A story of a trip to the Pantanal area of Brazil. Some people like spending their holiday relaxing on a beach while others prefer swimming in a river surrounded by crocodiles and piranhas, feeling their skin being nibbled at, unable to see the culprits through the black water. I prefer the latter.
On my second day in the Paraná area I spent the morning on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, visiting the World’s largest hydro-electric power-plant — the Itaipu Dam. My initial plan had been to take the full tour of the dam — visiting it inside-out. However, I arrived a bit late at the site and without having made a reservation. The morning tour was fully booked and taking the afternoon tour was not an option as I wanted to avoid risking missing the last bus to Argentina. I did thus settle for a panoramic tour of the exterior part of the power-plant.
On a trip from São Paulo to Santiago I spent three days on the border between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina — enjoying a varied view of water. It’s power — both unleashed and leashed. The fist stop was Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazilian side. After lunch on my first day in Foz I took the bus to the Cataratas do Iguaçu National Park. The itinerary on Brazilian side starts quite a bit downstream from the main falls and visitors…
When I was in Iceland this summer, I had a very pleasant experience. I was walking to the local swimming pool when I passed an old woman on the sidewalk who greeted me and wished me a good day. I thought it was very a cute and hospitable act. I wondered that being greeted on the street by a complete stranger could only happen in Iceland or other small communities. Today I took a stroll in Parque do Ibirapuera in…