Falls of Igauzu

We arrived after three not luxurious buses to the Falls of Igauzu, Brazil. We had the pleasure of taking two local buses to our hostel. It was very simply done and the landmark to get off was none other than McDonalads double arches. The hostel is not impressive, but oh well, its cheap.

We arrived at the hostel before 11 am and were unable to check in. We stored our stuff and headed off to the main attraction on a local bus. The waterfalls are near the border with Argentina and Paraguay, but we decided to see the Brazilian side first. They are very impressive. The pictures, big surprise, do not do it justice. We had a nice walk through the jungle and it only cost $8 something USD to get in. We snapped tons of pictures (the best have been uploaded to my Brazil web album) and came back into town.

We went Itiapu Dam and Power Plant for a tour on Thursday. It is the worlds largest hydroelectric plant in power output. They generate 90% of Paraguays power here and 20% of Brazils. It was an immense dam but it has not rained enough recently, so it was not very exciting to see. Very little watter was visable from where we stood. Oh well, it wasnt expensive and the bus ride was a random trip.

We then spent the afternoon going to Paraguay. It sucked. I posted a picture of it in the album, too, but it is not worth seeing. They refused to give us passport stamps (because we didnt have a visa to be in the country) and I was unable to find a post office or a postcard to mail myself. Upon my attempt to re-enter Brazil, I got in trouble for not having the exit card. They even went to the trouble of finding someone who spoke a little English to explain that I needed to have an exit card to leave Brazil. I was trying to re-enter Brazil, so this didnt make much sense but I apologized and explained it was back at the hostel and they finally let me depart.

Tomorrow -- Argentina side of the falls and then a long bus trip towards Urugauy!