Our luck with the weather in Puerto Iguazu beggared belief as our two glorious days at the falls were sandwiched between tropical downpours that meant a brief outing to the shops ended in saturation of all garments. This had the benefit of providing the necessary excuse to do nothing and recover from the previous night´s excesses.
On reflection, our expectations of standards of accommodation must have deteriorated rapidly since the beginning of our travels. Despite thankfully not being the residence of a swarm of cockroaches, the place we stayed in in Puerto Iguazu (just acceptable) had the following ´going´for it:
1. Staff who inexplicably entered your room when you were out and left the door/your locker open 2. A laundry woman who tried to charge double what she quoted and then stole some of your clothes 3. A table tennis competition where the individual entry fee was greater than the value of the prize 4. Fitting guests (literally fitting) 5. Guests whose sexual identity was impossible to distinguish 6. One guest who carried around a moulding pink yoga mat at all times like a security blanket 7. A savage dog that bit anything that touched it 8. Toilets which were well below the required standard to dispose of excrement
All in all, a complete hole, but what can you expect for a fiver for a room that sleeps four?
One of the best things about travelling has been the freedom to do stupid things. Hence, a few buses and a couple of taxis after making the decision, we arrived in Paraguay´s ´renowned´ capital, Asuncion. We don´t know why we´re here or what we´re going to do now we´ve arrived but we were a mere eight hours travel away so it seemed a bit rude not to at least say hello. The journey included a nightmare border crossing from Brazil (you have to go from Argentina to Brazil and then into Paraguay) into Paraguay where our bus drove straight through Paraguayan immigration and customs. Having heard stories of travellers being fined excessively when leaving the country for not having their passports entry-stamped, we were keen to follow the correct procedure. We politely asked our driver to stop while we walked back to the border to complete the necessary red tape but as soon as we had alighted he drove away and we were left to fend off numerous locals whose first language is a local Indian dialect which bears no resemblance to Spanish. If a few dollars worse off we eventually made it to Asuncion. Who knows what it holds in store?
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