After leaving São Leopoldo, we arrived in the city of Foz Do Iguaçu. Situated between Ciudad Del Este in Paraguay and Puerto Iguazú in Argentina, it was safe to say that this city was a huge mixture of different cultures, languages, and people. However, the most exciting part of this half of the experience was captured in the name of the city: Iguaçu falls.
These falls are considered the largest system of waterfalls in the world, and they were absolutely stunning to say the least. During our walk to get to the main part of the falls, we were greeted with many lesser falls that were, of course, still stunning. But nothing could really beat the sight of the main waterfalls. I’ve seen niagara falls before, and what I saw made me never want to go back.
Almost comically beautiful, we spent quite a bit of time just standing around and looking at the scenery, while of course, getting a bunch of photos. The amount of water moving from the falls made me excited to see the itaipu dam the next day, which kept consistent with the size and grandeur of Iguaçu falls.
The itaipu dam is one of the largest dams in the world, and the tour of it lasted the entire day. Luckily the weather that day was perfect, so the sights we saw were amplified by the clear skies and ample sun. One of the highlights of this was seeing the rotors of the hydroelectric dam turn. Thousands of tons, the size and velocity that they spun at really put the dam into perspective.
Additionally, the sights were similarly grand.
Overall, my time in Foz Do Iguaçu was both informational and extremely fun. Seeing the falls and the dam was a once in a lifetime opportunity and helped me understand Brazil in a deeper and more meaningful way.
Swanson School of Engineering 