Curitiba, Brazil

We caught an 11 hour overnight bus from Rio de Janeiro and arrived in Curitiba for a two day stop over on the way to Foz do Iguazu. We decided not to be caught unprepared this time and took jumpers on board to combat the aircon, and purchased food to combat the hunger. As it turns out the bus provided blankets and pillows to combat the air con, and food to combat the hunger. Our hostel was only 5 blocks from the bus station which saved us from catching a taxi. We found out eventually that we were staying in a fairly rubbish area of Curitiba which can be quite dodgy at night. Thankfully Curitiba nightlife is also generally rubbish so there wasn't much need to leave the hostel at night.

Curitiba is a small city by Brazillian standards of 1.4 million people, and is a bit off the standard gringo trail. The motive for our stopover here was twofold. Firstly, it cut what would be a 20+ hour bus from Rio-Iguazu into two manageable portions, and secondly, Curitiba has long been considered one of the best examples of urban planning in not only Latin America, but the world. Because I'm a loser, I decided to check out a city that I studied at uni first hand.

Curitiba has the benefit of being a young city and learning from the mistake of places like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Two bus systems were developed; a standard metropolitan bus similar to most other cities around the world, and an express bus service that are double length and have dedicated lanes to avoid traffic congetion during peak times. These buses are accessed from the tube-like bus stops all around the city. The fare is paid on entry to the bus stop, bus pulls in, bus pulls out. It's not drastically different from any other bus system but the little changes they've implemented means that it works remarkably well. In addition to this, Curitiba boasts ridiculous amounts of public open space per capita which is noticable just walking around the city.




For our first day we took advantage of the tour bus which, for a price of R20, will take you around some 15 of the cities attractions, including 4 'hop-offs'. The circuit take about 2.5 hours, with buses every 30 minutes so it serves as a good, quick and cheap way to see Curitiba. We opted to stop off at; El Jardin Botanico which is apparently world famous:


Museo Oscar Niemeyer which beyond the work inside it was an amazing building:




NB: The museum consists of two parts linked by a tunnel that goes under the lake.

Parque Tangua - an old quarry that has been gentrified into expansive parklands:



and the Torre Panoramica which is a telecommunications tower providing great views of the city:



On our second day we decided to head to the historical centre which was walking distance from the hostel. Unfortunately it was Sunday and everything was closed. On the plus side as everything was closed, it was alot quieter and easier to walk around. The buildings that comprised te main square had been well maintained/restored with many having quite elaborate detailing.



We then headed off to Atletico Paranaense Stadium to try to get tickets for the derby between Atletico and Coritiba that night (we confirmed with the hostel that the stadium will be full. Refer Rio post). Due to the short notice the game had already sold out, however there were plenty of locals loitering willing to scalp seats at heavily inflated prices. We passed in preference for an early night before an 8am departure the next morning.

Next up: Iguazu Falls (from both the Brasillian and Argentinian sides), then onto Buenos Aires!