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Published: March 13th 2006
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Curitiba City Square
I've seen dozens of them in 9 countries now but they always impress me since nothing like this really exists in Canada. Well after my departure from Rio de Jenairo (for the last time I
figure, but for some reason I doubt that) I had to decide where to go. Ry, Jord and Gav were heading to Sao Paulo (cringe) and then onto the waterfalls. Since I had already visited them, I decided to head west and hopefully see a little bit of Uruguay before meeting up in Buenos Aires. I figured it would be an easy task moving from major cities (Rio de Jenairo and Montevideo) but buses that go that distance are very infrequent (several thousand kms), especially now that Carnivale is long since passed. I would have had to wait in Rio for several days which I really did not want to do.
I broke out my guidebook and started picking towns to the west and jumped on a bus. Yesterday I woke up in Curitiba which is a very large city (the capital of province/state Paraná) and roughly the same size as Vancouver. It is supposed to be a booming city with many young people and quite fun. I spent the day touring the town visiting the university and the central plaza all while biding my time for
University
In the center of Curitiba I discovered the University of Paraná, and apparently its the easiest school in Brazil for SFU students to exchange with. the next bus to Porto Alegre. I even found an ancient Ciné (movie theatre) and had planned to see an afternoon show but all they had was March of the Penguins and I already saw that back home, plus it didn't feel right watching penguin related filmography without Jacky.
The bus stations here in Curitiba are simply amazing (city bus stations, the equivalent at home would simply be a bus stop -not thelong distance bus station(s)) because they look like futuristic glass tubes where you enter on one side, pay the attendant, and once the bus pulls up the tube slides open directly where the door of the bus is and you embark. Consequently you pay before even getting on the bus and enter quickly so the bus takes off, instead of fumbling for exact change beside the bus driver and holding everyone up. Plus the exit off the bus connects to the other end of the glass tube and everyone walks out the opposite side onto the street. I thought the idea should win a Nobel prize!
Regardless, instead of seeing a Portuguese movie I found a nice authentic Brazilian restaurant where I had a good meal,
Porto Alegre
View towards downtown away from Rio Guiba. the only problem being I accidentally ordered fish of the menu thinking that Fillet and Filé were the same thing, one being fillet similar to fillet Mignon, the second being a filé like the fillet of fish at McDonalds (baaaaarf). After attempting several bites, coating the fish entirely in vinegar and plugging my nose, I managed to get half a piece down before pushing it away and ordering a banana split (anti fish eaters would cheer! -you know who you are)... if only they had wasabi or something to completely mask the cursed flavours.
After lunch I waited in the bus station and managed to catch up on my reading, my pack was getting ridiculous with 9 books in it, a hefty queue caused by my lack of reading recently. I managed to finish three books in the last week and now working on my fourth -half of them falling apart in my hands and simply being tossed out after completion. Plus heaps of missing entries in my journal that need to be finished (I am way behind) all make the bus station waits extremely productive. That night I got onto a bus headed for Porto Alegre which is
Black Market
So many forbidden fruits... further east, closer to the border of Uruguay and Argentina.
Porto Alegre is the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul and rests on the shore of Rio Guiba. This river empties into an enormous lake, just southwest called Lagoa dos Patos. The city thus far upon my initial exploration seems really nice, the waterfront is more industrial but I am sure with additional time I would be able to discover the more pleasant places on the river where one can actually swim and lounge in the sun. There is apparently a rather grand market here with all kinds of interesting things for sale because of the proximity to Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. There are all kinds of Gaucho goods for sale including the cuia (gourd) which is this bizarre tea drinking device I see everyone with and plan to check out for myself and possibly purchase once I learn what it actually is and does. In the meantime my bus for Uruguay leaves tonight and I plan to stow my bag and check out the market and some other places in town. After a day in Uruguay I rendezvous with Jordan, Ryan and Gavin in Buenos Aires.
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