starts right now. >> i'm told you are a man who can help me. some time in mid 19th century. my great, great, grade grandfather, emigrated to south america. he was reported to have died here. might have been a seeker of utopian dreams. you know, my aunt used to tell stories he was into arms smuggling or, who knows you, know. i have no idea.

♪ 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. >> ate quite a history in this country. crazy, tragic, violent. >> 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. shopping online is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. start shopping online from a list of top-rated providers. visit angieslist.com today.

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paraguay was a very poor country. the spaniards came because there 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. . so my doctor prescribed lyrica. the pain has been reduced and i feel better than i did before. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda-approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight, including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet.

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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. >> what we have is new bordeaux. >> wow. that's kind of not how i pictured it. doesn't look like bordeaux to me. ♪ >> there's nothing much left of

new bordeaux. i'm told a small museum of artifacts. the site where the colony once existed is now called something else. >> perhaps there was a communication break down somewhere, and he might have told the paraguayans, i'm bringing the finest farmers france has to offer and he might have told these french men, you'll get free property, you don't have to do anything, reach up into the trees and fruit and gold bars are dropping? [ dogs barking ] >> in fact, there was thrown out in the cold and say here you are. that's your land. go ahead. >> these poor french guys show up. >> right. >> lopez senior, and the government kept their side of the bargain. >> yes.

>> they provided them with houses, equipment. >> tools and animals and everything. >> my aunt used to have one of these, made pressed sandwiches i think. okay, that's it. dig, grow. the settlers quickly found out it was hard work and resembled in no way the france of their dreams. >> it broke, and they decided 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. >> all right. any thoughts or hopes that my great, great, great-grandfather ended his life here leaving me a vast, unclaimed stake in what is now prime cattle country turns quickly to dust. ♪ on of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪

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♪ so, you guys have some information perhaps on my elusive great, great, great-grandfather? >> mm-hm? >> yeah. i don't know what he did here. i'm hoping for something extremely glamorous, a river

pirate, drug smuggler, maybe he died in the saddle. maybe he died happy. maybe he lived out in the bush, surrounded by adoring indigenous women. i don't know. maybe he was an masseur for madam lynch. >> i contacted with other genealogists, and the history of your family is very interesting. >> oh, really? >> yeah. >> okay. your family, your grandfather came to montevideo. >> the facts as i know them so far, i think are this. my great, great, great granddad, his son came to uruguay to live with his uncle.

>> 1850, john bourdain moves. >> this is the document we have showing him arriving. >> there he is. >> at that time, he was a -- >> he was a hat maker. >> hat maker? i'm pretty sure he said hat maker, which i have to say disappoints me a lot. the whole elusive wing of bourdains were red carpets of their day? >> madam lynch was fond of things like french couture? >> yes. and that changed the way of dress. >> madam lynch might have been

good for business. >> he put this in a light i can be enthusiastic about, by how forward-thinking my relatives were. >> his customers were a hat maker, the very people that treated madam lynch with utter contempt, did they live in the old colonial homes, the mansions we see still? >> yes. >> times were changing in south america too, in those days. society ladies craved the latest in french fashion. there was money to be made. ah, i'm bummed. >> after this episode with the new bordeaux group came a triple alliance. >> he died in 1858. >> yes. >> it was a goodod time to die, this way he didn't have to joan this horrible war. >> he missed the war? >> yes. the old lopez died. the young lopez got in power. >> our man becomes president? >> yes, francisco lopez. >> absolutely the most maniacal, megalomaniacal.

>> his brothers were killed. his sisters were jailed in tiger cages. >> tiger cages. >> and their mother was given some 50, 60, something. >> the 60 year old mother was flogged and beaten in front of them. >> it was believed he had a chance to be married with the daughter of the emperor of brazil. >> he was refused in very unflattering terms. thanks to his ambitions he dragged paraguay into a triple alliance war. >> he challenged all three neighbors. >> brazil, argentina and uruguay -- >> to war. this doesn't seem like a good idea. >> yeah. >> in what would become the bloodiest war in latin america's history, hundreds of thousands

of paraguayans 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 like them because otherwise he was going to be enrolled in the army. >> lopez was hunted down, but madam lynch survived? >> yes, she survived. >> 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. >> survivors were just like 50 or 40,000 people. so that's why you could easily understand why there was nothing here for 100 years. >> he dies here. >> yes. before the alliance war. >> an adult natural of france by the name of juan bourdain. >> cause of death?

>> not specified here. >> is there a grave site? >> we are looking for. ♪ ♪ introducing... a pm pain reliever that dares to work all the way until... the am. new aleve pm the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. visit tripadvisor new york. tripadvisor not only has millions of

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so i'm hungry. i'm really hungry. >> you know you want it. it's late, you've had a few. now you've had a lot. you want something greasy, savory, juicy, and nasty.

>> this is it. the legendary lovito. >> that's right. that's what the people eat in the streets. >> an egg, a little runny, please. some kind of meat like beef patty thing. throw on your lettuce and tomato. two sauces, i don't know what they are. frankly don't care. soy sauce, too. yes, layer it like the ruins of ancient troy. egg on top of cheese on top of meat. now get in my stomach now! mm. sandwich is awesome. >> awesome good? >> good awesome. all my greasy meat dreams have come true. that's good. and at the last minute, the last thing i give a steaming loaf about anymore is my long-dead relatives. i mean, i'm over it. here comes news of the big breakthrough. >> i talked with the historian, and he said it looks like your great-grandfather, what he was merchandising, it was definitely not hats. >> willie?

>> we have here jean bourdain. and what is he bringing? 200 boxes of fireworks. >> fireworks? >> fireworks. >> like firecrackers? >> there is not even more than 200 or 300 wealthy families who sometimes in the birthday would crack a little bit. >> uh-huh. so are you suggesting something untoward? >> weapons. >> weapons. >> yeah. >> he was a merchant of death? awesome. my aunt always said he was a gun runner. we figured she was full of -- she also said she was in the resistance, but everybody in france said that. >> arms. so was he ever a hat maker? was this a cover job? was he a hat maker/arms? are all these historians on the money here? was great, great, great grampy

an arms dealer? needs 200 pounds of gunpowder. i've got you now jean bourdain. i've got you now. or was he simply a party supplier, selling little firecrackers and party hats to school kids? i don't know what to believe. >> and in 1858, unfortunately, he died. >> right. >> and he was buried here, two miles from here. the rich people's cemetery. >> yeah. >> we can pretty well say on which area. he remains. he is there.

>> wow. well, i guess we'll have to go look, huh? >> definitely, yeah. ♪

sorry, little buddy, there's no escaping, paraguay loves their beef. perfect ratio, little bit of beef, little bit of vegetables. this is a sprawling ranch bigger than some of the countries i've traveled to, and it's been in the family going all the way

back to the triple alliance war. hard life? good life? >> we are pretty happy here. we have everything. >> 20 years ago, the chaco was not huge. and the last years it's booming. >> where is the boom come from? >> we are the second biggest soybean exporter, cattle exporter, we feed the world for eight days a year. >> 100,000 hectares. >> barbecue has to be included. >> if you have sausages. >> could eat this all day, and i will. >> barbecue, you are complete. [ laughter ] ♪ >> mm.

that's awesome. so were there a lot of vegetarians in this part of paraguay? [ laughter ] >> here comes the highlight. >> look at that. pretty. beef short ribs are amazing. mm. so good. ♪ >> all of the books i read about paraguay are maybe 15 years old, and like the first says everybody has a gun, buy a gun.

[ laughter ] [ speaking in foreign language ] >> this was not the paraguay i expected. at all. >> please, we want to sing a song for you. >> a welcome song to the foreign people. >> yeah. ♪ [ singing in foreign language ] >> it says, welcome stranger. welcome brother stranger. ♪ >> the jean bourdain who died here was my great, great,

great-grandfather. >> yes. >> this old cemetery. recoletta. >> it seems most likely that he was buried there. ♪ ♪ ♪ nobody i know. >> it's very, very likely that the tomb was just oval with something on top. >> yeah. ♪ [ singing in foreign language ] ♪

this is cnn breaking news. i'm jim sciutto. our sad news, mario cuomo died at age 82. president obama issued a statement on the death of the former new york governor saying, quote, michelle and i were saddened to learn of the passing of former governor cuomo. an italian catholic kid from queens born to immigrant parents. mario paired his faith in god and faith in america to live a life of public service. and we are all better for it. the three term democratic

governor of new york state, possible presidential candidate, considered as well for the supreme court, had been hospitalized in november for a heart condition. throughout a towering political career, mario cuomo was a powerful orator, a voice of liberalism defined by his catholic faith and the first italian american to become new york governor. he was also the founder of a political dynasty in his statement. his son, andrew cuomo was sworn in for his second term as governor earlier today. as it would turn out only hours before his father passed away. of course his younger son, chris cuomo is our friend and colleague, the anchor of cnn's "new day." mario cuomo dead today at 82. overseas in indonesia. the first funeral for the victim of the crash of flight 8501. nine bodies recovered so far. one still wearing her flight attendant's uniform. no sign yet of the crucial black boxes. the batteries powering the

pingers that send acoustic signals from the black boxes have 25 days of power left. that according to an indonesian government official. >> anthony bordain parts unphone starts right now. this is a good place to both experience fantasy and reality. ♪ ♪ >> beer, explosives, and food? you can't beat that. ♪ >> muy gracias.