Our plans to visit Paraguay went out the window when we had to wait in Foz Do Igasu so that Leanne could have dental work done. Although we never really made it into the heart of Paraguay we did technically go twice.
Itaipu Dam
We decided to break up the visit to the falls with a trip to Itaipu dam. After visiting Hoover dam in America I wasn’t expecting to be too impressed, but I was wrong. Only surpassed in size by the Three Gorges Dam in China, Itaipu makes the hoover dam looks like a miniature model compared to this concreate beast.
Spanning the border of Brazil and Paraguay the dam was named one of the seven wonders of the modern world by the American Society of civil engineers and it’s not hard to see why.
The tour takes you around the dam on a bus and the guide explains some facts and figures about the construction.
- To obtain the same amount of energy generated per day you would have to burn 536,000 barrels of petroleum per day.
- The pace of work during construction was equivalent to building one 20 story building every 55 minutes and it took 18 years to build.
- The amount of earth excavated is equivalent to that of 8.5 Eurotunnels.
- The maximum height of the dam is that of a 65 storey building.
- The spillway supports a flow 40 times greater than that of Iguazu falls.
- The iron and steel used in construction would build 380 Eifel towers.
- The dam generate 85% of Paraguay’s national energy consumption and 15% of Brazils.
What surprisied us most is that we had never even heard of this place.
Ciudad Del Este
Across the river from Foz do Igasu is the city of Cuidad del Este, Paraguay’s second largest city. Its primary purpose is to sell cheap goods to the tourists that visit the Brazilian side. We had no trouble getting across the border, freely crossing without even being asked for our passport. The only issue was torrential rain and the fact that it was Sunday and 99% of the shops were shut.
So we did what Brits do best when the situation gets bad and it rains, go for a drink.
Drinking Stella Artois in a shopping centre felt as Paraguayan as a red double decker bus.
