For Memorial Day this year our VAC (the volunteers closest
to each other) got together and went on an excursion to the east. Our first stop was to Cuidad Del Este to
visit Itaipu Dam. This dam is the 2nd
largest in the world, which was overtaken by the Three Gorges dam in
China. Itaipu Dam does produce the most
electricity than any other in the world.
We started out the tour watching a quick introductory video and then
loaded up our “large” tour group of only 7 on a bus and traveled out to a
beautiful lookout point. From the
lookout you could see the dam itself and the spillways. It was a very overcast and cool day but we
were able to see the dam without any problems and did our best to stay
warm. The dam itself was very impressive
and it produces 80% of all the energy used in the entire country of Paraguay,
the other comes from another dam Yacyreta that I visited in February. After the dam visit we had a picnic lunch
inside in the cafeteria and then traveled to the other side of the city to
visit Salto Monday.
The falls of Salto Monday are magnificent and have a 40
meter drop. The days before we went and
visited we had a lot of rain so the falls were raging and was a little muddy
but still magnificent. We stayed and
explored around there for a while and took some pictures which you can see
below. From there we traveled (after a
nice long excursion getting lost, but seeing some new places) back towards
Caaguazu and stopped in Campo 9 for dinner.
Campo 9 itself is a town that was started by Mennonites and they still
have a very heavy presence there. We ate
at a fantastic churrasqueria which is just a place where it is like a buffet
but then they come around with all different sorts of meats and cut them off
for you onto your plate. It was a great
ending to a cold day and we all stuffed ourselves before we got back on the bus
to head back to Caaguazu. Although this
year was very different than Memorial Days in the past it was still a great day
to just reflect on those we have lost in the military as well as those that are
retired or still serving in our military, God bless you all! Below you should see some pictures of our
excursion. Enjoy!
With
all of the rain we had right after Thad left I ended up being stuck out of site
for 5 days and had to crash at my PCV friend Nari’s house. One night we made stuffed cabbage.
After
our wonderful stuffed cabbage a couple of hours later we were still hungry so
we made a fantastic apple crisp!
Below
you should be able to see some pictures of the dam as well as the spillway.
At the museum after the tour they had this photo booth that
tried to make it look like you were in a helicopter tour looking at the dam so
of course Nari and I had to get our photo taken.
The following pictures are of Salto Monday waterfall.
After stuffing ourselves and freezing walking outside the
others decided they needed ice cream so we all went to Amandau. I usually am good to eat ice cream whenever,
but since we had just eaten at a buffet and were freezing it just didn't sound
good to me.
This picture I just threw in of some of my transplants that
are doing so well, I can’t wait to actually put them in my garden!
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