Ben Dangl on Ciudad del Este, Paraguay: “most of the cars had tinted windows, the private security in front of shops had loaded guns, and the streets were as full of conspiracies and rumors as pirated DVDs and sunglasses. Real guns and fake musical condoms were also for sale in the city’s humid, market streets. Though Paraguay lacks access to the sea, it contains various oceans inside its borders – oceans of soy crops. The pesticides used in this booming industry give local campesinos headaches, cancer and birth defects.”