So we’re now in Curitiba with only one more day before we head to Rio to join our tour. We’re staying in a budget hotel which is pretty utilitarian but we can’t complain because it’s so cheap, and it has access to a tv station with shows in English. We haven’t really spent too much time in the city here since it’s like the Adelaide of Brazil in terms of nightlife, but we’re hoping to rectify this by going to a band called Zombie Walk in the municipal cemetery tonight. The city makes up for it’s sleepiness with its location within some pretty stunning jungles and mountains. Yesterday we took a spectacular four hour train ride from the city to the colonial town of Morrettes, which led us through tunnels, alongside lakes and mountains and over dizzying gorges full of dense jungle canopies. The crappy blurred photos below really don’t do this train ride justice.
We arrived in Morrettes at about 12:00 in the afternoon, and wandered around the historic district which is where the locals uphold the tradition of peddling crap to tourists. The buildings were distinctly colonial South American with tiled roofs and occasional bright colours weathered away by the tropical climate.
Consequently it started to get wet so we decided to have lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river. I ordered this traditional beef stew with orange and banana in it (i think, unless I misread the menu) and Amelia had a vegetarian pasta which was incredibly salty and only came in portions for two people. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive it started raining, and then absolutely pouring, subsequently followed by really close flashes of lightning. Next thing the lights flickered out our restaurant as well as all the surrounding buildings. At one stage we saw a bright flash followed by a zapping noise really close to Amelia, which was then proceeded by the loudest thunderclap I have ever heard. We think that the metal awning support may have had something to do with it. Needless to say Amelia decided to move seats.
After lunch the rain cleared up and we had a last quick look around town before heading to the bus station to catch the 3:50 back to Curitiba. We assumed the bus ride wasn’t going to be as spectacular as the train, and while it wasn’t, it came pretty close. The road back to Curitiba was paved and fairly narrow, and took us through small towns and past camping grounds (which we would have liked to have stayed at if we had more time here), and wound backwards and forwards up this incredibly sloped hill, such that you could see tree canopies directly out the window as we drove past, with an ankle-high guard rail (read line of stones) preventing an uncontrolled descent to the bases of the aforementioned trees. Fortunately the bus took it slow. Slow enough to cause a lineup of 5-10 cars behind us. It also managed to hold up traffic coming the other way; since the corners were so tight oncoming traffic had to reverse out before we could go around. It was pretty funny, however the drivers of the cars seemed good natured about it.
Today we’ve just been lying around the Hotel room, catching up with our precious internet (which we have to pay for here, the bastards so we’re getting the most out of our 24 hours), and tomorrow we jump on the bus to Rio to join up with our tour and hopefully catch the tail end of Carnivale. We’ll keep you posted.
-Sam-
bonito!! xo
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