February 7 - 8, 2014

Feb. 7 – 8

Friday started out loading the bus at 6:15 am.  It’s early but I have been waiting for this time the whole trip.  My most favorite spot that I have seen in the world is Foz Iguazu and today we are starting the drive to get there.  I have been there once before and was so impressed and in awe of this part of the Brazil.  I have never kept a bucket list before but I decided after this year’s trip I want to come back again and just spend a week or two specifically in this region and experience all the recreational and educational opportunities in the area.  If I wait too much longer I will be too old to experience it to it’s fullest.  But first before we get Foz Iguazu we are making a stop at the Show Rural at Coopavel.  This show is much like the Farm Science Review or the Farm Progress Show in the United States.  It has grown considerably since I was last there.  We started off in the Administrative Center where we met with the President of the Coopeval Cooperative and a group of political leaders from that region.  The President was so excited to have is visit the show and his enthusiasm just spread throughout the group.  He told us a story that he visited the U.S and went to the Farm Progress Show and made it his personal goal to create a similar show in Brazil and we should feel honored because we were a part of the shows beginnings.  Our group was to antsy just to be let go to explore the show it was funny watching them.  I think they tried to leave three times before they actually were told they could go and they had a couple of hours to just see what they wanted to see.  It was amazing how many U.S. companies were present.  I won’t be able to name them all but I will give it a try:  Select Sires, Dekalb, Monsanto, Beckers, John Deere, Case, Ford, Chevy, Pioneer, Dow, KAT and others.  Many of the U.S. companies had people who could speak some English so we could stop and talk with them.  The booths were much more pretty here than at FSR and it was more organized.  Lots colors and flowers for added ambiance to the show.  It was very apparent that the American companies generated lots of revenue in Brazil.  We received a few free gifts and even tasted a corn popsicle.  It actually was very good if you could get past the fact that it was made from corn.

We ate lunch at the show and then proceeded on to Itaipu Binacional, which is a hydroelectric plant that services both Brazil and Paraguay.  It is one of the seven manmade wonders of the world.  The history of the plant and the amount of power it services is just amazing.  The students really enjoyed the tour of the plant and dam.  The whole facility was built as an agreement by law between Brazil and Paraguay and everything is split 50/50 between the two countries.  The science and engineering that went behind building a dam 8 kilometers long is fascinating. Not only did we get to see the external portion of the dam, but we also got to go inside and see the concrete construction, turbine control room, and one of the turbine shafts. After taking an inside tour, we took one of Itaipu’s tour buses up on top of the dam to see the reservoir of water behind the dam.  75% of Brazil is powered by hydroelectric energy, 17% coming from Itaipu. 100% of Paraguay is hydroelectric and 75% comes from Itaipu. Although Paraguay has the rights to half of the energy produced by the dam, as a country they only consume ten percent. The remaining energy is then purchased by Brazil from Uruguay.  50% of the 3000 employees are from Brazil and 50% are from Paraguay.  In the command room, 50% of the workers are from Brazil and 50% are from Paraguay.  The Itaipu River and the Parana River are split exactly in half in this region.  After the tour of the dam we returned to the hotel to clean up, relax a little bit and then get some supper.  The plan was to return to the Itaipu in the evening for a lighting of the dam and the falls will be tomorrow.

We ate dinner at the mall and then headed back to the dam.  There was a caravan of buses and cars entering the dam area shuttling visitors.  We viewed a presentation similar to what we saw during the day and then dramatic music was played as the dam was slowly lit up.  It was neat to see it lit.  The students went swimming upon return to the hotel.  The positive is we spent three nights at the hotel (hostel) so we were able to settle in a little for the three days.

On Saturday we headed to Foz Iguazu and Nature Preserve.  We started with a Biologist explaining to us the different preserves in Brazil and the common animals and vegetation in each region and goals and purposes of each preserve.  This area still contains a lot of bio-diversity.  After the presentation we then proceeded to do an unplanned off road hike down to the edge of the Parana River.  Argentina was just across the river.  It was another hot day in Brazil.  We climbed back up the hill and then walked to a bus stop to pick up a double-decker preserve bus which took us to the start of trail that travels along the waterfalls.  My adrenaline was high to see the falls again.  It was just as awesome as I remembered and went on forever probably more than I remember.  I think there are 21 significant waterfalls and several other smaller ones.  I took a lot of pictures and they are on my facebook.  We saw a lizard and several of these raccoon/anteater looking animals.  I forget what they are called.  We were clearly told not to feed any of the animals but they came right up to you.  We saw one female with six babies.  Back to the falls, at the end there is the opportunity to walk out on this walkway that takes you right out in front of one waterfall and over top of another.  The power of the water falling is amazing and to think of all the energy being generated as a result is mind boggling.  The mist from the falls drenches you but that’s OK, you are in awe of what you are seeing anyway and just the experience is wonderful.  The students really enjoyed the experience.

We stopped at the Falls gift store and then dropped Meghan off at the hotel for an interview through Facetime and the rest of us headed to lunch.  We picked up Meghan and then went to the point where the Parana and Iguacu Rivers intersect.  In essence the dam is on one side and the waterfalls on the other side and you are standing where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina intersect.

We checked out the gift shop and then made one more stop that actually took us across the border into Argentina to a duty-free gift store.  We now can say we were actually in three countries in one day.

We then returned to the hotel for a little rest and relaxation and time to clean up for supper.  We ate dinner at a buffet meat BBQ spot.

Sunday we were able to sleep in and didn’t leave until 10:00 am.  We had a six hour drive ahead of us to Londrina.  Most students slept a good bit of the trip.  We arrived around 6:30 pm got supper.