So, we escaped the mayhem of Bolivia.

Our bus journey up to La Paz, although annoying and long, was incident-free and we hopped on a plane to Ascunsion on Friday. And we have just received an email from one of the girls on the Uyuni tour to tell us we chose the right day to fly as a wave of nationwide strikes started on Monday - doesn´t sound like fun.

We had just a couple of days in Ascuncion - enjoying the warmth and the feeling that we are back to civilisation. The currency here is called the Guarani and appears to have spiralled out of all control as there are approx 5000 of them to the pound. So, children that we are, the first thing we did was take a million of them out of a cash point, just because we could - and it felt good!

Other than that we have been resting up - Madeleine has been hit by some tummy bug - and mooching. The city is odd - massive and sprawling it feels very European whilst maintaining a certain edge that means we didn´t want to stray too far at night. On Saturday we were sitting in the park minding our own business when a lady came up and spoke to us in English - odd, as we have not seen another tourist or heard English since we got to Paraguay. Turns out she was a Jehovah´s Witness trying to give us a Watchtower magazine - even in Paraguay you are not safe apparently, although Joe was pretty chuffed when she gave us the 'youth' magazine instead! Later that evening we were walking back through the park only to be approached by a horse, apparently just grazing there in the city centre. Odd.

Paraguay is supposedly the second poorest country in South America (after Bolivia) but you would not know it to look around - nothing is cheap, the restaurants are full and everyone is driving a Mercedes Benz. Either they are all in crippling debt to pay for this lifestyle or the 64% of the population not below the poverty line are absolutely minted.

Off to Foz do Iguazu, in Brazil, today to see the falls and then head onto Rio.