Paraguay is a Catholic country. The Constitution demands that the President be Catholic, and that he be married. The previous President took that requirement a bit too far for the taste of most people. He was a Catholic bishop, and he had many common-law wives, with whom he had numerous children. The current President is not a priest but a wealthy businessman, though he is widely acknowledged to have made his fortune dealing drugs.

The strongest and best private University in town, and maybe in the nation, is the Catholic University. Here is a picture of Miss Catholic University for the branch in our town. She’s 19 and her long-term ambition is to become a dentist. I think her unusually revealing costume is an homage to Carnival, held here in February, a tradition we borrowed from the Brazilians next door. Our version of Carnival is so well thought of that it even attracts Brazilian tourists.