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Published: March 4th 2010
The tally so far...
hostels with hot showers: 0/3
plane rides: 3
long haul bus trips: 1
injuries: 1
So on our last day in Rio we donned our evil backpacks and headed down to the bus stop in the 36 degree heat. We were heading to the bus station a few hours early since only Brazilian citizens can book bus tickets online. According to our Lonely Planet, a bus ticket would cost about 32USD, but once we got to the station we found that only 2 bus companies went to Curitiba and they both charged the same price of R$104 (AUD64).. another hit to the budget. But the bus turned out to be really nice. We got free food and water, pillow and blanket and the seats almost lay all the way flat. Somehow we both managed to sleep most of the way. The 12 hour bus trip turned into 15 hours as we got stuck in standstill traffic in the middle of the night.
Curitiba was much much colder than Rio, we arrived to a cool 15 degrees and grey skies. Checked into hotel Maia, opposite the bus station. We had a weird little corner
room with an ensuite that had an air vent fashioned out of a brick with holes in it. We could hear everything going on in the bathroom in the next room, lovely. We were beyond starving when we reached Curitiba, since the last full meal we had eaten was almost 24 hours previous. We found awesome markets next door to our hotel, all fruit and veg and numerous delicatessens.. a real Nicole shopping heaven. We found a place that served crepes and we both dug into a massive meal, only to feel ill after eating a tiny amount because of our shrunken stomachs.
Next day we arranged tickets for the Serra Verde Express, a train that goes through the jungle and mountains between Curitiba (inland) and Paranagua (a coastal port city). The train ride was absolutely amazing. It wound through the thick jungle and along the edge of massive mountains with nothing between us and the sheer drop of hundreds of metres down to the forest floor. The view was beautiful and stunning.. check out the photos and make sure you have a look at the attached videos too.
On the day we caught the train, it didn´t
go all the way to Paranagua, but dropped us off in the tiny town of Morretes. The town looked a bit dull at first, but since it was so small we walked all the way around it. It was so cute and quiet, nestled at the bottom of the high mountains. All of the streets were cobbled and a gorgeous river ran through the edge of town. We found a restaurant to eat at, which ended up being the best meal ever. Our waiter was so helpful and found us an english menu and gave us free local alcohol, we had passionfruit shots. We got so much free food we couldn´t eat it all, free entrees seem to be a thing here.
The return train to Curitiba was quite expensive, so we caught the bus for the cheaper option. The ride was about 2 hours, quite a lot of it going up the side of the mountain on a cobbled road. The road was really skinny and with a high mountain on one side and a huge drop on the other. Aaron loved to giggle at my discomfort as the bus turned all of the corners looking dangerously close
to the edge. The view was amazing though.
Nothing much to do at night in Curitiba, so we tried out our in room TV. There were some local shows but many english dramas and movies, voiced over in Portugese... soooo funny. I´ve never really liked The Simpsons, but I can assure you it is totally hilarious when voiced over in Portugese.. it didn´t matter that we didn´t understand a word they said!
Thats it for Curitiba... onto Argentina tomorrow!
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carol ruigrok
non-member comment
who's not having hot showers
Scenery looks fantastic, I can imagine you Coley, fists clinched as shear drops down the side of a mountain. All the botanical plants look beautiful, simiar to the bird of paradise here! Take some clippings, I'm sure customs want mind. Looking forward to the next installment. Off to NZ on Tuesday 9th March 2010, to see Granddad - spending 10 days over there. Love you always and keep safe xxoo Mum