Curitiba, Brazil (Days 1, 2, 3)

Here we go...from the beginning.

See corresponding pictures on my Facebook page.

So, because Alison, my dear friend and travel companion, was working in Curitiba, the vacation begins there. I decided to be there while she worked since it meant a pretty cheap place to stay and I didn't have to take additional time off to be there. Curitiba is the capital city of the state of Parana (par-a-na....not paranah!) and is not really a tourist destination. But it definitely has some stuff to see and it was interesting to just see a normal Brazilian city, instead of one overrun by tourists. Now that presents its own problems too, as you will see...

DAY 1

Alison, Oscar (coworker of Alison's and friend to both of us), Christianie and Marcus (Alison's coworker in Brazil and her husband) met me at the airport. That 10 hour flight...especially with no movies, no overhead light, no flight attendant call button (all broken!!!)...was long! That only got me to Rio, so I then had to figure out how to get on a domestic flight to Curitiba, but surprisingly, that wasn't that hard at all. I even got a water and a donut in a cafe shop without anyone in tears! I arrived at the Curitiba airport, a bit desheveled and needing some new clothes, a toothbrush, etc. We drove the hotel, I spruced up and off we went to a Brazilian mall. Nothing much exciting happened. We learned that most consumer goods are way more expensive there than the States, so I think I bought some flip-flops and that is about it. This was my first experience with pao de queijo (cheese bread)...they are little crusty puffs with soft doughy, cheesy insides. Ah...they are wonderful...yummy!

We then were sent to dinner with the address of a good churrascaria (brazilian barbeque/steakhouse). Yeah, it was closed...so, what do 3 Americans do? Ask the cab driver for another selection. We ended up at the Golden Corral/Ponderosa/Sizzler of churrascaria's. Oh, the adventures. It was not good...the meat wasn't horrible, but oh, everything else. Not good. I asked for a caipirinha (traditional lime and Brazilian rum/cachaca drink) and got it with (cheap) vodka instead. It was a comedy, for sure. The pictures that I took of us are proof enough...not happy times! :-)

DAY 2

So, originally, I was going to take the Linio Turismo (tourist bus that stops throughout the city at tourist destinations) on Monday. Yeah, Michelle didn't plan well. It doesn't run on Mondays. She thought, hmmm, I'll do Tuesday's activity on Monday then. I was going to go to a state park that is about an hour away from Curitiba and enjoy the day with nature. Well, to get there, I would have had to take a bus to the park, walk 20 minutes into the park, do my thing, then walk back 20 minutes, wave down a bus on the road and ride it back to the city. All of this, without knowing a bit of Portuguese. After 12 hours in this foreign country, I decided, that might not be a successful venture (my adventures in the city prove this to be a fair assessment). Plan C: sleep in on Monday morning, read a book, just be lazy and then meet Alison, Oscar and Christianie for lunch. I would then go to specific locations that are touristy and meet Alison back at the hotel after work.

Part 1 of the day was successfully accomplished...I slept a lot, finished The Alchemist (written by a Brazilian writer) and was relaxed and ready to go take on a foreign city. I successfully got a cab to Alison's work place (forgetting my umbrella and of course, it started to rain on the cab ride over there!). We walked to lunch (with the help of a few umbrellas from Alison's coworkers) and I enjoyed some wonderful beans and rice (so much better outside of the US!). We also discovered that Coke Zero has made its way to Brazil, so Michelle was going to be a happy camper! Now the adventure begins...

I had located a paragraph in my travel guide about the historic district of Curitiba and decided I would explore that for the afternoon. Christianie talked with the cab driver for me and off I went. He dropped me off at the first museum and I was raring to go. I walked up to the gate, saw a security guard. I of course said Hola! (yes, this is Portuguese too!) and then proceeded to say i know no Portuguese. Of course, he only knows Portuguese. I could decipher that he was wondering why I was there. I tried to explain that I was there to visit the museum and that's where all communication broke down. Finally, he kinda moved his hands in a cutting motion, me garnering that the museum was closed. Nothing more could be shared. This is when I discovered that all tourist things in Curitiba (not just the bus) are closed on Mondays, even though my book told me some were open on Mondays.

I wondered around, taking pictures of places (see corresponding pics) and hoping one of the places was open (as stated in the book), but to no avail. Of course, I have one map in my book and that's all I had to go on. I am kinda lost, don't know the language, and have nothing to do...it was a great feeling. So, I remembered Christianie telling me that there was a shopping mall near by. Yeah, I knew this wasn't the best option of seeing the city, but at that point, it was at least something to do. I went in search for it and found it!

I walked around looking at clothes, shoes, etc. All more expensive, but hey, I was doing something. But of course, every time a salesperson came up to me, I had nothing...no Portuguese. Eventually, that just was not helpful and I was becoming more downtrodden. So, I decided I would just give up the ghost and go see a movie. They subtitle in Brazil, so I knew I could see something and hear some English. Oh, how I can continue to screw things up! :-)

I know I am going to have to somehow communicate with someone that doesn't know English. I watch the monitors to try to get the title in Portuguese correct and figure out the times. Remember, they are on the 24 hour clock. So, I saw that Benjamin Button was at 14:00 and it is well after 2 pm now, so I knew that wasn't going to work. But Revolutionary Road is at 13:25, so that should work right...3 pm (yes, major error, I know!)? I get the beginning of the title as best as I can and go up. I try to say the name of the movie and hold up one finger. She has no idea...so she gets a list of the movies for me. I point to Revolutionary Road and she starts talking to me. I say no Portuguese. She continues to talk to me...no idea what to do. She turns off her microphone and talks to her friend. They start laughing. Yeah, I know at me...nothing I can do. She asks me for more money, which confuses me, but hey, wouldn't be the first time I didn't get something right, so I give it to her. She hands me a ticket. I think, ok, I got through that. I look at the ticket to figure out where to go. The ticket is for 19:00 or 7 pm...I had failed. That is when I figured out that 13:00 had passed and I was a complete and utter idiot. I know I cannot go back...how do I explain my idiocy in a language I don't know! So, I suck it up and leave the mall.

Dejected and completely defeated, I sit down on the mall steps and try to figure out how to go back to the hotel. A security guard comes up to me and starts talking in Portuguese...I have no idea. Then I finally figure out, I can't sit there. Oh and did I mention it is hot and sunny now! I just wanted some shade to cool down my scorched ego. Off I go, hoping I am walking in the direction of the hotel. I walk for about 20 minutes and have no idea where I am. I finally give up and get a cab. This is where my story gets better...finally.

By watching where the cab took me, I started to figure out where I was and my surroundings a bit better. I knew the relationship between the historic district and the business district (where I ended up with my walking) and finally found everything on my map. I got back to the hotel and figured all of this stuff out. I am reinvigorated to try to go out in the city again and do something simple. I grab my book and off I go to find the pedestrian walk area and a park.

Success! I find all of this and enjoy the rest of the afternoon looking around shops and sitting on a park bench eating a pastry and sipping a Coke Zero. I finally feel like I might have a chance at doing this by myself on Tuesday. I return to the hotel to meet up with everyone. We went out and had drinks with a lot of Alison's coworkers. I had a great caipirinha or two and had fun talking with everyone.

DAY 3

The tourist bus is going to be good for me...they do announcements in English, the map is in English...I can make this happen. I decide to sleep in though because I am still a bit tired. It's ok...that's what vacation is for. I make it to the bus and get on successfully and the ride begins. I can make 4 stops throughout the day and the 2 I definitely want to make are the Botanical Gardens and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (modern art museum). I was on the top level of a double decker bus. I start to get a sense of the whole city and see some things that kind of surprise me. Like, Habib's (an Arab fast food joint that has Popeye and Olive Oil as their spokespeople!), barbed wire every where you go, little jungle patches as foliage in the medians, etc. And one thing that is special to Brazil...the funny looking trees: pau brasil. They actually are quite amazing and they are completely protected now because they are endangered.

I did stop at the botanical gardens and there are corresponding pictures. Nothing really to write home about...they have attempted to created an European style garden, but not all that interesting. The one thing of note is that the park does have a region for each region of the country. So, you are able to see the different fauna for each region. Here is where you get to see the pau brasil fully. Oh, and there were these noisy, noisy birds...there is a pic of one. They just squawk and squawk...just wanted them to shut up! You will see some pics of other animals I saw at the gardens, like the sleeping ducks and the turtle in the water.

I continued on the bus tour and there are pics of the some of the sites I saw. My next stop was the Oscar Niemeyer museum. Oscar was the architect that designed the building and he is quite famous in Brazil for his very modern concept buildings. This one is known as the Eye even though that was not his concept. He was actually trying to conceptualize the pau brasil trees, not an eye. You be the judge. I was able to see some great art and even an exhibit of 1500's American pottery. One exhibit I really loved was by Os Gemeos. They are twin artists that do graffiti style artwork. Take a look at the exhibit art. This would definitely go down as my favorite place in Curitiba...might be my art background...felt most at home here.

Due to time, I didn't stop anywhere else, but saw a lot of the sites. See the pics for descriptions of them all. It really was great to take the tour because I did get a much better sense of the city. I met up with Alison and Christianie and we went to a brewery type place to listen to some live music and have dinner. We had a good time talking with Christianie and her husband and just relaxing with some beer.

I don't know if I would ever recommend anyone to go see Curitiba as a tourist destination, but I enjoyed learning about the city and being with Christianie. Anywhere you go, there is something to learn and explore.

My impressions, leaving Curitiba... It was an interesting city. All of the shops in the downtown area had the pull down gates like in NYC. None of the shops were "pretty" like in the States...much more utilitarian. The only "modern" looking shops were the gas stations...they looked like the States. Everything looks kind of like from the 70's. The hotel we stayed at was supposedly the best in town, yet all the rooms looked like the 70's. That seemed to be the theme...upgrading hasn't seemed to happen yet. And that is not to comment badly on it...just an observation. One could argue that our constant upgrading is costing a lot of money with very little value in it. I also observed that not too many languages are spoken here and I am betting this is because very few tourists come through this city. I had assumed originally that since this was the biggest city we were visiting, that we would hear more languages, etc. here. Not the case. We encountered the least amount of English here. It made for a rough transition for me, but I made it through and actually was able to enjoy a lot of different aspects of the city.

On to the next destination...the beach!