Back in October of 2014, I posted a blog entitled "Fugitives" in Paraguay. In that blog I talked about how Paraguay was known to be a haven for all sorts of fugitives, from plain criminals to Arab terrorists, to former Nazis. The Oktoberfest used to be a major celebration for the German community at the numerous "German" Clubs scattered about the country. Most (at least some thirty years ago) still had a significant number of former Nazis present, banging their beer steins on wooden tables and singing the old Nazi war songs! It was as if they were in a time warp, aging (60 to 80 year old) former Nazis reminiscing about the old glory days! There were, of course, other Germans in Paraguay who had nothing to do with the Nazis, like the somewhat quirky German butcher where we used to buy our meat products. His meat shop was possibly the cleanest shop I have seen anywhere, it was absolutely spotless! He was not a Nazi by any means, but he was weird, insisted that the Paraguayan government (at the time it was under the iron rule of Alfredo Stroessner) controlled the weather in the country!
Paraguay was where the infamous Josef Mengele tried to hide out after his stint in Argentina. Mengele even managed to "buy" Paraguayan citizenship to solidify his safety in that country. However, the relentless pursuit of Israeli Mossad agents forced him to flee again, as he fled Argentina before. This time he fled into the hinterlands of Brazil where he ultimately died. All in all, there was no shortage of various characters with questionable and suspicious backgrounds, and former Nazis topped the list.
In Snap Shots, Chapter 14 is titled "Wildeburger of Pirayu." I wrote the story about an amusing incident that took place in Paraguay back in 1986 when I was assigned to our embassy in Asuncion.
Being an avid bird hunter, I immediately sought places for bird hunting in each country where I was assigned. I was able to find a ranch, through the good services of my secretary's husband, where I was given permission to hunt any time by its generous owner. So, for the two years that I was assigned to Paraguay, I used to hunt on that ranch practically every weekend from about April through September, the period that was roughly equivalent to our (northern hemisphere's) fall and winter! Essentially, each Saturday or Sunday morning, Jo and I would get into our VW bug, which was actually our daughter Natalie's car, and head out of Asuncion to a village that was called Pirayu. A mile or so past the village of Pirayu was where the ranch was located. Once we got to the ranch, we would park the VW and start hunting for perdiz with our wonderful Springer, Brandy. The South American perdiz (Spanish for partridge) is really not a partridge but is actually of ostritch family. But whatever the case, it is a wonderful game bird, both for sport and on the table! We would normally hunt for a couple of hours and return to Asuncion in time for lunch. It made for a wonderful outing, gave us plenty of exercise and gave Brandy all the time and room to run around and do what she loved so much, hunt birds!
Every time we went there, we were always amused by a large sign that we saw over a small store that was located just outside of Pirayu, between the village and the ranch where we hunted. The sign was huge and said "El Mercado Carlos Wildeburger," (The Carlos Wildeburger Market). It was certainly not a Hispanic name so we assumed that the owner of the market was of German background. We intended to check the place out, but didn't get around to it, until one day.
We always took a water dish for Brandy. Although the fields where we hunted had water, Jo always liked to give Brandy fresh water that we brought along. Just after we had passed Pirayu, Jo realized that we forgot to bring Brandy's water dish. So, when we approached the "El Mercado Carols Wildeburger," we decided to stop and see if we could get some sort of a dish for Brandy. We pulled up in front of the small store and Jo got out and went in to get a dish. She came out after a while with what appeared to be a small blue plastic washbasin type dish. She laughed as she got into the car and told me what happened.
When Jo entered the small store, she found the place empty. So, she just looked around until she found the blue plastic dish that she thought would do for Brandy, and went up to where there was a cash register. When she got to the cash register she said a very large, older man, came out from the rear area some place and smiled pleasantly at her. He was definitely not Hispanic, more like northern or central European! The man smiled at Jo and addressed her in heavily accented Spanish.
"Usted es de Alemania?" (Are you from Germany?)
Jo was a but puzzled by the question, but she just said "no."
The man seemed a bit disappointed, but pressed on. He asked if she was from France and Jo said no. His demeanor changed considerably and he seemed less friendly and he asked if she was English. To stop the questioning session, Jo said no, that she was not English but that she was an American.
She said that old Carlos (more than likely it was Karl) glared at her when she said she was American and practically threw the change at her and walked back to where he came out from!
We thought that the whole incident was hilarious, but also indicative of how Paraguay, at least at that time, still had so many former Nazis. Now Carlos or Karl, or whatever was his German name, may not have been a Nazi at all, but one thing for sure, he had no love for Americans!
We still have that blue plastic washbasin dish, although we no longer use it as a dog water dish, or for that matter for anything! We just keep it around because it reminds us of that day and of Carlos Wildeburger of Pirayu in Paraguay! My only regret is that I never took a picture of that huge sign. It would have been even better if I could have taken a picture of old Carlos himself, but that would have been very unlikely and would have no doubt caused some problems!
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