8 reasons we should all pay more attention to this crazy place

This is one bizarre place.

Eastern Paraguay's Ciudad del Este, meaning "City of the East," is the de-facto capital of the Tri-Border Area, where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet.

Mohamed Dahir | AFP | Getty Images

But South Americans know it more as a sort of Wild West — a place where the rule of law matters little and where drugs, arms and counterfeit goods arrive by the ton.
Home to about 300,000 people, it's also served as a refuge for anyone from drug traffickers to bootleggers and, as GlobalPost recently discovered, an alleged predator priest.
Read More Retirees eye lower cost of living in Latin America

This place needs to be on everyone's radar. Here are eight reasons why.

It's home to a massive piracy industry...

The piracy trade's been bustling in Paraguay for decades. Last year, Paraguay was named one of 13 "notorious markets" worldwide engaged in counterfeiting and copyright piracy in a report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the agency that advises the president on trade policy.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance also highlighted Paraguay as a global scoundrel in the piracy trade. Software piracy alone in the country was estimated to be worth $73 million in 2012, according to the organization.

<p>How to invest in Latin America</p> <p>Juan Sartori, founder and president at Union Group, discusses investing in Latin America, and says early stage investments in smaller economies such as Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay are quite attractive. </p>

Professor James Cooper of California Western School of Law in San Diego, who has extensively researched intellectual property violations in Paraguay, estimated the full value of Ciudad del Este's piracy trade as far higher.
"Illicit unregulated financial activities make up an alarming part of Paraguay's economy," Cooper wrote in an email. "The country and its people deserve better."