Curitiba - Ahead of the Game
Trip Start
May 17, 2008
1
31
40
Trip End
Ongoing
Curitiba,
State of Parana,
Brazil
Sunday, September 28, 2008
So when I planned my travels through Brazil, Curitiba wasn't originally on the list of cities to visit. Later when I found that Curitiba is considered to be Brazil's most functioning cities and has a model transportation system that is considered one of the best, not only in Brazil, but in the world, I thought ... that's definitely worth a look ... I'll give it 2 days.
I have been in Curitiba a week now, but the city can't take full credit for that [see Era Uma Vez].
Sept. 27 - Arrived in the early morning with some time before check-in, so I put my bags in guarda malas (bag storage) at the Rodoviaria (bus station) and went for the tourist information office nearby and most importantly to the train station where I could get information on the Sierra Nevada Express train to Morrettes
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. Afterwards I went to the Mercado Publico. All of which were located close to the Rodoviaria (bus station). When I take on a new city, I usually do so by map areas to make the most economy of my time and travel within a city. Lonely Planet has pretty good maps and since I was near the Rhodavaria and had time before check-in, I thought that I might as well do everything of interest located in the general area. I usually make a copy of just the map and start walking hitting all the highlights, knowing that you can´t truly know a city unless you walk it. I absolutely love all of the Mercado Publicos I have visited in Brazil, but there was a new twist to this one and the city of Curitiba in general ... "Asia" ... There was a lot of Asian influence in the city and the Mercado Publico in general. My new friend Analise would later tell me of a Japanese group of 30 that she once showed around Curitiba. They were amazed to meet so many Japanese-Brazilians who, of course, were speaking Portuguese. Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.
After check-in, I met in with some new friends for brunch and café. My dorm-mates were Everton (Brazilian) who speaks Portuguese and Spanish, but no English and Elijah (French) who speaks French and English, but no Portuguese and of course me (the American) who speaks English and Portuguese, but no Spanish
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. You should have heard the 3 way conversations made possible by my recent induction into the world of the multi-linguals. Afterwards I and Everton went for some light-hearted shopping, chopp (draft beer), and bachayal. Everton proceeded to educate me on the colorful names of women's skin tones in Brazil.
Loiras (blonds), Morenas (brunettes with some color), Mulatas (coffee or brown-skinned), and Negras. And how the Loiras really like the Negros, which I found interesting in that, so far (from my own personal experience here in Brazil) the stereotype seemed to be living up to the hype. Lucky me, right!. He also told me that he wouldn't consider me Negro but Mulato because of my skin tone. This I found fascinating and maybe a little hard to believe, but Everton just smiled and said that I would see what he meant when I get to Bahia where the majority of the population is much darker than me. Now for you Americans who have never been to Brazil, what you have to understand is that from Everton's point of view (and probably most Brazilians) this all has nothing to do with race or any of the attachments of race that come with the concepts of race that Americans would normally think of. This was all just about skin-tone.
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Money is green and her eyes are blue and my skin tone is Mulato or negro or whatever. And to think we were doing all this conversing in Portuguese. It still amazes when I can communicate in this other language. Back to Curitiba - True to form, the city seems to run like a well-oiled machine. Every sidewalk was tiled in these interesting designs and around every corner the tile patterns would suddenly change. After a few days I was trained to wonder and anticipate what new tile design the next turn would bring. Ahhhh ... the tiles!!!
If you look at the recycling systems used in Curitiba, the reuse of normally unusable spaces (like all the old granite quarries that were turned into ecological centers and parks), the well designed bus system (and I hear they are already planning for a transit system), Curitiba was definitely ahead of the curve and not just in Brazil.
For some recommended articles on race in America and Brazil see the following: http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum-world/index.cgi?noframes;read=95
