The last night and day of our journey north to Paraguay was extremely hot. We'd watched the landscape and climate change dramatically over the last few days, culminating in us sweating our way up the last bit of highway.
On the map we'd spotted an alternative way of crossing into Paraguay - a ferry across the river rather than going through the city. This turned out to be a fabulous decision as it not only saved us thirty odd kilometres but also took no time at all to sort out all the usual paperwork.
After days of big rides it was nice to be crossing the border and heading straight for our hostel in Asunción. Immediately it was evident that Paraguay was not quite as wealthy as Argentina, but all we could really think about was how hot it was after being pretty chilly for the last three months.
We didn't see much of Asunción other than a quick potter around downtown; we used our time to give the bike a usual going-over and plan our onward journey.
The part of Paraguay we were traversing was only a few hundred kilometres wide, so after the capital we just had one night camping in country number fifteen. And luckily the day we were leaving Asunción the temperature plummeted, and didn't really rise again - it was clear, warm and sunny in the day and cool enough to sleep comfortably in the tent at night. A huge relief!
We camped at a sailing club which was expensive but divine, right on the edge of a lake with an amazing sunset.
Sadly we didn't sleep so well as our life-saving lilos both had holes in, so the next day we head into Ciudad del Este before crossing out of Paraguay.
From what we could gather it is a duty free area with dozens of shopping malls and it was absolute chaos. Before even trying to find parking we gave up and head back out of the city, when miraculously and hilariously we drove past a shop with inflatable pool toys hanging outside - a shop the sole purpose of which was selling items we thought we'd never find.
What's even better is that they had cheap camping mattresses - so we've now upgraded from floor to lilo to luxury camping mattress. I suppose if you're gonna do it, do it properly!
So with all our kit back in order it was time to head to Iguazú Falls - the only main reason that we'd come this far back up north. We originally planned to enter Brazil from Paraguay and see the Falls from there, but the hostel owner in Asunción told us that the Argentinan side was far more impressive. So we entered Argentina for the third time!
Again we found a ferry crossing as an alternative to crossing at the main border through the huge city, which again was a great success. Not only was it super speedy but we had ended up inadvertently at exactly where the three countries meet - sailing between them down the river to Argentina (that's Paraguay where Tom is, Brazil top left and Argentina top right!).
So we based ourselves at a lovely campsite in Puerto Iguazú - just 15km from the falls, which were absolutely spectacular. This was the last big touristy thing we were doing on the trip and were really hoping it would be amazing - we were certainly not disappointed. They seemed to go on forever, and the sheer power of the water has to be seen to be believed. We spent four hours wandering through the various tracks, viewing the falls from all kinds of angles - all of which were breathtaking.
While we were having a wonderful time, the bike was not. We'd recently taken the whole clutch apart and cleaned every element before reassembling, because it kept slipping. She'd run so well despite all we put her through over the last couple of months, but since we came back to the heat she had been running increasingly poorly.
Every time we stopped for the night it seemed Tom was fiddling with something or other to try and keep her going, none of which seemed to work for very long.
Nevertheless we made it across the border at Foz de Iguazu into Brazil, which technically meant we had made it - after all, the tagline for our trip reads 'Mexico to Brazil'! So we felt that if she did happen to pack it in then at least we had made it to the last country that we had set out to get to.
Like almost all South American borders this one was simple enough, and yet we found ourselves wound up and stressed - probably on account of the heat, the impending end of our incredible adventure and probably (most upsettingly) the impending breakdown of the vehicle we so relied upon.
We had an awful journey to the next city, flinching with every splutter and struggling to pull away whenever we had to slow down. We eventually got to our campsite, which we were told was not a campsite, just a community park, and we could not camp there. Why it was marked as a campsite on our map we don't know, but it was the absolute last thing we needed that day and to top it off we could not understand a word of what was said to us, and vice versa.
We had been told that Portuguese was very similar to Spanish, and while it does look similar when written, the pronunciation is completely different, and so all of what we learnt in the five months previous was pretty much rendered useless. Not only did it make us feel totally helpless but also very ignorant, to not be able to remotely communicate to the local people when visiting their country.
We spluttered back down the highway, giving up on camping and trying to find a hotel. We have learned now from past experience that after an awful day it is not worth being stingy with your accommodation for the sake of a few dollars, so we pulled into a nice looking motel.
Too nice - for in fact it was $54 per night - more than our new daily budget, but by now we were so exhausted and fed up that we just said sod it and went ahead. The receptionist must've taken pity on the sorry state of us as he upgraded us to the best pool-side room, which couldn't have been a better remedy to our awful day - amazing shower, huge bed, private parking, flat screen TV and lovely view. Yes we spent double our budget that day but if we have to live off Pot Noodles for the last week of the trip it will be worth it for that one night of luxury when we so desperately needed it.
For now we had to try and get a good sleep before sadly contemplating alternative options to get us to Montevideo, just in case. Prepare for the worst, expect the best!