Big water times three

Ahoyhoy,

I think I left you as I left Campo Grande. My I was neverous for a long time waiting for something to go wrong with Sir Humphrey but we soon got used to each other again. We made it to the Brasilian-Paraguay border and decided to call it a day. The next morning it took my 15miles and over an hour to find the Federal Police building to get my passport stamped but what a landscape awaited me. Eastern Paraguay looks exactly what you imagine Arizona oe Death Valley in the USA would look like if it rained there.

I was flagged down at a police check point and the bastard claimed I had overtaken when I shouldn´t and that I owed him 100$ US. In all my time in South America this was my first bribery situation. I held firm and in then end gave him the equivalent of 2quid in Reals. Total and utter loathsome fellow (I think I said words to that effect loudly in my helmet as I rode off). Nevertheless I made it to Foz de Iguacu (I = big, guacu = water) and set up the tent alas the next morning the big water was in the wrong place.

So I decided to wait it out for a bit.

I wasn´t going to be deterred and soon set off in the rain for the waterfalls. You pay, get taken on a bus and then walk the rest of the way. You get the odd glimpsy through the trees and then the foilage melts away and you are hit with this and this and this............... (this is only a fraction of the photos I took - sorry if too many but I adore this place)

There were plenty of cleanup crew around to keep the place spick, span and cuddly looking although apparently  potentially rabid.

They were a little over enthuiastic on occasion.

What a place and after that it was off to the third big water sight after the rain and the falls - Itiapu Binacional hydroelectric dam but by the time I got there the rain had bested me. Please, no pointing out the obvious about appropriate clothing choices.

Itiapu (meaning singing rock) is the most powerful in the world and shared by Paraguay and Brasil. It is massive and very cool if you like massive engineering like I do. Don´t worry Dad, I have loads more photos about the stator dimensions etc. for you and me when I return. I would love to go into more details (I took more pics here than any other sight on the trip) but I will spare you the fantastic minutiae.

This is the dam with the spillway open (a rare occurance, usual only in early summer).

A model of a cross section of the powerhouse.

The main dam itself. It is HUGE!

Looking down from ontop. See what I mean about HUGE!

MASSIVE catherdrals of concrete butresses poured with ice at 3deg celcius so as not to crack.

I had nowhere else to put my hat. These white pipes funnel the held back water into the turbines. There are twenty turbines, ten for each country; 50Hz for Brasil and 60Hz for Paraguay (home of crooked police bastards!)

The control room. All run by just 5 guys. Two and a half from each country!

The gallery above the generators (just below each red circle).

Above the trubine and below the generator. 3 feet from hundred of tonnes of spinning steel. Soo cool.

What a day! Best sight seeing day of the trip. Thius would be a tough call vs Machu Pichu but both of these amazing watery sights in one day wins out for me. Happy Tigger.

Not so happy this morning when Emily repeatedly took me down to dead ends, mud roads so slippery it took 3 mins just to turn around and this, an example of what she calls a main road. Never travel without the backup of a proper map.

Neverthless we found a way and our patience was rewarded with a some great landscape. 

After 450miles I´ve called it a day and have stopped here, where ever that is - 200miles from Jean. I do hope he is expecting me!

TTFN,

Tigger (OK, I admit it. I´ve run out of Tiggerisms to sign off with)