Holiday Inn Express Sao Jose Dos Pinhais Curitiba

Hey everyone!

As you can see, our blog titles are getting a bit exciting, so you might need to calm down before you read the entry. We spent lots of time on buses yesterday, going from paraty to sao paulo, then to curitiba. One of the most interesting points to mention is that on both journeys we were sat in seats 11 and 12. Coincidence? Probably. At the first service stop Dave bought biscuits before realising that we could buy a 500ml tub of choco ice cream for only £1; he spent about ...

... for money but the downside was that there was little of interest for us to explore.

I am sorry to have to report that we stayed in the Radisson because both of our usual sources of information on accommodation (Trip Advisor and Footprint South America) failed to give us any moderately priced rooms that had aircon and Wi-Fi. The internet did not help either, so we gave up and opted for the formulaic but predictable delights of a business hotel. However, it was ...

... there, it has been excellent. The first time I wrote about it was here. I would have taken some pictures of me eating the ginormous burger, but my hands were too covered in tasty burger juices...

And if you look closely at the pictures, this is about how much luggage I need to go to site for a week. One ...

... Oscar Neimeyer Museum which is a really interesting art museum. At night, I went to a couchsurfing meeting at a bar. To my surprise, there was a band playing country music there! I was even more surprised when half the people at the bar knew the lyrics to all the songs! Apparently a lot of people in Curitiba like country music for some reason ...

... car for 207 Reais beginning on friday until tuesday. Just after the first km happend a small acident with an truck, because he crossed our line. After this we were nervous and tried to call the Primeira Viagem auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

... the airport. Once at the airport we would spend our last 45 minutes hanging out before her flight. We said our goodbyes as she left for her home. I then headed back to the bus station in Sao Paulo to board my bus heading to Rio. I stayed in Curitiba 4 days longer than I had originally planned, but how could I leave. Another great week in Brazil!!!

... who he fell in love with but she leaves tomorrow to start college at Duke. Thiago is very sweet and very ´legal´ (Brazilian slang for cool) also. He spent the first 12 years of his life in Germany with his mother and step father and his half brothers. He is an incredible soccer player and played professionally in Germany and then 6 years ago he moved to Brazil to live with his father and he was asked to play for one of the professional ...

Today Elias left to drive back to Porto Seguro and I flew down to Curitiba. Nothing too remarkable about the flight. It was a little late, but that's to be expected here. Then the cab ride took longer than it should have 'cuz I got a new cabbie. And he didn't know how to find the hotel. But once I got into Curitiba, this is one nice place. I'm right ...

... to the neighboring town and the complex where he lives and works. As he parked the car outside, he asked, "What do you want to do today?" I said, "Carlos, right now my heart is so full of happiness it's about to explode. Just being here with you old friend is enough." We sat in happy silence, tears filling our eyes. That night Carlos and Celia invited us to their home for a churrasco (loosely translated as a steak fry), a little special welcoming ...

... 2 decades here! These were people I grew up with. Getting there was a bit of a pain in the ass...I ended up taking 2 buses and traveled for about 17 hours. I had been planning on buying a plane ticket...but just before Easter, all the air traffic controllers went on strike and a shitload of flights were cancelled or delayed by hours (sometimes days). I didn't want to risk spending Easter at the airport...so I took the bus instead. At the bus station, my Dad ...