So the Iguazu falls are not the only “big water” that Brazil shares with its neighbours. Foz do Iguaçu is also home to Itaipu dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world and one of the most expensive objects ever built. This one it shares with its western neighbours, Paraguay. As Ceca interestingly discovered, the Guaraní word for water is “y” so all words with the sound “y” in them are in some way connected to water. In this context “taipu” means “the sounding stone” and with each one of its 20 generating units weighing in at 3,360tonnes, it certainly isn’t going anywhere.

So approaching the Itaipu dam, I was very cynical. To start with the dam had to change the route of the Paraná river, the seventh biggest river in the world, and you don’t have to be a geographer to figure out that can’t be good for the flora and fauna. Whole indigenous villages were destroyed, as well as 700sq km of forest, and waterfalls apparently rivalling Iguazu’s. However in 1994 the American Society of Civil Engineers named the dam as one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, so it must be doing something right. We set off to find out.

It may sound ridiculous and I’m sure for many of you, as for me, bridges and dams aren’t really your cup of tea. However, even for the non believers, the facts are pretty impressive. Granted we spent most of the time in the museum messing about but we did learn a few things as well. Most importantly for me, the dam people claim that all the indigenous tribes were rehoused properly and given proper incentives for moving. Not ideal, but much better treatment than in other similar cases worldwide. The other thing is that the dam does seem to give back to the community, setting up lots of schools and eco-friendly projects etc. This must all be taken with a pinch of salt but it’s still better than nothing.

And now for some impressive facts:

· The amount of concrete used would be enough to built 210 football stadiums the size of Maracanã, and the amount of iron and steel 380 Eiffel Towers.

· The maximum flow of water is 62.2 thousand cubic meters per second, 40 times that of the average Iguazu flow.

· Each one of its 20 generating units supplies enough energy for a city with 1.5m people.

· It supplies 80% of Paraguay’s electricity and 25% of Brazil’s (and remember we are talking about the 5th biggest most populated country in the world with over 200m inhabitants).

Impressed or not it’s clear it’s a vital part of the energy production of Brazil and Paraguay. And it’s definitely not the most polluting method of producing energy either. I came expecting something akin to Springfield’s power plant, with that three-eyed fish swimming around the dam, but there was nothing of the sort.

And we actually had a lot more fun in Itaipu then we thought was possible in a dam. Yes we spent most of the time acting like 5 year olds, pretending to smoke the rare plant species and getting told off by Brazilian nerds with worryingly German accents. We also spent a large proportion of the time thinking up sexy poses with our hard hats but like I say we did learn something.

I believe my time being brainwashed at Itaipu lead me to two major conclusions. One- Itaipu is evil, but it kinda seems like a necessary evil. And two I will never be a hippie.

Location of Itaipu and Iguazu

We stood between three countries and manage to visit all three in two days

Italy's sexiest new recruit

He's Dutch he can't control himself

I repeat, the special tour

Itaipu's water- for some reason I kept expecting to get one containing the three-eyed fish from the Simpsons but unfortunately I never did