Hello from the slightly backward country that is Paraguay! Firstly though, I should update you all on the day we spent at the Argentinian side of the Iguaçu falls. It was a brilliant day spent walking various trails through the forst and over rocks to the different waterfalls. The only slight disappointment was that we arrived in the middle of a massive storm, made all the more annoying since the day before had been totally cloudless 40 degree heat! So there we were, all dressed in shorts and sleevless tops ready for the baking sun, when we actually needed our ponchos! Not deterred though, we couldn't be doing with all the tarts waiting to buy a plastic mac and so braved the sleeting rain in what we had! The weather did mean that the view of the Devil's Throat, the most spectacular bit, wasn't very good since all you could see was spray from the storm. What it has meant though is that it gives me reason to come back again later in life and do it properly! Thankfully, the weather did improve as the day went on, and that made for a great afternoon. Despite being absolutely drenched to the bone, we soon dried off completely - just in time for our boat ride, where we promptly got soaked again by being taken right under some of the smaller falls! All well worth it though, and we then had a short ride in the back of a jeep back through the jungle. Our last night at the hostel was good cos we bumped into some people we met in Rio, so it was nice catching up. Friday was a day that had definate potential to go wrong, but in the end was really enjoyable. We have heard countless horror stories from people where crossing the boarder into Paraguay has gone totally wrong - so we made the conscious decision to walk along the boarder bridge rather than risk the bus not waiting for us and driving off with all our bags! In the end it all went as smoothly as possible, and it was some experience walking through Cuidad del Este, supposedly one of the most corrupt places on earth - full of people carrying TV's, DVD's and such like over into Brazil. I have never seen anything like it! The coach ride over gave us an insight into what we can expect whilst we are here, and provided us with what I would say is our first exposure to 'real'south America. Everytime the bus stopped people would come up the the windows tring to sell you things, some would even come on the bus for a bit and try to sell you everything ranging from bread rolls to porn mags! We reached Asuncion with no problems though, and are staying with Ed, one of Karls friends from uni who actually lives here and is the best celloist in all of Paraguay (so he tells us anyway!), so he's gonna be giving us the rundown over the next couple of days. And it seems like we will need him - Asuncio is so unlike a capital city it's staggering. Anyway, till next time, adios! Jonny