Big sights in Brazil at Iguazu and Itaipu

We've been country-hopping through the cities of the "tres fronteras", the border area where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet near Iguazu Falls.

Cuidad del Este, Paraguay: our last stop in Paraguay. We were going to stay longer, but this was the first city I actually disliked so we left as soon as possible. It's a shopping city: street stalls and malls. Prices are much lower (especially for electronics) so during the day Brazilians and Argentines flock across the border for hot deals. By late afternoon (when we arrived) everything was closed and the streets were deserted except for piles of trash out for collection.

We stayed one night then walked across the busy "Friendship Bridge" to Brazil. This was both the easiest and hardest border crossing we've done. No one cares about checking your documents, so it's your own responsibility to figure out where you need to get stamps.

Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil: Much better! Brazil's second most popular tourist destination after Rio. Cool, fun, great tourist infrastructure, surprising number of attractions. We stayed in a hostel made from shipping containers and saw the three biggest attractions:

Iguazu Falls, the largest waterfall in the world. 275 falls across a cliff face 3km wide, much much larger then Niagra. Access paths let you get right next to the falls- ponchos are essential! Beautiful and impressive, one of the true natural wonders of the world.

Itaipu Dam, the second largest dam in the world (8 km wide!) but produces the most electricity, is one of the seven engineering wonders of the world. A joint project with Paraguay, each side has 10 turbines. The dam provides 75 percent of Paraguay's power, so much that they sell their excess back to the Brazilian side. In 2009 when a strong storm disrupted the power lines, the resulting blackout affected THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF PARAGUAY plus Rio and Sao Paulo for two hours.

We took a tour inside the dam, where the structural architecture mimics the buttresses of cathedrals and the turbine room is 1km long. We stayed until the evening when there's a "lighting of the dam" and capybaras come out to graze.

Parque das Aves is an animal refuge for birds rescued from animal traffickers. Hundreds of parrots, flamingoes, and other tropical birds. There's an enormous (and loud) Macaw cage full of Macaws majestically swooping and majestically squawking. Priscilla's favorite place.

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina: day trip for the other half of the falls. More extensive than the Brazilian side, and it's fun, but honestly we preferred the Brazilian side. Argentina's side isn't run as well, and the eating areas are overrun with scarily large packs of fearless coatis looking to steal food. Everyone we've met preferred the Argentine side, so I guess we're just wrong.

On our way to Manaus! Flying for a change.

-Peter