Today, we arrived in Curitiba about 1/2 an hour earlier than we expected to, which is a bad thing. Why? Because we planned to use the bus as a hotel, so arriving 1/2 an hour early means less sleep. Since it was 5:30 a.m., we killed some time researching the horários (schedules) for our next departures (a national park, and then Blumenau). When it was finally light outside, we walked the mile to the cheapest hostel/hotel in the book. I think we woke the caretaker up (it was 7:00 by this time). I don ´t know if she really had no room, or if she rejected us because we got her out of bed.
Since we were starving, on our way to the next place, we stumbled into a little cafe and inquired about the fare. There was a sopapia (sp?) looking thing under the counter, and she called it pizza, so we gave it a go. OH-my-god. It was SO good. It was some kind of wonderful cheese, a slice of ham(?), and a tomato inside a pocket of deep-fried bread. I think we ´re definitely going to make another meal of it before we leave this place. While Pat was on round two (he ´s about twice my size. Well.. almost) I wandered down the street to inquire, baggage-free, about the next hotels on our list. I found one for an excellent price. A little run-down, but far from deplorable. Since we got really poor sleep on the bus thanks to the city lights, crying babies, and zero leg room, we decided to take a nap. And, like usual, one hour turned into three. And, I just have to add here, when I say zero leg room, I mean zero. Pat has a problem by default, but even for ME there was no leg room. The really great/terrible thing about the majority of South American busses is that the seats recline about 3x ´s more than a U.S. bus or airplane seat. Kind of like your personal vehicle. But that means that the seat in front of you pretty much lays right in your lap. And if you want to have any room at all, you have to lay your seat onto the lap of the person behind you. And so on and so forth. It wouldn ´t have been so bad, but the woman in front of us was very ill-tempered. When she laid her seat back, it wouldn ´t go any farther once it ran into our knees. So, she turned around and glared at us and started slamming her body against the seat to gain a few more inches. Then she glared at us again before she huffily went to sleep. And of course, when we arrived, she wasn ´t courteous enough to return her seat to it ´s upright and locked position, so we were stuck until Ms. Hotty-Totty got off the bus. And of course she just sat there until everyone else had gotten off. Was she trying to spite us?
After our accidental three-hour nap, we showered up and hit the streets. We knew we wouldn ´t get much accomplished, so we planned just to see the Museo Novo, and art museum designed by the famous architecht Oscar Niemeyer (the same one who did Edificio Copan in São Paulo).
The outside of the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. So cool!
A view at night. You can see some little car things behind the eye for size reference. I dont know about all the writing… I got this off a webpage.
Now, in this team-operation of Pat + Jema, I am the directions 1/2 of the team. I have a pretty good internal sense of direction, and if I see a map, I ´m set for sure. Pat… not so much. But for some reason, as we were walking towards the museum, everytime we came to an intersection, I felt confused and uncertain. Usually I know exactly where I ´m going. So after checking and re-checking the map every five minutes, just to be sure, I finally realized what was going on. My internal sense of direction has a lot to do with landmarks. When it ´s shining, my landmark is the sun. Because it ´s winter here, the sun in much closer to the horizon, just like winter in the states. However, the thing that knocked off my internal equilibirium is WHICH horizon it ´s closer to. I was stunned when it finally dawned on me – the north horizion! I felt like I was in some kind of parallel universe the whole day. Trippy!
We happened upon a plaza (going the wrong direction, thanks to my north/south reversal) and found a popcorn stand. We went for the salgado (salty), and realized within the first handfaul that the dark colored chunks were BACON. It was weird (why is EVERYTHING meat flavored here!?), but we ate it anyway. A pigeon ambled over and started pecking at the meat chunks we ´d tossed out, so we tossed him a piece of popcorn. Then a little bird came along about 1/15th of his size and STOLE his popcorn! The sneak just flashed in and out! We felt sorry for the poor guy, so we tossed him a few more kernels, and before we knew it, every SINGLE pigeon within a mile flocked to us. It was freaky! It ´s like they have some kind of system! So we quickly dumped out the last handful for the birds and high-tailed it out of there!
When we finally got the the museum, we were in total awe. The main building is shaped like a giant eye on a pedestal coming right out of a pond. It ´s really futuristic; very cool. The rest of the museum is up on pillars, so we wandered around underneath it taking pictures inside these giant wooden cones and trying to figure out just where we were supposed to buy tickets. Finally we found someone guarding a door who let us know we just walked two miles for excersise; the museum is closed on Mondays. Grrrreaaaat. Cést la vie! At least we got to see the outside!
Since we were hungry again, we started looking for a restuarant. But it seems this city has a thing about Mondays. Every enticing establishment we passed was closed! ARGH! I ´m so tired of frickin x-salada! (That ´s a cheeseburger). But the only food places open were the regular mom-and-pop snack shops (which are EVERYWHERE!) that sell only fast-food. YUCK. After walking another mile or so, we were finally so hungry that we decided to try out this middle-eastern fast food chain. Pat ordered the mini-pizzas (Esfihas), and I got something called a fogazza. I generally order according to the price/quantity principle so I don ´t end up stuffed with 1/2 my plate still full. I had my choice of cheese, meat, or romeo and juliet. Neither cheese nor meat is especially appealing to me, so I went for the third option after the cashier told me it contained cheese and woeihasfalkdjfow. My price/quantity theory failed me miserably, and I ended up with a giant entreé of deep fried bread stuffed with some kind of sweet cheese and jelly. I can ´t say it ´s wasn ´t delicious, but I was so stuffed I couldn ´t walk comfortably. UGH.
The rest of the day consisted of miles and miles of walking. First to the bus station, then to a plaza with theoretically free internet, then around and around looking for any internet (this town seems a little behind the times as far as that goes). I don ´t know how we found this place!
A side note: through-out our travels so far, I consistently note the differences in travelling-solo and travelling with a partner. Each has its merits, and I certainly recommend both. Alone, I had a lot more time to reflect, think, and fully participate in the experience. When you can focus all of your attention on what ´s going on around you, you notice a heck-of-a-lot more! However, the really great part about travelling with someone else is it ´s so EASY! When we get to the bus station, one person can sit with the bags while the other person runs errands. I don ´t have to carry my backpack to the bathroom and all the ticket counters. And it ´s awesome to have someone to share all the really cool experiences with. When you ´re excited and have no one to tell, it ´s definitely different. Anyway…
Tomorrow is the famous Curitiba to Paranaguá train ride. We ´re excited!
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