'Short' in this case is refering to the amount of time (10 days) it took us to do this trip, not to the distance (1900 km)! If Argentina is big, Brazil is gigantic! The first night trip by bus to Campo Grande made it obvious. Furthermore going by bus, but also all the other things are a lot more expensive than in the other countries we visited so far. So we decided to do only this short trip and then make our way to Bolivia.

But before we left this 'three country corner' we had to visit another highlight in Foz do Igauçu - no, not the falls but the Itaipú hydroelectric project right on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. In 2006 still the biggest hydroelectric power plant in the world with a power of 14.000 mega watts. The joint venture between Paraguay and Brazil provides energy equally to the two countries. 90% of paraguayan needs and 25% of the brazilian needs are covered. Some statistics:
Costs 2.8 billion dollars, construction time 12 years, 20 turbines each generating 700 mega watts, max altitude of the dam 196m, total length of the dam 7760m, size of the reservoir 1350 km², the used concrete is enough to build 210 soccer stadiums, the used steel is enough to build 380 Eiffel towers, 23 million new trees were plant around the reservoir and the spillway of the reservoir can handle up to 40 times the amount of the Iguazú- falls (if its not dry-season ;-) like when we visited the falls)

After that we went to Campo Grande (17 hours over night), where we booked our 4 day Pantanal trip right after arriving. And the next day we went on to the biggest wetland on earth. First by bus, than by pickup and after some hours we arrived in our rustic eco-camp! And it's like everywhere: Ecological means that you pay a lot and get almost nothing! But more about this experience in another report.
Leaving the camp we went on to Bonito, where we had an amazing snorkeling tour in the Rio da Prata. In the hostel in Bonito we met the two aussies Sam and Andy, who we have seen before in the camp. They wanted to travel to Paraguay, but were not able to cross the border because of missing visa. We decided to do the trip to Bolivia together and (at about 35 degrees) went on to the border town of Corumbá. From now on everything went on fast:

    Get a hotel
    Exit stamp for Brazil at the bus terminal
    Entry stamp for Bolivia at the border
    By taxi to the bolivian train station to get the tickets
    A fast cold beer in Bolivia
    Back to Brazil
    A shower, a pizza, a sleep and the next day furtheron to Bolivia