Lost in Brazil... Or Am I?

I clean myself up during a lazy morning and get a lift into town with Uttam and Fran on their truck. The crew were taking it in for repairs via a Mc Donalds Drive Through in town. How disgraceful! I find a HSBC cash point, leave Uttam and Fran but gain Isi and Lynn and join them as they go shopping. Argh! What was I thinking? But, I even get in the mood myself and buy a replacement white fancy shirt. I shredded and wrecked my existing one at the pool party last night. I then leave them as they also head to Miccy Ds for lunch. I try to get to the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World!

I jump on a local bus after getting a knowing nod and an "Ugh" from the driver after asking if he goes to the Dam. We wander down some main roads and some dodgy looking neighbourhoods before I'm ejected and pointed in the general direction of a big river. I wander around some roadworks, past some police and onto a large bridge. Still not seeing the Dam I figure I'll walk across it and pick up a taxi on the other side. Only as I cross over I get this foreboding feeling I'm not in Kansas any more. It's dirtier, scruffier, has lots of billboards and adverts for shopping centres and electrical goods. And what's with all the military police with assault rifles? I look around in more detail and the truth sinks in... I've nonchalantly and accidentally blundered into a foreign country, bypassing both sets of passport control and border police. I'm in Paraguay! Whoops! Concerned that I'm really not supposed to be there I retrace my steps back to Brazil, dodging the Brazilian border police by nipping in between passing traffic. Having not stamped out, I foresaw big problems trying to get back in again via the official route. But after some skilful dodge moves any stealth ninja or secret assassin would be proud of it all works out and I crawl safely back to Brazil. It's all good and I end up getting a Brazilian taxi to the Dam (by drawing a picture of it in my notebook - my Spanish sucks!)

I pay R$30 for the special tour as it takes you inside the Dam and you see a whole lot more than the free one. My tour guide is a really cute looking girl - I feel lucky. I'm the only one on the tour, she's my personal guide, she tells me I'm lucky! The excess flow from the Dam is gushing down the overspill creating an impressive fountain as it launches itself into the river, unusual for this time of year. Apparently I'm really lucky! Inside the immense Dam, one of the 12 giant hydroelectric generators was being dismantled for repairs allowing me to peer inside. Again, I'm told I'm really lucky. But then my luck runs out - the tour ends and the girl walks away.

I meet Allan (guy from the other truck) in the souvenir shop who's just been on the packed out free tour. I use him to get a bus back (I figure it's a wise choice given my last attempt at a bus ride). We talk about how we'd like to go to Paraguay until the bus stops. I look out of the window and it's where I got kicked off last time. We look at each other, jump out and hoof it over what I now know to be the Friendship Bridge. This time I pass passport control and get stamped! It's gone 17:00 and unfortunately all the shops are already closed. The most we can do is grab some beers and chat. (He has the same Birthday as me - but is 10 years older.) In a pizza place we order a veggie pizza and a chocolate pizza! How cool is that! Once we demolish a sweetcorn pizza (presumably the veggie) we enquire about the chocolate pizza and receive... another sweetcorn pizza!? Confused we enquire again and look up the word for sweetcorn in Spanish - it's "Chocolo". Doh! Stupid misleading Spanish language! So it seems we already had 2 Chocolo pizzas. Oh well.

Back at the hostel it's Amar's (aka Borat) Birthday so it's beer and chocolate cake (not sweetcorn cake) at the bar till late.

Posted by Steve Eynon