No, I don't want any fucking socks!

Ciudad del Este was exactly as expected: absolutely mental. A city where literally everything and everyone seems shady, and nothing conforms to any of the outside world's logic. Allow me to elaborate.

After leaving the safety of the hostel for some tasty Argentinian culinary treats, the reputed humdrum and cheap prices of Ciudad del Este beckoned. Our first experience of its madness occurred literally as we entered Paraguay, when the bus did not stop to let us enter the country legally. Instead, he just drove straight on through with a naughty schoolboy grin. After some major general flapping and jumping off the bus, we had to run back to the border control to get our entry stamp. In retrospect it wasn't really a big deal in a poor country like Paraguay, but in most countries the immigration bods don't usually see the funny side of you casually wandering back to the border for an entry stamp.

With that particular drama out of the way, the next mission was to actually get around without being robbed or constantly harassed by grubby locals with menacing eyes. From the offset it was clear that there was only one thing on their minds: socks! To begin it was actually quite amusing, wandering around in flipflops being followed around by a lady jabbering in spanish that her 'genuine' nike socks are this year's must have item. However after the 40th person unable to understand why you don't want their socks, it began to grate a little. In hindsight wrongly so, because these people are just trying to sell what they can to feed their families in a country in shock from many years of economic freefall, but you just can't stop yourself saying "leave me alone, I don't want any fucking socks" to the 41st local.

There were, however, some local wares that I did have my eye out for... A guitar. If you're one of those who's crossed paths with me over the last few weeks then you'll likely have seen me hanging around whichever wayward traveller has had a guitar. Although providing some musical comfort, I've decided that a guitar is something that I can't really do without on my travels. However, despite there being ample cut-price instruments to choose from there, I decided to wait a week until I reach Buenos Aires. This is no light decision.

I did however purchase myself a 'genuine' puma watch for £1.50 which has a light and everything! Everyone is loving the astounding time telling ability of the poo-mah in the hostel. Although to be honest I'm just happy I got back to the hostel. The returning bus which is meant to be every 20 minutes took 3 hours to arrive and also happened to be the last one back to Argentina. After 10 minutes of relentlessly begging the bus driver in broken spanish to wait while I got my exit stamp from Paraguay he caved in and stood good to his word. Cituidad del Este is really not the kind of place to be stranded in the dark on your own.

It was a relief to get back to the hostel and doubly so when I saw all you can eat steak on the menu. Three days on the trot! Get in!

Today the weather is rubbish so i'm chilling, working on my spanish and just watching the world go by. Tomorrow I think i'll leave for Uruguay as 5 days in Iguassu is probably enough.