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Published: June 24th 2015
Oh, we are struggling with the Portuguese language and it seems to get harder the further south we go! Or perhaps it is just harder because we seem to be the only foreign tourists in Brazil right now! The word for bus station, in Portuguese, is “rodoviária” but the “r” is often, but not always, pronounced as an “h” so one needs to ask directions to the “hodoviária”. Now here in Curitiba (pronounced “Cuhichiba”) the bus station is also a train station for the famous Serra Verde Express, which we are going to journey on tomorrow. The train/bus station is called the “rodoferroviária” and it is pronounced as the “hodofehoviária”. Tomorrow, when we catch the train we are going to a town called Morretes and this is pronounced “Mohechis”. Let´s hope the
hide on the hailway chain is a good one!
We left Santos on Sunday morning in brilliant sunshine for our lengthy journey south to Curitiba. The first third of the journey followed the coast and was pretty uninteresting, because unlike the coast between Rio and Santos, south of Santos to the border of Paraná province it
"Rua 24"
Modern mall in Curitibais far more developed and the Atlantic rainforest is further from the ocean. The bus stopped at two main towns along this coast called Itanhaém and Peruibe; no idea how to pronounce them either! Our route then swung inland to cut through lush forest to join the main Sao Paolo to Curitiba highway. From this point on, for the rest of the journey, we could not tear our eyes away from the stunning scenery as we passed high forested mountains, wide sparkling rivers and eventually came to Curitiba, after seven hours on the road, with just a half hour stop at a town called Registro, which is really not worth trying to pronounce; we had a loo on board!
Curitiba is an affluent town, very clean, very green and people walk pet dogs on leads. It is unlike any other South American town that we have seen. It is an elegant city and it has wide streets, lots of parks, immaculate verges along the roadsides, no favelas or gangs of street dogs and smart but reasonable hotels where English is spoken! The food is also the best we have had, but on the downside it is cold.
For the first time we need heating instead of air con and tomorrow we are going to see if we can buy some warmer clothes! It is really very nice here but perhaps it lacks the atmosphere that other Brazilian cities have in bucket loads; we miss the street dogs!
On our first full day, yesterday, we found our way back to the rodoferroviária to buy train and bus tickets; the Serra Verde Express train tickets for Wednesday, to Morretes, to return here on Thursday and bus tickets for Friday morning to take us further south. We then spent the rest of the day walking around the historic centre of the city. Note: there is nothing really old in Brazil, compared to Europe, although it is certainly historic. Curitiba, for example, only really became a town with the coming of the railway in 1885 and most of it is post WW2.
Today we used a “Hop-on-hop-off” bus. This tourist bus covers a route totalling 43 kilometres and the journey takes two and a half hours. One is able to get on and off four times on the circuit, which we did, so including time
Curitiba is a garden city
beautiful landscaping everywhere for lunch it was a full eight hour sightseeing day. Our first stop was the Railway Museum, next the Botanical Gardens, then a garden dedicated to Polish immigrants and this was established when the Pope visited in 1980 and last but by no means least, one of Curitiba´s many parks, the Parque Tanguá. We were the only non-Brazilian tourists on the bus but, unusually for Brazil, the recorded commentary was in three languages, Portuguese, Spanish and English.
The Railway Museum, “Museu Ferroviário”, housed in an old railway station, is very small but it shows how the railway would have looked in the late nineteenth century. The Botanical Gardens, “Jardim Botánico”, were only established in 1991 but they are delightful and one could say that they have become Curitiba´s trademark, since photos of the metal and glass palm house are used frequently to depict the city. The Pope´s Wood, “Bosque do Papa” is tucked away in natural forest and contains seven log houses once the homes of Polish immigrants and a little chapel which Pope John Paul II blessed when he visited. The Parque Tanguá with its dancing fountains and lush foliage,
"Two OAP tickets please"
"Singles only please, in case we don't make the return journey!" is a great example of urban space being re-utilized; it was once an old quarry.
Today´s bus tour was a great way to see the whole city. This evening we need to pack our rucksacks once again to check out in the morning to take the train to Morretes. We are leaving the rucksacks here in the hotel´s luggage store, just taking our small backpacks, because we shall return here for one night on Thursday. Then on Friday we are getting the bus to a place called Guarapuava, half way between here and Iguazu. Meanwhile, we must pack the
hucksacks and set the alarm to get up early to catch the
chain!
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