Okay, I understand that Asuncion is not actually in Brazil, and that makes it a weird place to start my Brazillian album.  However, I flew into Asuncion, Paraguay to start my trip to Brazil since it was actually the closest city to the Pantanal in soutnern Brazil.

It also had the benefit of allowing me to visit one the the least visited countries in South America.  The week before I arrived in Asuncion, there was a popular uprising, a few people killed in country wide riots, martial law declared, and over 250 people jailed.  All seemed pretty normal when I arrived, in fact, all was very quiet.  I think quiet might be a good way to describe the entire country.