After our long tour of yesterday, we wanted to have a more leisurely day today. We had decided we would go to the Itaipu Dam on the Parana River. Not rushing and having a leisurely breakfast, we would then drive ourselves to the dam and take a tour once there.
Our sightseeing for today.
Google maps told me it was 17 kms to the dam, the Sat-Nat said 10 kms. Off we set and discovered why there was a difference. We couldn’t actually drive to the dam. We had to stop at a tourist centre where we could park Poki and buy various tours, which would take us to the dam by bus. We picked the panoramic tour, which departed every 10 minutes or so.
Before going to the bus stop we had to go through security, airport style taking off our watches, emptying pockets etc. We were also asked if we had a drone. Obviously, not allowed. They are very protective of their dam, which is jointly owned by Brazil and Paraguay.
Within minutes, along came a bus which we boarded. A commentary was playing in both Portuguese and English. There were three stops where we got off for viewing and then caught another bus to the next stop.
We got off to view the spill ways. Nearly as dry as a bone. It would have been good to see them releasing water and it gushing through. We drove past, I think there were twenty, pen stocks, where the water runs down to spin the turbines, and then drove back across the top of the dam.
The complex is massive.
The Itaipu Reservoir, formed by the dam, covers a surface area of 1,350 km2 or 520 sq miles. Construction on the dam began in 1971 and it opened in 1984, costing USD19.6 billion ($59.3 billion today). I won’t bore you with lots of technical details, but the output of the Paraguayan generators far exceeds the load in Paraguay, so most of their production is exported directly to the Brazilian side. The majority of the energy going to the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro region.
A Wonder of the World, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, in 1994. Since overtaken in size by the two Chinese dams, the Three Gorges and Baihetan. Despite the large difference in installed capacity between the Three Gorges and Itaipu, they generate nearly equal amounts of electricity over a year. This is because for 6 months of the year, the Three Gorges experiences very little water available to generate power, while the Parana river provides Itaipu with an ample supply year round.
On the final stop of the tour overlooking the dam, an outdoor theatre has been set up. Here we watched a short film on the construction of the dam and sharing by the two neighbouring countries Brazil and Paraguay. There were wall panels with pictures of production and technical information. More of a ‘man thing’. Dennis was fascinated.
River Systems
The Parana River is the second longest river in South America, after the Amazon. The Iguacu River and the Parana River join at the borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Later the Parana River, the Paraguay Ruver and the Uruguay River all merge to form the extensive Rio de La Plata estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.
Lunch time
After returning to the tourist centre car park we had lunch in Poki. Tuna salad. In the middle of which a gentleman came to talk about Poki and to tell us he wanted to kit out a vehicle for travelling. He spoke excellent English and was from Belo Horizonte. He said we had missed seeing a fantastic museum there.
Animal refuge tour.
At the centre there was a tour advertised to an animal rescue park. On our tour it was mentioned that a large area of jungle had been kept to house the animals that had been displaced by the construction of the dam. As we haven’t seen tapirs or jaguars in the wild on our travels, I thought a visit to the rescue park might be our last opportunity to see them. Unfortunately, when we went to book a tour, we were advised they were all sold out for today.
Enough for today.
So, back to our hotel and some cooling down in the pool. When we had lunch in Poki it was 38 degrees. Looking at the forecast for Asuncion, where we are heading next, it is 39 for tomorrow. Yesterday Bruno, our excellent tour guide, said it is exceptionally hot at the moment. As everywhere, the weather here is not normal.
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