Brazil: Foz do Iguacu

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15-02 to 17-02: Foz do Iguacu

Based on recommendation we visited the Dam: Itaipu - created in 1974 and finsihed in 2004. On the border of Brazil and Paraguay, this colossal beast of contemporary engineering ranked among the seven wonders of the modern world. It is One river, Two nations and One dream. Generating clean renewable energy and promoting self-sustainable development, but also conserving the environment, researching new technologies and improving peolple's lives. Today, Itaipu's installed capacity is 14 thousand Megawatts. It is 20 turbine units turning out 700 MW each - half for Paraguay half for Brazil. Paraguay does sell 50%!b(MISSING)ack to Brazil. Only one of them supply electricity to a 2.5 million household city.

Around Itaipu, Universities for social responsibility, renewable energy and eco-system, corporate governance, environmental issues are still being built. An eco-museum is also interesting to visit if like us you do only the panoramic tour of the Dam (fatigue prevented us from doing the full 'technical' tour - we thought the sound of our snoring may be considered a little rude...)



The Waterfalls: One simple word: Incredible!! You have to witness to believe the power of the waterfalls. On the Brazilian side, you will spend 2 hours (ish). It is far more impressive at this time a year as the amount of water is quite significant due to a lot of rain. The brown color is due to the deforestation and the soil that is sliding towards the river. Itaipu is trying to change this situation but it will take years before the water recover his initial colors...

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