I like Curitiba

We flew to Curitiba without incident on Saturday morning. Having to fly out at 4 in the morning is a pain, but I did get a little sleep on the plane. We had a bit of a scare I guess in the Sao Paulo airport. Our flight had to leave from the international departures area because it was going to Argentina after our stop in Curitiba, Brazil. Billy's visa doesn't permit reentry, so we were concerned about having to go through the customs/immigration control desks. But they're not idiots and when we showed them our tickets to Curitiba we got waived through - no passport check or stamping required.

Our hotel here in Curitiba is the Mercure. It's very nice. I'll post some pictures later. We have a two-room suite. The first room has a kitchen area (microwave, mini fridge, counter w/ mini sink, cabinet & drawer with 2 each of plates, cups, mugs, saucers, bowls, knives, forks, and spoons), a desk/table, a couch, and a smallish (maybe 19") flat screen TV on the wall. And a door to our balcony :) The second room (there's a closing door in between) has the bed, closet, and bathroom. I like almost everything about this room better than the Brisa da praia, except the bathroom is smaller, the air conditioner is in the bedroom so it doesn't cool the living room much, and there's even less storage space (even though it's a bigger room).

When we got here, they gave us a room on the 13th floor. That's the top one with rooms on it. The 14th floor has the gym, squash court, saunas, and pool. We unpacked and went for a walk around the neighborhood. It's a rather fancy area with fashionable shops and restaurants. We ended up at a less trendy but actually open at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon restaurant. It was basically a diner, but they served cocktails :) I had a fantastic drink - strawberries and apple chunks with a bit of vodka. With a cinnamon stick for a stirrer. Basically, it was more of a fruit salad in a cup than a drink. When we came back after our late lunch we took a nap. I got up again around 6:30 PM and fiddled on the internet for a while. At 8 I went and woke billy up so we could get dinner. We went to a Cuban restaurant we'd seen in the afternoon. It was very good.

Unfortunately, when we came back, our toilet wasn't working. It wasn't flushing very well before we left, but maintenance was going to come check it out in the morning. It was essentially non-functional upon our return so we had to change rooms. Having a toilet is kind of an important part of staying in a hotel. So I had to pack everything back up and billy went to try and explain the situation to the front desk, Brazilian dictionary in hand. Luckily, the guy at the desk spoke English pretty well and quickly got us a new room. The one he'd chosen was a two-level suite instead of a side-by-side . Billy had stayed in one of those last time, and as cool as it sounds, he didn't want to deal with our big heavy suitcases on tiny spiral staircase that leads to the bedroom. So the guy rebooked us again into a room exactly like our first one but on the 8th floor. We unpacked again and went to bed.

Sunday we slept in, then went for a walk around the area after breakfast. We went through a pretty park and down a long pedestrian only shopping street. Everything was closed except the drug stores and lunch counters. There was a fair number of people out walking around though (it was beautiful out). We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to try and figure out what to stock our kitchen with. But we didn't have any money with us, so we have to go back tonight to buy some breakfast and lunch food. We went out for a late lunch again, but headed the wrong direction to find any restaurants open at lunch. We wondered a bit trying to circle around to the area we'd walked around in the morning. We ended up finding a bakery that was open. They had fantastic displays of desserts, but a few lunch items too. We each got a chicken pie thing called an empada and then discovered they had a buffet in the back. So billy got some quiche too, and we picked out tiny pieces of a bunch of desserts to split. It's all very tasty. I'll probably go over for a lunch or breakfast buffet a few more times. You can either pay by weight or a flat rate. On the way back we discovered that the office billy needs to go to for work is actually on the same block as the hotel. We can see it from our balcony (jut not the side with the logo on it). So billy can walk to work instead of dealing with a car.

I worked most of the rest of the afternoon. There's a variety of ethic restaurants around here - cuban, chinese, swiss, german, portuguese, italian, and american. We went to the american one last night. It's a fancy burger joint called Mustant Sally. I saw some people eating these amazing looking chili cheese fries, so I decided to get a chili wrap instead of a burger. Billy had a burger sampler platter with five tiny burgers. We will definitely go back. The burgers were amazing. As in seriously the best burgers we've ever had. And the dessert - WOW - it was an apple tart served in a hot skillet with a huge scoop of icecream. Then they pour thin camamel sauce over the top at the table. It boils when it reaches the skillet. It was amazing. We resisted the urge to order a second one.

Why we're flying to Curitiba

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Billy's been back and gone again

I left off the last update just before leaving for the tour, so I'll pick up from there. The tour was of the old historic district, not the actual city, it was free, and you got to see a capoeira show. The tour was in Portuguese, so we didn't really understand any of it. The jist is that there's these super old houses and a couple churches from the colonial days. As in these building are all from between 1500-1800. The colony was at the top of the hill, so there was a gorgeous view of the ocean. I'll post pics if I ever get them from the guys.

After the tour, we had the bus drop us in town for lunch and shopping. The guys wanted to get some stuff, like hammocks, gifts, etc. Well, at lunch time, even on a busy tourist weekend, it turns out none of the stalls are open. Only the brick and mortar shops, and those are overpriced. We grabbed some lunch and walked around for probably an hour before grabbing the bus back to the hotel.

I then had to work for the afternoon, but planned to go back to town for dinner and the concert that night. We decided to put off going out until about 9:30. At 9, we got to together to 'pregame' like college students. We sat around drinking cheap vodka with orange fanta discussing politics, religion, Big Brother, and a variety of other random topics until 11. We never did get dinner, but finally made it to the concert around 11:30. That was fun, I got to go dancing for a bit with the guys and some brazilians they'd met previously at a club. I bailed at around 1:30 and caught the bus back. I wanted to get some sleep before going snorkling at 7:30.

I didn't end up going snorkling though. I didn't get much sleep because apparently I'd gotten food poisoning at lunch. I've been here for months and never gotten sick like that! Figures it would be when I was gonna go out for a fun tour. Luckily, the tourism council girl gave me back the money I'd paid for the trip (about $50). I spent the morning feeling horrible, but eventually the medicine kicked in enough that I was ok. I didn't get an appetite until 3pm. Since lunch the day before I'd only had a couple bites of chocolate bar, some fanta, and one slice of watermelon I forced myself to eat for breakfast. Anyone who knows me knows I rarely go more than a few hours without eating, so I was very sick. When I was finally able to convince myself to eat, I decided to try out lunch at the Toa Toa across the street. It's slow because it's so busy there, but the food was yummy. I got a huge pastry filled with chicken. So much that I had left overs for the next day! After that and the mango juice I felt a lot better.

We got together for dinner again that night around 7 or 8. We were all tired and indecisive, so we just walked over to the Toa Toa. For dinner I split a yummy chicken rice veggie dish. There was a really good capoeira show, then these weird singer that everyone went nuts over! Basically, it was like the brazilian Tom Jones. Yeah, it was weird. Very weird. And it turned out it was actually an impersonator (like how people go crazy for elvis impersonators sometimes). He was a good singer though. The place pretty well died after he left. I hit up the dance club portion for a couple songs, but the guys wouldn't come dance to the electronica music, and even that part of the club started to die down, so we left. The guys went downtown for another concert and were out most of the night I'm told. I went home, called billy, and tried to get some sleep.

Yesterday, I worked all day and the guys went on a full day tour to another beach town. Billy made it back from Ipatinga in record time, but had to make lots of phone calls and write emails when he got in. We went out to dinner at 8 (just for tapiocas) and the guys came along. We left them downtown so they could finally do their shopping. Billy had to go back out again at 10:30 PM to the airport to buy a ticket for a flight out today. Yes, the ticket counters are open that time of night. He had to go then, because the place wasn't open we he tried in the afternoon! So he was here for the night, went to work as usual in the morning, got back here at 11ish, showered, packed, and left again. He'll be gone until Friday this time. At least he gets to fly instead of drive (it's really far to wherever he's going in southern brazil). Then I think we both pack up all our stuff and fly to Curitiba this weekend. I'll let you know when we get those plans finalized.

Busy few days, but it was nice to have people to hang out with for once!

Being out by myself is creepy. That's why I never do this stuff on my own. Just sitting on the bus alone was bad enough (weird drunk guys blowing kissing through the window, etc. - so glad the only people who got on the bus were couples and chicks!).

Happy Earthday!

Happy Earthday everyone! I'll be back later or tomorrow with a new post.

Billy has now left for Ipatinga. I'm not going because he's supposed to come back on Tuesday. Two days driving for 1 day there is too much for me. So I stayed behind. But, I should have a great time without him.

Yesterday, I was working and using our internet, so he went down to use the computer stations downstairs. He ran into a couple of guys who are here from England. So we went across the street to the Toa Toa for some drinks with them. We invited them to come out to dinner with us too. It's nice to have someone to speak English with! We hung out chatting for quite awhile. I got a bit drunk at the restaurant. I only had two drinks (the Hi-Fi is my new favorite drink - it's just like a screwdriver) but they must have been very strong. 

The guys had been planning on going snorkling today, and invited us to come. Billy couldn't, obviously, but I was going to go. That trip didn't pan out, so we're going on a city tour today, then snorkling tomorrow. I better go shower so that I get to the bus on time!

Back home again

That's right. I said I'd update my blog and and I did. So there.


I'm back in Brazil now, and attempting to make up the hours I missed of work from traveling monday and tuesday. Technically, I did work tuesday, nearly 4 hours to be exact, while in the airport in Sao Paulo. They have this great place called FastSleep where you can take a nap, shower, etc. We had a REALLY long layover (9:30AM-5:30PM), so we were in there for about 5 hours. I didn't sleep (got to sleep on the plane pretty well), but I did take advantage of the free internet to log into work.

Our travel started at 3PM Monday when the limo came to pick us up. Then the four hour drive to JFK that for once only actually took 4 hours. Which meant we were 3 hours early for our flight. Quick checkin at the business class checkin and super secret private security line. No, we didn't fly business class again, but Billy's platinum status on Delta gets you a few perks. Like that we got to chill in the Delta Crown room instead of the waiting area. At least until it closed at 9. Then we got to go to the really nice business class lounge that stays open until everyone's flight leaves. That one had some free food (super tasty chocolate mousse dessert) AND a bar. The first one only had some free drinks (Billy had amaretto, I had hot cocoa).

The flight was over half empty in coach, so Billy laid down in the 3 seat across middle section and I curled up in two seats by the window. 3 seats would have been a lot more comfortable, but I still got a few hours of sleep. First I watched the two movies they played: Martian Child and Golden Compass. I liked them both. I have a feeling the Golden Compass book is a lot better than the movie. I think I'm going to read it sometime. The food would have been a TON better up in the front, but my cheese ravioli wasn't too bad, and it came with a little salad (mmm, creamy italian dressing), a roll, butter, crackers and some cheese. But I don't like swiss so I gave billy my cheese. They also let you have a free beer or wine with dinner. I only drank half and let billy finish it. Once I was done eating, I wasn't interested in it anymore. In the morning, we got OJ, hot tea, a croissant (actually not too bad), strawberry jam, a nature valley cinamon granola bar (love those things!), and a banana that was NOT ripe enough. I let billy eat that, and he gave back the one he'd gotten. They kept all the bananas people didn't eat to give back out again I think. Makes sense, the problem was they weren't ripe enough. So if that sort of thing bothers you, don't eat the fruit on the plane next time.

We landed early, went through customs and got our luggage without much delay. Worked in the fast sleep (billy napped most of the time), took a shower, checked in for our domestic flight, ate a late lunch at the pizza hut in the airport (surprisingly quite like a normal pizza hut pan pizza, except that it came with chicken and catipury like all good brazilian pizza does. They served it as two slices still stuck together with a small salad (which by some miracle comes with salad dressing!). You're supposed to eat it with a knife and fork. I cut it in half and we each had a slice. Then we got another one of these things with pepperoni and split that one too instead of going for dessert. There was no wait at security afterwards (laptop out, shoes still on). So we hung out in a quiet deserted gate until our flight time got near. Moved to our gate, found we were delayed a bit, tried to access the various wifi signals (all either locked or subscription), and talked about retirement investment accounts until the plane came. We were nearly in the back row of a fair sized plane (row 27). Flight was good, and we could disembark via the rear exit - gotta love that. Bags came quick in Porto Seguro, but it took a while to get the rental car. I don't think it was a language thing, I think she was having general computer issues. Got our car, drove to the hotel, aka. 'home'.

It feels more like home here than it does at our house. It's certainly more interesting, and I get to interact with more people. I'm going to try harder to learn portuguese (I swear!) and practice on the staff. The buffets are a lot smaller because it's the off season, but that also means it's less crowded. The club across the street is still rocking through. Last night we went over and got to see a capoeira performance for a bit before we came back to unpack. We got to sleep after midnight, but at least we were totally unpacked.

And this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see our original maid. She was way better than the replacement we had our last two weeks here. Not cleaning wise, they all rock at that, but she was good about trying to get in the room while I was out at breakfast or lunch. She actually paid attention and realized that I was in the room all day working (perhaps because I leave the door open sometimes for the breeze), and tried to work with my schedule. I hope we really do have her every day.

For the record...

We're back in NY. But we go back to Brazil Monday. I'll start blogging again then.

Or maybe I'll just actually start!