The first of four twenty-hour-plus bus journeys within a fortnight was within Argentina – from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu and the Iguazu Falls there. It rained the Thursday evening we arrived and the skies remained overcast but the additional water only added to the experience: the Devil´s Throat inspired awe. Additionally, we saw
a greater variety of wildlife than we have since Australia. Like the Perito Moreno glacier at the other end of this enormous country, photos don´t really do the place justice.En route to Puerto Iguazu I had realised that its location afforded us the perfect opportunity of a side trip into Brazil before resuming our journey to a mid-June rendezvous with Julie in Peru. So it was that the day after visiting the falls, we embarked on an overnight coach for Rio. Accommodation costs were a nasty shock, so it was a pleasant relief that we were offered a sofa-bed for our (consequently lengthened) stay by Andrea and Eduardo. They also lent us bicycles
and we rode to all the Rio sights – though didn´t go up Sugar Loaf as it was being recabled – as well as a few less touristy ones.
Eduardo proved a knowledgeable font of information about the minutiae of our experiences and drove us to
a Samba Circle on our first night and a football match on our third. My Brazilian stay was further enhanced by the trying of several cachaças (30 Luas, Seleta, Pitú and Sao Paolo) and a vegetarian version of muqueca (usually made with caçao – young shark – but completed with mandioca instead) by chef Edu. Finally, I added 11 beers (Skol, Brahma, Bohemia and Bohemia Escura, Bavaria and Bavaria non-alcohol, Itaipava, Backer Trigo, Devassa, Antarctica and my favourite Xingu) to the list of those tried.
On Sunday 17th Edu got us to Rodoviaria Novo Rio just in time for the bus back to Foz do Iguaçu (the Brazilian side of the falls), from where we crossed into Cuidad del Este, before getting straight onto another bus for the six hour trip to the capital. The Paraguayan money we swapped our Brazilian Reals for reflected the fact that this is the second poorest country in South America: many notes were held together by sticky tape.
Asuncion is like other urban places we have been to on the continent, wires and flags abound in the streets, and there are a number of attractive colonial buildings. Another similarity
was that the country went through a military dictatorship which tortured and murdered many of its own citizens. One pleasant difference was that there was a Plaza for the Disappeared, very close to the Palacio de Gobierno. In Brazil, Edu told us, there is never any mention of the victims of the military dictatorship and history is even being rewritten by some to suggest that the time was not so bad. Paraguay is ahead of its neighbour on that one.
O
n the third day in Asuncion, we came across a demonstration in front of the parliament. Workers, surrounded by hundreds of policemen, were protesting the planned appropriation of their 
retirement fund by the government. It afforded a good opportunity to practise our listening skills and take a few photos which were slightly different to the majority I have taken so far. Later, we came across a policeman browsing pirate DVDs, an image I would love to have captured.
We went to Aregua on the same day, just to see something beyond the capital, and that trip helped confirm that we were now in the part of the continent where we would encounter more indigenous peoples.
The fact is that in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, the native population is largely invisible and that it is only now that we begin to see the colours and textures of the pre-Columbian population. Our dusty journey from Asuncion to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at the end of the week has only reinforced this perception.
and we rode to all the Rio sights – though didn´t go up Sugar Loaf as it was being recabled – as well as a few less touristy ones.Eduardo proved a knowledgeable font of information about the minutiae of our experiences and drove us to
a Samba Circle on our first night and a football match on our third. My Brazilian stay was further enhanced by the trying of several cachaças (30 Luas, Seleta, Pitú and Sao Paolo) and a vegetarian version of muqueca (usually made with caçao – young shark – but completed with mandioca instead) by chef Edu. Finally, I added 11 beers (Skol, Brahma, Bohemia and Bohemia Escura, Bavaria and Bavaria non-alcohol, Itaipava, Backer Trigo, Devassa, Antarctica and my favourite Xingu) to the list of those tried.On Sunday 17th Edu got us to Rodoviaria Novo Rio just in time for the bus back to Foz do Iguaçu (the Brazilian side of the falls), from where we crossed into Cuidad del Este, before getting straight onto another bus for the six hour trip to the capital. The Paraguayan money we swapped our Brazilian Reals for reflected the fact that this is the second poorest country in South America: many notes were held together by sticky tape.
Asuncion is like other urban places we have been to on the continent, wires and flags abound in the streets, and there are a number of attractive colonial buildings. Another similarity
was that the country went through a military dictatorship which tortured and murdered many of its own citizens. One pleasant difference was that there was a Plaza for the Disappeared, very close to the Palacio de Gobierno. In Brazil, Edu told us, there is never any mention of the victims of the military dictatorship and history is even being rewritten by some to suggest that the time was not so bad. Paraguay is ahead of its neighbour on that one.O
n the third day in Asuncion, we came across a demonstration in front of the parliament. Workers, surrounded by hundreds of policemen, were protesting the planned appropriation of their 
retirement fund by the government. It afforded a good opportunity to practise our listening skills and take a few photos which were slightly different to the majority I have taken so far. Later, we came across a policeman browsing pirate DVDs, an image I would love to have captured.We went to Aregua on the same day, just to see something beyond the capital, and that trip helped confirm that we were now in the part of the continent where we would encounter more indigenous peoples.
The fact is that in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, the native population is largely invisible and that it is only now that we begin to see the colours and textures of the pre-Columbian population. Our dusty journey from Asuncion to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at the end of the week has only reinforced this perception.
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