My last glimpse of Paraguay was the mighty dam of Itaipú, in the city of Ciudad del Este. This awesome engineering project supplies 70% of all Paraguay's electricity and 17% of all Brazil's. The best way to see it is to fly over by helicopter on a sunny day, and I took this picture myself (pic). Unfortunately it's only of the publicity poster in the entrance of the dam's visitor centre. It was grey and rainy today and I couldn't afford the helicopter flight anyway.
But we had fun, going on the free tour (pic) and seeing the hugeness of the thing, with its forest of electricity pylons taking power to the two countries. Yes, so when it was built in the 1980s it cost £25bn and displaced 80,000 people and destroyed the extraordinarily beautiful Sete Quedas falls, said to rival Iguazu. But people want to recharge their mobile phones and watch football on the telly, so there you go.
Anyway, en route to the bus station, I saw that Paraguay is gearing up for the festive season with this roadside stall selling crib-scene statues (pic). People here are very religious, and bus and coach drivers often have slogans stuck up on their vehicles saying how they trust in God to get them there safely. I'd rather they just drove a bit slower and overtook a bit more carefully, to be honest. Still, Happy Christmas everyone!
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