Journey Impressions: Foz do Iguacu

Foz do Iguacu: Population approx. 0.25 million (2010)
Brazil: Population approx. 209.6 million
Population growth (2010-2016): 0.9%
People per km²: 24
Gross national income per person in 2014: 11,780 USD


27 January 2018, Iguazu:

On our first tour to the Cataratas waterfalls, we encountered a creature with lovely blue wings. A butterfly we’d never seen before. Then the huge waterfalls came into view and the vast masses of water made a huge din. From the Brazilian side there’s a path that takes you right to the bottom and lets you walk into the middle of the waterfalls. “Walk” isn’t really the right term, because you’re soaked by the masses of water at the same time. But it was worth it. After all, the temperature was quite warm.

Kurt said that he had already visited these waterfalls back in 1975 and had had business dealings involving the large 13,000 MW hydroelectric power station. But more of that later. On the first evening of our visit to Iguazu, we were so impressed by the waterfall that we slept a very deep sleep later on in the superb Belmondo hotel. On day one, the restaurant was unfortunately very full, so we were only able to have a snack from the buffet before retiring to bed.

28 January 2018, Iguazu:

The next morning, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the hotel pool accompanied by families of mongoose who were prowling around, hoping to scrounge any leftovers from everyone’s breakfast.

Our agenda for day two was to get a guide and a car to go over the border to Brazil to visit what’s known as the waterfalls’ Devil’s Throat.

This proved to be quite a slog because long marches, 100% humidity and temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius aren’t exactly fun. But we set ourselves the challenge and did even manage to walk some of it through a jungle to reach the Devil's Throat. The guide told us that this path had been closed for three months because a leopard had been up to no good near to the path and attacked a child. The leopard was caught by rangers and taken to another part of the jungle so that we could walk on in peace.

During this foray through the jungle, the guide told us that there had been heavy storms in Brazil and Iguazu in 2015 and that it had poured with rain for weeks. As a result, the river had transported almost 30 times the normal amount of water and the waterfalls had torn away all the walkways for the visitors, which prevented any visits at all.

We were glad to emerge from the jungle and the oppressive heat of Brazil and crossed the border again to go to the Itaipú hydroelectric power station. This is a 13,000 MW hydroelectric power project. Consequently, it can replace about ten atomic power stations. When the Brazilian government introduced this gigantic project to an international public in 1972, it received an astonished response and the project was ridiculed.

At the time, most people thought that the Brazilian government would never be able to complete it. This scepticism is similar to the debate a year before the World Cup in 2014 when the German press in particular doubted whether Brazil would be able to complete the stadiums to host the World Cup. We perhaps shouldn’t underestimate Brazil after all. Construction started on the dam in 1974 and interestingly it was the German companies Voigt and Siemens in the consortium that were responsible for constructing the turbines. Their job was to deliver the generators and organise fitting them. Back then, Kurt was appointed to sell a press for magnetic steel sheets to Siemens and Voigt who weren’t able to find such a high-quality press for magnetic areas at the time. Kurt brokered the deal and had never seen the finished hydroelectric power station until now. It’s a massive construction. By comparison, the dams in the Harz mountains, or hydroelectric power stations in Germany in general, look like paddling pools. The Brazilians are very proud of their dam. The plant is operated by Brazil and Paraguay. Some 70% was financed by Brazilian and 30% by international banks.

For us two pilots and electrical engineers, visiting the hydroelectric power plant was a fantastic way of seeing what you can achieve with natural resources with courage and the requisite funding. It’s also remarkable that Brazil made the decision to build the plant during an era when renewable energy wasn’t part of the zeitgeist. What’s more, the decision was taken before the oil crisis and gave the country a source of energy that other countries in South America and across the world are perhaps still dreaming of. Slightly tired and lacking in energy, we returned to our hotel and prepared for our flight to Montevideo the next morning.

So time to say goodnight.