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I rode here where I now write, Posadas, yesterday in the rain. The bike now has a crust of red mud as I'd to ride much of the way off the road in the muddy side, though as expected the final dozen kilometres gladly had a shoulder.

The hostel that I had stayed at in San Ignacio also had a branch here too so I planned to seek accommodation at it, but found out the hard way, after getting a city-plan and directions from the info centre, what a long way it is from the city-centre. Not ideal if you need to get business done. But also, when I finally roll-up outside reception I find it's not a hostel at all, more a "Tourist Complex" very large and spread out, it was ever such a long walk from reception to the cabin where I would be staying. Furthermore it's just a room, the bathroom is in a separate building so this morning when I needed to go to the toilet I had to get dressed first. A little like olden times where all loos were outside. And there is no kitchen. The nearest supermercado is no where near as there's nothing but housing in the neighbourhood. So last night I'd to eat in the complex's restaurant and eating out in Argentina is now very dear for what you get, usually the cheap things on the menus as steak is now too expensive and I drink beer as wine will set you back more than I'm willing to pay. It is a sad irony that the country famous for having the best farmland in the world now imports food, even beef is imported according to who you speak to, consequently food prices have gone up. In Brazil recently I's paying the equivalent of 6USD for a great big very nutritious meal containing lots of veg. Here the same money will only buy a hamburger or similar low quality meal which doesn't fill you up. Other travellers usually regard Brazil as being the most expensive country in the region. I found it cheap in comparison to Argentina and if it had not been for the humidity I would've worked round not being able to use my card in the majority of ATMs there and continued North through Brazil. "I most make it back to Brazil in the cooler months"

One of the the things that attracted me to the hostel is that it's advertised as having a riverside location and last-night I could look across at the Paraguay side at the city lights of Encarnacion. The chef in the restaurant only had me to cook for and came out to talk to me. He had been to Ireland. It was one of the places which, he said, he had a pin stuck in on the map that he wanted to visit. He found it very cold but the people warm. I asked him was there anything of interest to see in Posadas. To a reply, nothing. At lease he didn't try to over sell the place with you most see things, like the tourist brochures do. I ask, Encarnacion across the river in Paraguay, what size of a city is it? "Casi el mismo de Posadas" Roughly the same size as Posadas he replied. Anything interesting to see there. "No, it's just a place to buy cheap electronics".

This morning after finding out that breakfast wasn't include in the price and having a watery cup of coffee with hard crunchy toast for the equivalin of 2.40 Euro, I set off cycling to another hostel that the info centre informed me of. It was a long laborious 10km ride on city streets stopping at every traffic light where already at 8.30 it was uncomfortable warm to stand still out off the shade. A thing I should've done though before setting out was tighten up the brakes as with all the hills this last days and the rain yesterday I'd almost no braking power.

The new hostel has a kitchen thankfully but no wifi and it's 5km back into the city-centre where I now sit in a cafe writing this page. As always, it's good to be within walking distance of the centre as having to cycle back and forth in traffic fumes isn't ideal.

Sorry if this page has been a moan on high prices of food but riding on, no, along side Route 12 since the shoulder finished has been a real miserable time of it and it's easy to scapegoat things. One good thing about the hostel I moved to this morning is that it's on the road out of the city, the way I plan ahead, which is Route 12 too but probably it'll be different, have a shoulder, perhaps. The next big city enroute is Corientes capital of neighbouring namesake province. It is 300km but there is a turnoff on a provincial road South to a city called Mercedes but because my map covers the whole country it's greatly lacking in detail so I'm not sure whether it's paved for example or what villages for services there are along the way. I will perhaps have to wait and see if I cannot find a better map here in Posadas. It is a case of watch this space.