Another Dam Picture!
Our last day at Iguazu was a short half day! After checking out of the Pousada, Ricardo took us to the Itaipu Dam on the Parana River. The Dam is amazing - a joint venture of Paraguay and Brazil. The American Society of Civil Engineers has listed it as one of the Seven Wonder of the Modern World (along with the Panama Canal, Empire State Building, Chunnel, etc.). It is second in the world in generating capacity – only the new Three River Gorges dam in China produces more. 90% of Paraguay’s energy comes from the dam and almost 20% of the electricity for Brazil. This seems amazing considering that Brazil has a population of around 190,000,000. The dam spans the Parana River just outside Foz de Iguazu. Touring the dam is well organized with a visitor’s center where there are exhibits and a short film on the construction and history of the project. Group buses then leave the visitor center for a close up view of the dam and lake.
After our tour, we headed to a place to change travelers checks to pay our bill and then on to the airport in Argentina. Our return flight on LAN was just as good as the first and we were back to Buenos Aires 15 minutes early! GO LAN!!!
Back to our apartment and Eva Peron!
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That is amazing how much electricity is produced! I have enjoyed touring the Hoover dam and it must pale in comparison. Did you take some dam photos and pick up some dam souveniers? ..... Maybe it loses the humor in the translation. Watch out for low flying birds and the thieves that swoop in too!!
ReplyDeleteWere there any dam pickpockets?
ReplyDeleteWe, too, had an experience with "presents" from birds in Buenos Aires. It happened on the Ave. del Libertador across from the Design Center......Fortunately for us (or not) it was the real thing, or at least we think so. Now we're beginning to wonder. We walked away with our pockets and purses intact but our pride a little shattered and in need of a good cleaning up. - Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience!
ReplyDeleteJujuju2 from Cruise Critic here. I am enjoying reading your blog and wishing we were there. Still two weeks for us to depart for Santiago.
ReplyDelete