Simon.Speaks.Paraguay

Paraguay is home to a great variety of wildlife much of which appeals to everyone. However it is probably fair to say that it might not be a comfortable place for those with concerns about eight legged creatures. Almost everywhere one looks in Paraguay spiders are to be seen. These range from the very smallest right up to large tarantulas, and from the harmless to the deadly. There are web building orb spiders, spiders that string lines between trees like fishing lines, funnel spiders with their dense webs leading down into their lairs and many others that build no webs at all. Orb spiders build their large webs amongst the trees and vegetation and then settle down to await the arrival of their prey. As with all orb spiders these are intricate pieces of art which glisten in the morning dew and are replaced and rebuilt as often as necessary. The sticky stands of silk produced by those spiders who use it cast a line and move from place to place is also quickly rebuilt. The silk...

Like everywhere else Paraguay does have it's day when the rains fall for hours or hours or when a cold wind blows unceasingly chilling everything to the bone. However these days are in the minority for most of the year it is warmed with bright sunlight. On the whole the weather is quite settled. What it is doing this morning is what it will be doing this afternoon is what it will be doing tommorow and probably the day after that. The normal state of affairs is a clear blue sky from which the sun shines down without interuption. Seemingly endless cloudless days are far from uncommon. With this being a land full of open spaces and tree filled countryside there is away from Asunción very little in the way of pollution. Without the haze that puts up in the air the blues of the sky are deeper and bluer than those in many other parts of the world. With the Tropic of Capricorn passing through northern Paraguay the suns rays have more strength than those arriving at higher latitu...

These times of global lockdown are times for seeing and enjoying what is near to hand rather than what is far away out of sight. I am fortunate in having open space and fine views extending away in every direction from my house. The house itself is towards the top of a gently sloping hillside which in front runs down to the dirt track at the bottom of the valley, and behind up to a plateau that runs away behind the house. Looking out from the back of the house the first objects are tree immediatly behind the house beyond which grassland extend. These run off into the distance before about half a mile from the house meeting a steep rugged rocky outcrop, after which the land drops away into the next valley. This lush grass is fine cattle pasture and cows are often to be seen working their way across it. In addition to the grass the view is filled with dozens of palm trees which mostly form rows between areas which have from time to time been planted with crops. To one side of...

Juan de Salazar y Espinosa could never have suspected that the sheltered bay he was about to turn his ship into on 15th August 1537 would become the site of one of the oldest continuely occupied cites in South America and the future capital of a nation as yet unborn. Asunción bay is a large bay off the River Paraguay and has always formed the heart of the city of Asunción. Despite being 1000km from the open ocean it is little more than 40 metres above sea level. The river is still large enough at this point to accomodate ocean going vessels and so within the bay a port grew up giving Asunción it's vital link with the outside world. The large bay is heavily indented along it's north shore but to the south the shoreline is much smoother. It is here that the settlement that became the city of Asunción grew up. With the port being of such importance to the growing settlement it is not surprising that around it are to be found the oldest and most historic streets of Asunci...

Paraguay may appear at first glance to be a land of cattle, but look a little closer and you will see there is another far more abundant creature filling every nook and cranny of the land, ants. If there is one thing in which Paraguay can claim to lead the world it is in the production of varieties of ants. There is something about the Paraná basin in which Paraguay sits that causes it to have a greater collection of ant species than almost anywhere else in the world. Many of which are still undocumented. It is not however the case that Paraguay keeps all those ants to itself. Many of the worlds worst pest species including both the fire ant and the Argentine ant are native to the area. Ants in Paraguay come in a myriad of colours and sizes. Many are black but there are to golden, red and even multicoloured ants also. Their sizes are equally varied from no bigger than grains of dust up to the size of a small beetle. One thing many of these ants do have in common is their aggr...

In nature there are many things which have learnt to improve their chances of survival by pretending to be something they are not. This deception may take the form of camouflage. An insect disguised as a leaf or a caterpillar that looks like a bird dropping. This may be enough to keep predators at bay, but such a passive deception can only be effective as long as the creature remains motionless. A hungry bird will soon spot a leaf that appears to be walking across a tree. Others have taken to mimicing the appearence of larger or more dangerous creatures in order to keep would be predators at bay. Black and yellow stripes announce that the insect in question has no need for concealment for it is armed with a sting painful enough to see off any would be attacker. The significance of this colouring has not gone unnoticed by other insects that lack the armoury of bees and wasps. Hoverflies for example use the same colouration so that they may go about their daily lives unmolested...