It's amazing how near death experiences (a bit melodramatic) bring people together. We flew from Foz to Curitiba in a thunderstorm. Of course it was raining. A couple of times we fell from the sky, seat-belts the only thing holding us in our seats. Passengers screamed and cried out. The pilot aborted his first approach to the runway. When we finally landed in Curitiba we cheered in unison, as if celebrating a Brazilian soccer game. As we collected our overhead luggage and waited for the airplane doors to open people laughed and conversed as if old friends. There was no rushing and pushing as often occurs in airports. No silence and inner-city defensive staring into the middle-distance. We looked into each others' eyes and smiled deeply from within. We got through this together!
From Curitiba we took the Sierra Verde Express on a lazy Sunday. Whatever the title suggests the train is not express, it idled through poor Curitiba neighbourhoods, past shanty homes, railroad shelters and burnt out cars and garbage filled streams.
As we descended to the coastal town of Morretes the scenery changed dramatically. Thick forest, rusting old railroad bridges and steep elevated valleys.
In Morretes a man fished with some string tied to the end of a stick. Hawkers handed out restaurant menus. Tourists clamoured for a taste of the local stew: Bareado. It is served in hot clay pots. Salty strings of beef (well they said it was beef, I hoped it was beef). Our Bareado was topped with sweet caramelised banana stew and washed down with a large complimentary cup of the owner's very own rocket fuel.
From Curitiba we took the Sierra Verde Express on a lazy Sunday. Whatever the title suggests the train is not express, it idled through poor Curitiba neighbourhoods, past shanty homes, railroad shelters and burnt out cars and garbage filled streams.
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| The colourful carriages |
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| The Sierra Verde Express: slow but scenic |
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