Purplelake: Day 5 – Jun 26, 2019 Foz do Iguacu, Brazil to Peurto Iguazu, Argentina

Today we crossed over from Brazil into Argentina to continue our exploration of Iguazu Falls. Before we left Brazil, we went to visit Itaipu Dam which was the biggest dam and hydroelectric generation facility in the world before China's Three Gorges Dam was built. Itaipu Dam is a joint venture between Brazil and Paraguay. It harnessed the flow of Parana River which is the 7th biggest river in the world by volume. Construction of the dam started in 1971 and finished in 1984. Argentina agreed to the dam after guarantee was obtained to maintain Parana River flow since Parana flows to Argentina downstream. The power generated by the dam is enough to supply 90% of Paraguay's need and 20% of Brazil's need. Their brochure said that the total power generated since the completion of the dam is sufficient to supply the whole world for 40 days!

The dam structure is impressive and the reservoir behind the dam is huge! Over 190 km long! The tour was done on a double decker bus and took 1.5 hours. The best part is that since the dam spans across Brazil and Paraguay, we have officially entered the country of Paraguay! Another country checked on our list!

A model of the huge dam and water spill ways

Itaipu dam. Water flows inside those giant pipes near the dam to generate electricity

Tour done on double decker bus with stops in between

This dam is a joint effort between Brazil and Paraguay

This waterway was blasted first to divert the river so the dam could be built

These giant pipes are where the water flows down to drive the turbine to make electricity

We are now officially in Paraguay on the other side of Itaipu dam

Giant power transmission lines taking all that power away

Going back to Brazil side on TOP of the dam

I hope the dam would not fail while we are crossing over on our bus!

Safe and sound back to Brazil side of the dam

View of the giant Parana River downstream of the dam

This giant lake is formed after damming the Parana River. It extends for 190 km and is 12 km wide!

We negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to the dam, followed by the journey to drive across the border to our hotel in Puerto Iguazu in Argentina for a fixed price. This is a much better option than paying double to what the tour company would charge using their shuttle bus. We had to first stop at the Brazil border to get exit stamp on our passports. Then we drove over the long bridge across Iguazu River to get our passport stamped at the Argentina border. The transfer went seamless and we were in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, in less than 40 mins. However, it was another matter trying to get Argentina pesos there. We tried three different banks' ATMs to withdraw peso but were not successful. All the banks limit cash withdrawal to only 2000 pesos per transaction but they charge 260 pesos each time, meaning a hefty 6.5% fee! We gave up and decided to use money exchangers instead for the rest of this trip. In Argentina, there are always queues outside bank or ATM. People advise you to line up in the morning because by the afternoon, the ATMs would all be empty!

Argentina side of the Iguazu Falls uses a small railroad to transport visitors to two stations where the trails start: The Lower and Upper Trails, as well as the Argentina version of Garganta de Diablo. It's a shame that the San Martin Island trail was closed due to rock slide. Otherwise, we would have taken a boat ride across the river to get to the island and get a close up view of the huge San Martin falls.

We only had enough time to do the Lower and Upper Trails this afternoon and it was impressive enough. We walked past waterfall after waterfall. Looking back to Brazil, we could see where we were taking all the nice pictures yesterday. It's hard to fathom how big Iguazu River is that it can provide so much water to put on such beautiful display. We were also lucky to encounter a whole troupe of monkeys foraging for food on the tree top.