Archive for September, 2010

It is amazing, that a mere 90 minutes flying from Rio de Janeiro, can  bring about such a dramatic change in a cities persona , from that of what we have encountered in the North and Far North to that where we presently are in …. Curitiba in Southern Brazil.

From the blistering heat and the beautiful blue skies and teal coloured seas of Fortaleza,  to the hot steamy but wetter climes of Rio de Janeiro….to the now quite cool ( at times) spring like temperatures with morning mists and high humidity of Curitiba.

We have been overwhelmed by the rubbish strewn around much of Brazil to date, and our arrival in Curitiba was an almost identical repeat of our last visit in 2007 when our comment was why cannot the rest of Brazil follow the example of Curitiba and pick up their rubbish ( or more precisely don’t drop it  !!!!)

Curitiba appears to be a very clean, tidy and orderly city. There is little armed security and it is nice to visit a bank without armed guards.

I think if you examine this blog carefully ( and maybe read between the lines ) or in other words understand things I have not written but made innuendos of……you will understand why this city is so different to other cities in Brazil.

If you thought maybe it is because Curitiba is a small city then NO ….it has a population of at least 2 million with a greater municipality totalling 3.5 million. Is it because it has little industry or manufacturing ?….NO.. Curitiba has a huge car manufacturing base making BMW, Mercedes and Scania Trucks for the entire South American market and beyond.

It is certainly a city with a facinating past and one I highly rate in now this the second visit we have made here.

To get a good picture we need to go back in time almost 300 years.Even at that early time it was a place earmarked for an interest in science, and the arts…especially architecture.

In 1668 the tiny hamlet of Curitiba was promoted from a Hamlet ( a place that qualifies as a hamlet must have a Church)……to a village. It also was given the powers of  its own local government but the 90 or so families did not enact that role until 30 years later.

Perhaps we need to jump foward until 1871, when things really started to progress , brought about by a large influx of immigrants from Poland. Today Curitiba has one of the largest communities of Polish people outside of Poland.

Today it is a ground breaking  “model ” city with many inovations that have been exported around the world. It has one of the best, most efficient and futurestic trasnsport systems, and leads the world in that it recycles 2/3rds of its  cities waste.

It has a truly innovative museum  …..a building made in the shape of an eye that is suspended over a pool of water to reflect a water mirror. In Portugese this musuem is called Museu do Olho ( Museum of the Eye).

The foundation stone reads Curitiba was founded in 1653…..way before my time, but if true ( and there is no reason to believe otherwise)  makes it one of ther oldest cities of both America’s ( North and South) .

The name Curitiba  translated means Pine Nut , because of the then large number of Pine trees  in the area.

It is a very innovative city when it comes to elections ….where the local Government introduced touch sensitive computer screens for voting. I am sure many other cities would find this a real cost saver in time and efficency.

Buses play a huge part in public transportation. It is thought that over 50 per cent of the cities population use bus travel. Some of the special buses can carry 270 passengers at a time. There is a huge inter state/ inter country long distant coach hub situated in Curitiba with over 50 coach companies offering services ( more in a future blog).

Curitiba is home to many strange and in some cases endangered species. It is also the place where on one the most feared creatures on the planet is found ….the red bellied Parana  ( properly spelt Piranha ) a fresh water fish with razor sharp teeth that attacks in large shoals and can strip flesh off large animals in seconds. One stays out of the water in Curitiba ( apart from our rooms shower) especially in the dry season where the Parana are at their most dangerous and feared.

Finally the defining difference to this city and all the others we have visted in Brazil , and indeed South America so far…..nearly 80% of Curitiba’s population is white skinned, with less than 20% of Pardo ( brown skinned Brazilian origions) .

On our return in now less than a month there will be an extensive photo gallery for readers to view ( from all three trips to South America ) and in the case of Curitiba the 2007 and 2010 trips ….the photos are stunning.

Tomorrow we are off by bus to Paranaua for the day…..that also is a place with a past…..stay reading for I will be back soon. Please feel welcome to leave a comment in the Comments Box on how you are enjoying the blogs I write and the quality of the website…..it makes the time I spent writing them worthwhile if I know people appreciate reading them.

In the meantime take good care of yourself, and the people around you  you love.

Lindsay Walker

30th September 2010

Curitiba Southern Brazil.