We got to the bus station for 4.15 ready for our 5pm departure. On arrival we were ushered into a taxi by the chap we bought the tickets off and he explained we would go in a taxi through immigration ahead of the bus and then catch the bus at 5pm the other side. 2 minutes later and we were in standstill traffic watching the clock tick.

Brazilians and Paraguayans do not need to go through immigration, they can go straight through. However, this means there is chaos on the bridge trying to get through as nobody has any patience. In the next hour we sat in our roasting taxi, watching the clock ease past 5pm, and with it any hope of catching our bus whilst motorbikes, cyclists lorries and cars beeped their horns excessively and forced their way past. We got through the chaos at 6pm, and to our amazement our bus was still waiting for us the other side. After a very grateful introduction to the bus driver we climbed aboard and headed to the capital. It was an unevenful journey and we arrived around 11pm. We changed up some money and got a taxi to our hostel - which had a pool - a godsend given the 39 degree heat predicted for the next day.

In the morning we walked into town and saw all of the historical sights in about an hour. There is not a lot to do in Paraguay i can see why few tourists visit. The highlight of the morning was stopping at a stall to buy some Terese (Paraguayan cold mint tea). Everyone drinks it all day. In one hand you have a cup full of leaves with a metal straw, and in the other a flask containing 2 litres of water. All day you just add the water to the cup and sip away. It doesnt seem very practical and everyone is carrying 2 litres of water a cup with them regardless of what else they are trying to achieve, driving, working in a bank, walking down the street - it was everywhere. The people we bought some from were very happy and giggly, but certainly not fluent in English. After about a litre of Terese and a million smiles later i managed to explain i had had enough and we moved on. For lunch we tried the traditional Chipa Guasu - which was a bland, dry quiche effectively. Unfortunately, Paraguyan cuisine i think is at the same level as Brazilian.

In the afternoon we went to the market, which we were promised you could buy fruit, food, fake clothes and wild animals. We were disappointed not to find the animals but the market was insane. It was huge and sold everything and anything. After an hour of getting lost we had some barbecued meat (not quite sure what it was) and headed back to the hostel.

I made use of the pool and cooled off, and we chatted to our roomates who were a strange Belgium lad and gothic polish chap. It was made pretty clear that both of them were here for the women (whether they had had any luck, or whether they were paying to meet them or not was not so clear). That night we went out for drinks with them none the less and headed to the 2 busiest places in town. The first unfortunately was a restaurant that was fully booked, the second was TGI Fridays of all places. A couple of awful mojitos later we headed back to the hostel before our morning bus out of Ascuncion and back to Iguasu.

We ensured we had our exit stamps, and reentry stamp in Brazil. At the bus station we waited for our next bus to take us to Puerto Iguacu (on the Argentinian side) when an almight storm broke out. The lightning display was impressive, but passed after 30 minutes and off to Argentina we went - our third country of the trip, and that day!