Foz de Iguazu, Brazil

We had our fill of the falls in Argentina so skipped the Brazil side. Instead we paid a visit to the largest hydro-powered dam in the world, Itapu Dam (soon to be exceeded by Three Gorges Dam in China). Regardless of numbers, this dam is HUGE.

It is only once you are up close that you can really get a feel for the size. The pipes in this picture that convey the water to the turbines are 10 meters in diameter!

The dam is equally shared with Paraguay and the actual country borders goes through the control room so at the same time we were able to have one foot in Paraguay and one foot in Brazil It was well worth the special tour to see into the heart of the dam and watch a spinning turbine.

This is our second Wonder of the Modern World - as defined by the American Society of Civil Engineers... Robin getting a little geeky on this trip!

We made it into Brazil just as the Carnival festivities were kicking off. It was here we got our first taste of how important it is for Brazilian lads to dress up in woman’s clothing for carnival. Sticking it to social norms we caught both the Samba Drag Queen dance off and real Samba Queen competition (otherwise known as the competition for who can shake their jigglers the fastest while wearing ridiculously high heels).