Curitiba is known for being a very advanced, environmentally friendly, organized, clean, and well planned city. From a urban planning and landscape architecture point of view it was a terrific city to explore. As I'm traveling I am taking photos of good design ideas and Curitiba had plenty. Parks were mixed all throughout the city and everything looked very lush. The city was so green that plants were even growing all over the tree branches.
One of the highlights of Curitiba was the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. Oscar Niemeyer was a famous Brazilian architect known for his modern architecture. The museum was designed by Niemeyer and showcases his work and as well as a huge collection of modern art.
In the evening I went out with Rafael, his sister Carolina, and a big group of other “couch surfers” www.couchsurfing.com I was a fun night out listening and dancing to great live music.
The next day I went to the Botanical gardens with Rafa's mom, Ieda. She was such a sweet woman and so helpful with my Portuguese. From the botanical garden Ieda went back home and I hoped on one of the open air tourist buses to see the sights around the city. There were loads of parks and civic areas all around the city. It was a good day touring around the city and then another great night out with Rafa and Caro and some of their friends.
The next day I saw more of the downtown before going with Rafa and Caro to see their dad at the family's country house. It was a Saturday morning and the people were out in mass on the streets and in the parks. There was also a roving labor protest add some excitement to the weekend crowd. One of things that stuck out most about Curitiba beyond all of its great parks and open spaces were all of the newspaper and magazine stands, they seemed to be everywhere.
The country house was very cool and unique. It was set in a very dense and beautiful landscape about 20 miles from the Pacific coast. The night we arrived Rafa's girl friend Mariana joined us and we all had a great time drinking cashasa and wine with Rafa and Caro's dad, Attila.
Attila is a great artist who is currently working on several sculptured panels for the town of Piracoara, not far from their cabin. The clay panel in the photos is a 5:1 scale model of what will be one piece of the final work. The next day we got to see the artist in work, then left him to his work while we went on a hike through the lush forest. Along the way we passed by a trout restaurant/farm and even made it to the huge tree that marks the furthest point in the Iguazul watershed. A few days before I saw the incredible falls and then I here I saw it's humble beginnings. Then in the evening we had a great barbecue before making the drive back to Curitiba.
The next day I caught up on some things then left that evening after a few more beers with Rafa, Caro and one of their friends. It was great meeting the whole family and it was a great to see Curitiba.
Cemetery Portrait
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