NEVER BEEN TO... PARAGUAY

PARAGUAYANS ARE A HAPPY LOT.

According to Gallup’s Positive Experience Index, people from this landlocked South American nation are privy to a host of feel-good emotions.

So what do they have that the rest of us don’t? After all, society here is gravely unequal and corruption is rife.

Many cite the Paraguayans’ incredibly laid-back attitude as the key to their happiness. Others believe it’s all down to an ability to live for the moment rather than worrying about the future.

Head out of the main city, Asuncion (one of the cheapest capitals on the planet), and there’s much to raise a smile. In surface area, Paraguay is just larger than Japan. Bisected by the Rio Paraguay, it’s split into the forested eastern region, Paranena, and the emptier marshy plains of the Chaco in the west. A typical tour of the country might take in the waterfalls of Iguazu or Saltos del Monday, the wetlands of Pantanal and the Jesuit ruins of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana. Whatever, you’ll leave happier than you came.