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Paraguay, “an Island Surrounded by Land”.

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This is a quote from Augusto Roa Bastos, a Paraguayan writer.   I could add surrounded by unfriendly lands. I thought of an alternative title for this blog: “Paraguay, the land of hard soup”.   The famed hard soup resulted from a kitchen misstep: the cook put too much corn flour, and the soup hardened into a cake.   It conveys the country’s toils and struggles. A friend and I, decided to escape the rowdy Carnival of Rio de Janeiro and travel to Paraguay, Brazil’s most unassuming and little-known neighbor.   We spent five days in the capital Asunción sweating under temperature hovering round 40º, hot even by Asunción summer standards.   Less than 7 million people live in the land-lock country about the size of California.   95% are of mixed European and Guarani Indian descent.   We stayed in the Palmaroga Hilton, the House of Palm hotel in Guarani, the second official language with Spanish.   80% of the population speaks Guarani according to Helm...
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The Comfort of Dictatorships

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  I am transfixed by the political upheaval which is taking place in a great western country.    A large segment of the political establishment comforted by an equally large section of the population is watching in a state of ecstasy bordering giddiness their leader’s indiscriminate assault on core democratic institutions.    Make America Great Again, MAGA is morphing into a monstruous scavenger which feeds on the dismembered federal institutions, world trade, foreign alliances and basic moral values.   In parallel, under the guise of curbing the “woke” ideology, the leader and his tech goons have launched a free speech crusade, aims of which is to suppress diverging viewpoints, fact checking and to fire dissenters.     The leader’s illiberal hegemony is based on a zero-sum game thinking. One cannot resist drawing parallels with past European events.   Respectively in 1923 and 1933, two charismatic strong men, Benito Mussolini and Adolph...
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The Oscars Warfare

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  In Rio these days, one must watch one’s mouth because many Cariocas can overreact when the Hollywood Oscar race is mentioned.   The unexpected, best film nomination of Ainda estou aqui ( I am Still Here) unleashed media and social media delirium and a novel and unusual patriotic storm.   When speaking of the Oscar nominees, one must choose one’s words carefully.   To date, four million people have seen the film.   It is quite extraordinary that a serious-minded film could surpass popular mass media fares.    For a reason that does not make much sense to me, some Brazilian (toxic) fans have targeted the French movies Emilia Peréz as the mortal rival to their Oscar success and have trashed the performance of its leading “lady” Karla Sofia Gascón. I’m still here is about a happy middle-class family broken by the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil for twenty years (1964-85).   In 1971, the father Rubens Paiva, a former left-wing politici...
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WRITER'S BLOCK IN SIENA

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  I have writer´s block! Well, I have no inspiration to write anything.   Usually, after returning from a trip, I am eager to share my experience.   Over the Christmas period, I spent five enjoyable days in Siena, Tuscany.   The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, renowned for its preserved Medieval architecture, its vibrant 13, 14 & 15th centuries school of painting, its horse races, the Palio, and its tasty food. I am facing two stumbling blocks.   First, my feeling of mediocrity after reading One Month in Siena by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hisham Matar.   In 2018, he explored the city and sought distraction and solace in the company of the Sienese painters (from the above-mentioned period).   Matar was captivated by the knowledge of the human body that the painters tried to convey through their art.   I bought the book in November 2024, when browsing the shelves of Barnes & Noble bookshop, in Manhattan.   To better apprec...
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November in Manhattan

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  Exit Covid, enter Trump! One disaster replacing another. Mid-November, this was the opinion of many of my New York City friends.   I spent a week in Manhattan, my usual Fall visit.   Covid has not totally gone, but a reminder of the pandemic was being taken away: most of Manhattan Covid dining sheds were being removed.   During the pandemic, with the city blessing, these street sheds blossomed.   They were a lifeline for restaurants.   Officially called Open Restaurants, these airy street-side shacks provided un semblant of protection against the aggressive virus.   During my routine Fall and Spring visits, I patronized them, lunch or dinner al fresco, or semi-fresco for most of them.   Many sheds were eyesores; however, some were very cozy, welcoming, often even nicer than the indoor restaurant. They were popular with patrons and restaurateurs; on the other hand, many city drivers opposed them as legal land grab.   Now, the city wants...
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Campi Flegrei, the playground of the rich and famous in Nero’s time

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However, the party did not last long, because these beautiful people had unintentionally built their posh spa resorts and dream villas on an active super-volcano.   The upheaval of the Phlegraean Fields may be regarded as a harbinger of the down-fall of the Roman Empire.   I was only vaguely aware of the archeology and volcanism of the Phlegraean Fields until I paid a visit.   In May 2024, the international press had reported that hundreds of mild earthquakes had frightened the population of Naples.   At present, one million people live on an active volcano that they do not see!                                            Geological map of the Campi Flegrei Caldera  Located west of Naples, the Phlegraean Fields form a volcanic arc which encompasses the sinister Mount Vesuvius, and the idyllic island of Ischia.   The 39,000-year-old caldera of the s...
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The Scissors Queen

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  Without horses, English and a pair of scissors, Coco Chanel (1883-1971) would never have been the successful entrepreneur and the fashion icon she is hailed today.   In her early life in Auvergne, she dated a rich cavalry officer and learned to ride and love horses.   As a matter of fact, the French “mettre le pied à l’ é trier (put one’s foot on the stirrup) means winning one’s spurs and getting started in life.   She was also a committed Anglophile, she opened her business horizon by learning to speak and write English, an uncommon feat for a female orphan from central France.   Last but not least, Coco had always a pair of scissors hanging from her neck.   She neither sketched nor designed her clothes (she could not draw), instead, a model was made based on her recommendations.   Since it seldom pleased her, she took her scissors to remodel it to her taste in an act of destructive fitting.   She also enjoyed to cut down to size her rivals ...
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