We got up, showered and had the hotel breakfast which turned out to be more substantial than we expected. The coffee was strong and sweet. Our first intention was to change money, but we met Edgar, the resident German who Steve and Hugo had met yesterday and he told us to wait until after 10:00 hrs. when the rate was revised after the weekend.
We decided to visit the Itaipú Hydroelectric Dam in the meantime and took a bus to the Visitors Reception Centre for our free film and tour. The film was very professional and informative, following the project through it’s stages of construction to the present day.
It is a joint venture between Paraguay and Brazil on the Paraná River. Paraguay was taken into the partnership partly to assuage Paraguayan grievances following the war against the triple alliance when Paraguay lost a lot of land to Brasil.
The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. This war was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadliest and bloodiest inter-state war in Latin American history.
We went for a coach ride across the top of the colossal dam with views over the huge man-made lake behind it. The most spectacular sight is the three overspill channels which regulate the level of water in the lake.
Vast volumes of water hurtle down these ramps and explode into blossoming spray at the bottom where “ski jumps” slow down the flow to avoid excessive erosion of the riverbed. Disappointingly we were not shown inside the dam where the downpipes, turbines and generators are capable of generating 12,600,000 kW of electricity.
The workers are all catered for and the surrounding area is developing rapidly. In all a good public relations exercise which was very interesting. We got the bus back into town and I spent most of the journey with buttocks clenched and sweating while trying to fight a bout of diarrhoea. I struggled off the bus and into the bog (toilet), not a moment too soon!
At the Long Distance Bus Terminal we met Edgar again and he changed travellers cheques for us at 195 Cruzados to the $US dollar. The Swiss boys took Edgar’s advice to head for Campo Grande – Corumbá - Asunción which is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay in South America.
However, I decided to head north via the coast and bought a 2,200 Cruzados ticket to São Paulo which is a city in the Southeast Region of Brazil. Listed by the GaWC as an alpha global city, the municipality of São Paulo is the most populous city proper in Brazil, the Americas, the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the world's 4th largest city proper by population.
We had a final meal together in another “eat as much as you can for a fixed price” establishment while Edgar and the boys rabbited on in German. I said goodbye and caught my Pluma Bus at 15:30 hrs.
Pluma Bus Company works in Southeast and South regions of Brazil, with destinations to the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul. The internationals destinations are Chile, Argentina and Paraguay.
Opened in 1966, the company started working with about 170 employees and 34 buses in its fleet. Its headquarter is in Curitiba, which helped the area growth. Years later, still booming, in 1971, the company started its first international line.
There were a dubious looking crowd of passengers on the bus and customs officials obviously thought likewise because they had everyone off the bus for a thorough search when we reached the checkpoint at 16:30 hrs. An hour later we got away.
At the evening food stop I had a beer and talked to Alex from Rio de Janeiro, who had lost all of the duty-free goods that he was smuggling back from Paraguay. The confiscation of luxury goods left him $1,000 US dollars out of pocket he claimed. “If it had been a bus to Rio de Janeiro, they wouldn't have stopped it”, he said. “These São Paulistanos are a dodgy bunch”! Apparently, two guns were also confiscated.
Fog obscured green cultivated fields and rain poured down, leaking into the coach in a few places. Spectacular sheet lighting lit up the cloudy sky like a continuous series of explosions. Alex talked to me in English until the São Paulo versus Rio de Janeiro rivalry barracking and joking got too much and he returned to his place. I dozed most of the night in my reclining seat.
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