Curitiba

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Having arrived at the Falls quite early, we didn´t really need to stay overnight in Foz do Iguacu, and instead got a night bus to Curitiba, 9 hours away. Curitiba is one of Brazil´s model cities, regarded worldwide as an exemplar of urban planning, and a very desirable place to live. There´s not much for the traveller, however, and the reason we came here was actually for the trip *out* of the city - one of Brazil´s last train lines runs from Curitiba through mountains and rainforest to a town called Morretes and eventually to the coast, and it´s supposed to be a stunning journey. You´ll probably note the use of the word "supposed" as unfortunately we didn´t get to experience it! Our guidebook states that trains leave at 8 and 9am, as does the train operator´s own website, but we turned up for the 9am train only to be told there wasn´t one. We didn´t get any further details as to why, and in fact the information leaflet the lady at the station gave us also stated that trains departed at 8 and 9, with definitely no mention of variations on particular days or seasons, but there you go!

Our 2 nights in Curitiba weren´t a total waste of time, however, as it was a pleasant enough place to ease ourselves in to the Brazilian way of life. The language had come as a bit of a shock to us from the moment we crossed the border, and we were feeling a bit disorientated. Even with no prior knowledge of Spanish, it was familiar enough to us so that, with the help of our phrasebook (which turned out to be invaluable - thanks Laura!), we could get by fairly well from day 1 in the rest of S America. Portuguese, however, just seems totally alien, and even with a phrasebook, the pronunciations are just beyond us, even as I´m writing this, 3 weeks later. Our next stop after Curitiba was Sao Paulo, and I can´t tell you the trouble we had trying to get our bus ticket - they had no idea what we were saying, even when pointing to a map. To be honest, we still don´t know how it´s pronounced - although we do know that Rio is "He-ooo".

We also learned in Curitiba that the fantastic buffet we had in Foz was far from unusual, and that buffets are a way of life here, with "pay as you go" restaurants everywhere. Just fill your plate up, get it weighed, and pay on your way out the door. The quality of the food at these places is generally great, and the buffet style has allowed us to try lots of local dishes that we might have been wary of ordering a full portion of in a normal restaurant. Our "5 a day" fruit and veg had also become more like 5 a week in S America, so we´re also appreciating the variety of salads and vegetables on offer at these places - we can ward off the scurvy for a little while longer at least!

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