So now we are in Asunción, in Paraguay - although when I sent the previous blog, last night, it told me we are in Encarnación, which we're not! Our journey was long, and the border crossing tedious but uneventful. To leave Brasil, we crawled in traffic for about an hour, then parked the truck in a holding area. While Martin went to one place to get his papers stamped for the truck, we went to another, and got our passports stamped really quickly. We then waited for Martin, drove a short distance, and did the same thing all over again to get into Paraguay, where we put the clocks back by an hour.
While we were waiting for Martin to come back, a guy came to the steps of the bus shouting 'cambio, cambio' and offering to change Argentinian pesos, Brazilian Reales, or American Dollars into Paraguayan Guaraní. Marsha assured us that changing money with these people is normal practice, and that you get the same exchange rate as in the bank, so after a lot of exaggerated holding bank notes up to the light by both parties, everyone got their money changed. The border city of Ciudad del Este has a reputation for being very dangerous, so we didn't intend to stop, but it just seems to be a place where people come to take advantage of Paraguay being a duty-free country. Everywhere we looked there were people carrying microwaves and flat screen televisions on their heads. 
Once we got out into the countryside, it was much more tranquil. The houses were painted in typically bright 'tropical' colours, especially turquoise or orange, and there were cows, goats and horses tethered up and grazing by the roadside and in people's gardens. We saw various roadside market stalls, where in each market all the stalls were selling the same thing, like hammocks, or wooden furniture, so I don't know how they make any money.
We stopped for lunch by a bit of grass at the back of a petrol station, which seemed to have its own cow. I thought it was tethered, but when I saw it later it was standing in the middle of the forecourt trying to eat something out of a bin. Once we arrived in Asunción, it was unbelievable how much traffic there suddenly was everywhere! Even the main roads are quite narrow, and crowded with vehicles, including colourful buses like the one in the photo, making it very difficult to negotiate with  a massive yellow truck! At most crossroads you couldn't tell who had right of way, as the roads are the same width and there are no road markings. As a rule, the biggest vehicle just goes, and the others screech to a halt, but we did have a couple of near misses! What made it even more hazardous, is that there are enormous bundles of electrical power lines strung across the roads, which were dangling down everywhere in our path! Eventually we arrived at our hotel, which was once a fine colonial building and retains a few original features. We have a room with very high ceilings and tall French doors leading onto a small balcony overlooking the street. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the doors had been left open, so quite a few mosquitoes seemed to have come into our room, no doubt to escape from the heat and noise outside! 
We went out for a look around, and it is obvious that the city must have been beautiful at one time, but fell into decline, and 30 years of a brutal dictatorship, which only ended a few years ago, hasn't left any money with which to restore the dilapidated colonial buildings and modernise the hideous concrete tower blocks which overshadow them. We met up with the rest of the group again for dinner and sat outside on the pavement, under one of those 3-sided marquees with plastic windows, which felt a bit like a greenhouse! Some of the group ordered a 'beer tower', which I had never seen before, but its a tall plastic cylinder filled with ice, surrounded by a larger plastic cylinder filled with 3 litres of beer. A small tap at the bottom allows you to refill your glass when you want, and obviously your beer stays nice and cold - ingenious!
Today we woke up early, due to the time change, and had slept well despite the noise of the traffic. We declined the option of a city tour. Having seen more than enough of it from the truck yesterday, we didn't fancy crawling through the traffic to see it again today. We did have a wander round the handicraft market, and I had to resist the urge to buy the wonderfully colourful handwoven stripey bags, hammocks and leather covered maté tea cups and flasks - mainly because I can't get to grips with any currency where the prices are quoted in 'hundreds of thousands' ! 
Tomorrow we cross the border again, this time back into Argentina, so there will be another change of currency and time. I'm off to sit on the roof terrace for a while now to warm up in the sun. Tony has the air-con set to artic conditions, and there is football on the tv which must be going well, as the commentator keeps shouting 'Gooooooooooooool' - Goodnight.