiting had

partners in the government. not so much anymore? >> i rather don't answer that. i'm no politician. and i live here, so -- general alfredo stroessner was in charge. behind the scenes was another thing. utilizing an outfit of ss police referred to as the hairy footed ones, he tortured dissidents out of helicopters over the jungle, and the list goes on. under stroessner, one in four, paraguayans are said to have participated as informants on their fellow citizens. >> things are changing a lot. and now things are getting straight. >> sometime in mid 19th century, 1850s.

my grandfather emigrated to south america, first in argentina but apparently came here. that's really almost all i know for sure. did he die by the sword? did he die of old age? did he die of syphilis? i have no idea. i'd like to know. i'd love to find a grave site. that would be great. my father died in '57. his father in, i think, in his 20s, i believe. he'll be 58 in june. i think i'm the longest-living male bourdain in possibly ever. >> so you're lonely in the world? >> i am lonely in the world, yes. if i could solve the mystery of the elusive grandfather, it would make me very happy. by the way, it would be terrific if you found out he owned a huge ranch in the chaco and they're waiting for his relatives to

claim his property? [ laughter ] maybe not. i'm trying to make some sense of this country. you've lived here how long? >> i'm since 22 years, too long maybe. what a strange and nice country. >> go to paraguay, find a german to show you around. not so crazy or unrepresentative. people came to this country from everywhere, to as, emerson called it, make their own world. >> i'm tony. >> nice to meet you. >> so what's good to eat here? >> i suppose you want something paraguayan? >> yes. >> beef, a roast rice with fried beef with egg on top. >> i'm there. good. >> and there is a soup whose name is bori-bori.

that's very, very old paraguayan stuff. little corn balls. >> that looks good. that looks very good. >> yeah. >> it's good, man. i'm trying to make some sense of this country. you've lived here how long? >> 22 years. >> why did you come here in the first place? >> i was born in east germany, and east germany means you will never go out. then in '89, the wall break down. and say wow, you will go! >> i haven't seen anything of this country yet, but what i read was the world's backwater filled with bombed-out banks that had been looted. institutions that didn't work. everyone carried a gun.

it was like the wild west but poorer. it's not like that any more? >> a bit of this is true. i myself got a .45 on my head last woke. that's really common for me. >> the rarely do i see the most suicidal group of dictators century after century. >> you are right. even in stressful times, the better part of paraguayans was behind it. paraguayans are very, very easy to influence. and this is, 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, yes. was the way my wife cooks it. i like it better with chicken. but chicken is more for saturday. paraguay was a very poor

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paraguay was a very poor country. the spaniards came because there was a lot of silver in the area.

they found nothing, so they lost interest in paraguay. >> this is the only country in latin america where the indigenous language is the official language. >> i'm married to a paraguayan woman and when the fathers come in, they automatically talk in the language, and i'm more or less out. >> a proud society. >> yes. >> el supremo. >> a leader declared himself el supremo for life. de franceive a insisted they become a mixed-race society. neither spanish or indians. we are mestizos. and el supremo,

they prohibit marriage between whites. he produced the mestizos by force. >> today 95% of paraguayans are of mixed blood. >> and we usually speak two languages. >> right. >> the central market? >> the biggest one. ♪ >> i'm hungry. >> what's good here? >> we opted for the little fish. it's a catfish. and, okay. the saying is that it makes man very powerful. >> ah. >> what's he got over there.

that looks good. >> stew. there was a good italian influence in paraguay, so maybe this stew comes from this side. cologne is from all over the world. >> so you invite them, give them the catfish soup. [ laughter ] >> the paraguayan soup. >> soup. >> it's very unique. >> our dictator lopez, his favorite soup was corn soup. and one day he ordered his favorite soup and the cook, when he opened the pot, ah, it was a cake. >> paraguay has not been noted for its history of kinder, gentler leaders. one dictator after the other, certainly left their marks on this country. >> lopez was known for putting a

wrong stamp on the letter you get shot. the cook didn't want to get shot. he showed up in front of lopez and said this is paraguayan soup. and the dictator ate it and liked it. and a bit later, the entire country eat it. >> so cheesy cornbread. >> yes. >> awesome. good meal. >> so this was the house or one of the houses of the notorious madam lynch? >> yes. right. >> this author has written books on paraguay's history. >> who now who exactly was madam lynch? a murky background, would you say? >> somebody say a bright woman, an evil one. >> she came over on the famous trip from france?

>> right. >> in the 1840s, lopez senior reversed many of paraguay's isolationist policies. he built one of south america's first railways. its steam engines taken out of service only a few years ago. and he said his son, francisco solano to europe. >> he sent him out what, to get 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 paraguayan woman and do everything by the book. >> right. >> paraguay's soon to be first mistress, madam eliza lynch was already the wife of a doctor, social climbing, fond of nice things. >> those from france say she brought to paraguay the first piano. and there were practice here. >> he showed madam lynch to his father, and his father was upset. so she was put aside. >> and kept as a mistress? >> and that was the way paraguayan society wanted to treat her. and she wanted to be treated as

the -- >> princess? >> yes. >> tell me about madam lynch's famous boat trip. on one of her more notorious ventures as hostess, she organized an outing to the new french colony. she wanted all of society to join her? >> right. >> magnificent steamer was engaged for the party. >> there were ladies and madam lynch. >> once on board, as the story goes, those mean bitches treated their hostess like so much trash. >> so she got upset and threw off board all of the food that was, they were supposed to eat. >> she had it all thrown in the river? >> yes. [ laughter ] >> 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,

whole roasted pigs into the river in front of these starving aristocrats, somehow that pleases me.

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( siren wails ) ( pop music playing ) ♪ when you're ready ♪ ready, ready, ready ♪ come and get it ♪ get it, get it ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na... female announcer: it's a great big world and it can all be yours. here and only here. ♪ come and get it. going back to the very beginning, various groups with stars in their eyes came here

seeking to create a utopia along ideological lines. we populate north america with british, italians, everybody. >> it started with the jesuit colonies. >> the new bordeaux. i had a great, great, great grandfather come over to paraguay around the 1850s. >> right. >> might have been, himself, a seeker of some kind of utopian dreams. >> are they originally from france? >> from france, yes. >> what city, do you know? >> my great, great,

great-grandfather was from near bordeaux. so i'm curious about this whole episode about the settlement of new bordeaux. ♪ >> the paraguay river, still as it was 150 years ago, the country's main artery, a thoroughfare for transporting people and goods. ♪ >> so who lives out there? >> all the people we see fishing out on the river banks, are they fishing for dinner?

>> most of them are fishing for dinner. call them poor people, but what is poor? they decide for themselves to live here. they could go and start working on a construction place tomorrow. >> he has organized a trip upriver to see new bordeaux, what was hoped to be a new france in the chaco. >> fish we bought today, 14 kilo. >> right. >> that's half a month's salary, and you get with 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 every so often, a fishing lure and shotgun salesman. what are the shotguns for? bandits? varmints? >> to hunt deer and water pig, capybara. >> i am tempted by the offer of a cheap shotgun for sale, but reason wins out. >> i don't think we're going to buy a shotgun today. me, beer, shotgun, hot sunny day, a producer? that's not a good mix. ♪ >> unlike madam lynch's guests,

i'm making damn sure i'm eating on this boat trip. ah, the most important part of any meal, cold, frosty beverages. >> you already had one. >> i started early. here. cheers. oh, here we go. thank you. little fish in a mango salsa. >> you have the two most appreciated fish on the table

here of paraguay. that's the catfish. that's the dorado. >> ooh, that's tasty. that's nice. so i'm curious about this whole episode of the settlement of new bordeaux. >> it came about 400 people. they were supposed to be about 1,000. they were supposed to be most of them farmers. but just 86 why farmers. >> who were the other people? >> they were tailors, shoemakers, musicians. teachers and artists, and they were put in the jungle and left by themselves. >> why here of all the places in the world? people talk about the chaco as hell. i mean, it's hot here. it's dry. it's wet. it's fetid. if's difficult. >> mosquitoes. and you have all the ticks and vermin. >> a flatland of cactus and thorns and misery and cannibals. >> there were the indians coming down the river and killing everybody. there was the langua who if you entered the country, you are good food. >> did the paraguayans ever see this as a utopia? >> no. >> i'm sure not.