On the flight we made friends with a japanese who was happy to photograph us. When we landed in Sao Paolo we noticed that our huge airplane was not the biggest Beside ours was parked a two-floor plane. We dutifully filled in all the paperework, which was then dutifully ignored by customs staff. The luggage was waiting for us for one day already. We didn´t tour around SP; we quickly ran for the next destination. We took the first bus to Iguacu water falls which meant another night without proper beds. The ride took 15 hours and it was extremely joyful due to an amusing old invaild lady from SP. She traveled a lot, as disabled people pay nothing for buses. The whole bus, including the drivers, was dying out of laughter when she was telling stories. She adopted us, gave us food for the whole trip and invited herself to visit us in Europe :). Luckily the bus was half-empty, so she had enought of space to fit herself as well as her numerous bags (of food?). Simon already likes traveling by buses because of good seats and nice air temperature - now in the winter season at least. Arriving early in Iguacu, we used the morning to gather information. Meanwhile we got a hostel booked, transportation arranged and a promise for a guided tour. After three days of travel, a tidy room with comfortable beds was true relaxation for us. Later that afternoon we visited the Itaipu power plant - 14GW continuously, by the means of 20 turbines which are jointly owned by Brasil and Paraguay - "Itaipu Binacional". Those 14GW covers 90% of the needs of Paraguay (and they have even more water power upstream) and 25% of the needes of enormous Brasil. The name Itaipu comes from the Guarani indian language and means singing rock, because of noises from the waterfalls. Noises that were heard in old times -- before the dam was built. The massive concrete construction built in 7 years, finished 1975, didn´t impress us as much as the effort put into counter the negative side effects of the dam. It was difficult to see what was propaganda and what was true, as they chose their statistical measures and frames to give the best result. Upstream of the dam used to be another set of beautiful water falls that almost got the countries into war in the past. The dam construction flodded those waterfalls and ended the land dispute there.The first day we finished with dinner. We still have problems ordering the right type and amount of food, as we are not familiar with local specialties nor the common words of typical dishes. We would like to spend more time with local people, but so far we've been too busy getting used to the country and doing tourist things. Next two days we spent in the nearby Iguacu natural park watching waterfalls, birds and butterflies. The park lies just on the "border river" between Brazil and Argentina. That why we visited from both sides. The Br. side gives gives a majestic overview of the system of more than 200 waterfalls. We enjoyed the view and lack of tourists at a viewtower. The river Igacu is 2km wide and offers a varying play of nature. From Argentinian side we got a close feeling of the falls, coming up close on both the upper and lower side of the falls. The Ar. side also allowed us to come just above where water falls 80m down into a chaos that completely hides how deep it is. We liked both sides. Brasilian for its mature organization -although a bit overdue with regard to repairs. Ar. side was more confused and artistic, with much more butterflies, bees (in our food), guinea pigs (?, morski prasicki) and less "coaties" that would try to steal food and dive in trash cans.
The majestic water falls are made up by volcanic matter that slowly covered the soil and formed a hard "mattress". Later a second "mattress" came on top. Erosion then removed the non-volcanic matter, forming the falls in two layers, plus an island in the middle.
Adventure
Passing the border to the Ar. side brought an interesteing adventure. Only five of us on the bus needed paperwork for border crossing, and the bus couldn't wait. We werer supposed to get some paper from the driver, to be able to enter a later bus without paying again. Our companions had such a paper. But for us the new driver couldn't take our word, so we paid again. In Brasilian Reals - but we know now that Ar. Pesos are 30-40% lower valued and prices are always set "equally" at 3 R$ / 3 Pesos. Including the 4 Reais paid in vain at the "local main bus station", the morning bus trip cost 16 R$. The way home cost only 6 R$, partly maybe because the bus went directly and even forgot to let us do paperwork for re-entering Brasil. So we are already "nowhere".
