eduardo: with madame lynch. anthony: madame lynch was fond of, uh, things like french, uh, couture. eduardo: yes, yes, and that changed the way of dress in asuncion. anthony: madame lynch might ve been good for business. i m trying to put this at a light i could be enthusiastic about. like, how clearly forward thinking my relatives were. his customers, as a hat maker, the very people who treated madame lynch with such utter contempt. did they live in the colonial homes, the old mansions that we see still in asuncion, that type of residence? eduardo: yes. anthony: times were changing in south america, too, in those days and society ladies craved the latest in haute courant french fashion. there was money to be made, there w- eh, bump. peter: short after this episode with the new bordeaux group came the triple alliance war. anthony: jean bourdain died in 1858.
me, beer, shotgun, hot, sunny day, and producer. that s not a good mix. unlike madame lynch s guests, i m making sure i m eating on this boat trip. ah, the most important part of any meal cold, frosty beverages. peter: you already have one. anthony: i started early. peter: cheers. anthony: cheers. oh, here we go. thank you. grilled fish in a mango salsa. peter: you have the two most appreciated fish here on the table of paraguay. anthony: yep. peter: that s the catfish, surubí. anthony: and that?
and he sent his son, francisco solano lópez, to europe. anthony: in his mission, his father had sent him out to get what? arms? historian: arms and technicians, british engineers, and machinery. anthony: junior, by most contemporary accounts, was an idiot. so, he came back with a mistress. madame lynch. historian: yes. anthony: which dad wasn t too happy about. historian: right. historian: he was very traditional and wanted his son to many a paraguayan woman. anthony: mhmm. historian: to do everything by the book. anthony: right. paraguay s soon-to-be first mistress madame eliza lynch was the already-married daughter of an irish doctor. ambitious, social climbing, fond of nice things. guido: blouse imported from france. they say she brought to paraguay the first piano. and there were parties here. peter: he showed madame lynch to his father, and his father
was upset. so she was put aside, and, uh anthony: kept as a mistress. peter: and that was the way paraguayan society tried to treat her, and she wanted to be treated as the anthony: princess. peter: yes. anthony: tell me about madame lynch s famous boat trip. on one of her more notorious ventures as hostess, madame lynch organized a grand outing to the new french colony at nouveau bordeaux. she invited all of society to join her. historian: right. anthony: a magnificent river steamer was engaged for the party. guido: and, well, there were some tensions between the paraguayan ladies and madame lynch.
so, this was the house of, or, one of the houses of the notorious madame lynch. guido: right. exactly. anthony: journalist, poet, and author guido rodriguez alcala has written books on paraguay s history. now, who exactly was madame lynch? a murky background would you say? guido: there s a lot of talk about that. anthony: right. guido: somebody say she was a great woman or that she was a very evil one. anthony: she came over on the famous trip from france. guido: right. anthony: succeeding de francia in 1840s lopez senior reversed many of paraguay s isolationist policies. he invited foreigners to settle here and built one of south america s first railways. its steam engines taken out of service only a few years ago.