Day 4 - Heading to Brazil

A reprieve from the busyness that is Villaricca - the pool and beautiful surroundings of  Granja Mariposa.

Beautiful flowering trees on the way to Cuidad del Este

On Oct. 30, we traveled east to Brazil to visit Iguazzu (or Iguacu) Falls - one of the most spectacular waterfalls on the planet. On the way, we visited Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam just out side Cuidad del Este on the eastern edge of Paraguay. It is the 2nd largest hydroelectric dam in the world, but the largest operating one in the world. China has a bigger dam, but it's not fully operational yet. 

Yep - this was the tour bus we rode on to see the Itaipu Dam.

The spillways

It's difficult to imagine the enormous size of this place. Looking at the catwalks in the center of the upper half of the image will shed some light on the size.

We stayed at the Rafain Palace Hotel and Convention Center in Foz de Iguaccu. A lovely courtyard was full of orchids.

A panoramic capture with my iPhone

Paraguay - Villaricca

On Tuesday, October 29, we travelled with our wonderful hosts to Villaricca. There, we visited a small museum and walked through an open-air market, and bought groceries at a store where Don was asked to wait outside because he was carrying my camera backpack.

Trucks loaded with sugar cane are what we would consider oversized loads. It's especially fun meeting them on narrow, muddy dirt roads where there's only room for one - and whoever is biggest wins. We had one such encounter. 

A beautiful, old church in Villaricca.

This is an old dugout canoe in a tiny museum we visited.

Not sure what this represented, but it was in the museum.

Ornate, old chairs.

The museum paid homage to Manuel Ortiz Guerrero, who must have been a famous musician.

Oh...the stories these old horns could tell.

Add caption

This roof was being re-thatched.

Another church in Villaricca.

Don wishes he had the sole contract for plastic chairs for Paraguay. He'd be rich beyond his wildest dreams as they're everywhere.

This bus barreled on through this crowded street, and all those little "motos" on the left remained standing.

I think that, for many, the open air market was also home. 

I'd have to say the main mode of transportation was motorcycles - small ones, but many people had horse or ox-drawn wagons.

Beans, flour, rice, seasonings - all available in the open air market.

A rather well-laid out fruit stand. Note the cobblestone streat.

We heard this cart long before we saw it; it was playing cheesy electronic Christmas songs while the driver peddled whatever he was selling.

Paraguay - Yvytyruzu

We visited a regional park one morning called Yvytyruzu - and got to explore a small stream and waterfalls (cataratas). We had the place almost to ourselves. The butterflies there were amazing - so many, and so varied. I could have spent an entire day there. They're elusive, though, and photo opportunities were mostly non-existent.

Our friends enjoy the beautiful weather.

This butterfly was easily 4-5 inches across. The blue on the wings is so brilliant, you initially didn't notice the black.

These butterflies were about the size of Monarchs.

Here's the only other visitor to the park while we were there. He was a friendly enough guy, but seemed to be curious about our camera bags, so I hurried down to move them before he decided to get too close to them.

Paraguay!

With the exception of Canada, Don and I had never been abroad; that is until recently, when we traveled to Paraguay and Brazil with his brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Terri, who are seasoned, international travelers. Their experience put us at ease, which is a good thing. I won't bore you with a lot of text. Instead I'll inundate you with lots of images, and with them, try my best to share our remarkable experience.

Paraguay is a country of contrasts. We stayed in this beautiful, comfortable guest house of our marvelous hosts.

Don and I took a walk our first morning there, and this is a typical rural home belonging to the Guarani - the native people of Paraguay. Their language is Guarani - not Spanish, not Portuguese - something entirely different. Spanish is spoken in most cities, though.

Cattle roam freely everywhere (as do chickens, turkeys, hogs, dogs... The device in the calf's nose is in place to wean it from its mother.

The season is late spring/early summer in Paraguay, and everything was lush and green. Temps were warm, but not overly humid. 

It was fun seeing new blooms and berries.

...and seeing new bird species...

This was a noisy one!

Notice the blooms in the tree, and the wandering Jew growing as ground cover. 

A typical rural power line. (Wait til you see the typical city power line - more scary than this by a long shot!

The rural road leading to our host's home. Notice the power pole in this image - it's made of cement. We saw quite a few of these as well.

I'll do my best to post a few pictures daily for the next week or so, so stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!