Curitiba and Serra Verde Express

Wednesday 9th March.

Another good breakfast, checked out and got taxi to the main Sao Paulo, Tiete bus station, for 25 Reals where I exchanged my voucher for a ticket and then had about an hour to wait. It's a huge bus station with 75 bus bays and dozens of bus companies. The concourse is lined with shops, cafes etc. I can see how long distance bus travel works so much better than railways in South America. Governments build the roads, which they have to do anyway, and the bus stations. Commercial companies then compete for business and can be very flexible. Easy to switch buses from one route to another, change timetables; there is a relatively low cost of entry, any company can start with one bus.

Sao Paulo Tiete: Big Bus Station

The bus to Curitiba comes in a few minutes late so we don't leave until about 1140. Everyone's ticket is checked against passport or identity card which smacks of 1984; no documentation no travel. I think the seat next to me is empty until, just as we are leaving, a big, butch woman in her 30s asks me something in Portuguese and sits down beside me. She has a persistent cough which doesn't make me too happy.

It takes well over 1/2 hour to leave Sao Paolo along a wide expressway passing through industrial areas, a big Ericsson factory, some very poor areas, with what look like jerry built houses clinging to the hillsides, and possibly the worlds ugliest Holiday Inn, a bright yellow ten story slab with vertical stripes. I Googled it to find a pretty picture of it with architectural accolades at http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=251315&page=13

It didn’t look so pretty from the road.

Later we are passing through mountainous rainforest, quite surprised so much exists. Some has been cleared for agriculture but most looks pristine. Many trees with pretty yellow, white or purple flowers. The road is quite narrow, just two lanes and being widened, partly by simply extending it sideways, and partly by building completely new viaducts and tunnels. Quite slow here but later we are on the wider new dual carriageway and we speed up. About 3pm stop for a break at motorway services near Registro. Travel through many more miles of rainforest interspersed with agriculture before hitting the rather ugly outskirts of Curitiba. But it gets better as we approach the centre with wide straight roads and modern buildings. Again it is a huge, well organised bus station with none of the seedy run down appearance I usually associate with them. 

Welcome to Curitiba Bus Station

Saw the hotel as we were coming into the bus station so it didn’t take me long to get there. The guy on reception speaks good English so no hassles there. Another pleasant room with three beds; Goldilocks again.

The guy at reception is keen to sell me a package for the Sierra Verde train; 240 Reals sounds quite expensive but would save me the hassle of trying to buy a ticket early tomorrow morning. Check the weather forecast - where would we be without the internet? - not good, thunderstorms, so decide to do the train on Friday. In which case I have time to check on buying ticket independently.

Google shows several places to eat nearby; one of them is closed and another two are fast food snack places but find Baba Salim a Lebanese/Syrian place that is packed with young people where I had a Moroccan rice and Antarctic beer. Someone is shooting a video. Often wonder what you get with half a ton of video camera that you don't on the amateur cameras that weigh 100 times less. A professional presenter is interviewing the owner of the restaurant and trying some specialities. Then the presenter sees a small teapot and repeats the whole of the intro, rubbing the teapot to make the owner pop up like a genie. Always impressed by presenters who make it all look so natural and easy when in reality it is very contrived.

Baba Salim

Thursday 10th March

Good breakfast selection. Then went to the train station to buy ticket for tomorrow. The station is hidden away behind the huge bus station but once there an extremely helpful guy, speaking excellent English explained the different classes of travel and suggested the best ticket combination. Walked back towards the centre of town through moderate rain.

I like Curitiba much better than Sao Paulo. It looks well planned and more prosperous. Yes, there are a few people sleeping rough but nothing like the numbers in Sao Paulo. Most of the city looks quite new but the old centre has some pretty buildings and a pleasant square. It looks even better when the sun comes out. The people who laid out Curitiba seem to have followed the Spanish approach to town planning with a sensible grid iron, unlike the planners of Sao Paulo who used tangled knitting as their inspiration. In Brazil town planners love cobbles; there even cobbles in the motorway rest stop. Cobbles look pretty and quaint but they make for an uneven, slippery-when-wet, walking surface that must be a challenge for people who are unsteady on their feet. And to further confuse people the cobbles are sometimes laid in patterns that make the pavement look more uneven than it is. 

Does the pavement look as if it has ridges and furrows?

Up a slight hill, there is another square, more a triangle really, and another church, Jesuit I think, with the coffin of a long dead priest in the entrance. Some of the pretty buildings look like bars and restaurants so plan to come back this evening. 

Jesuit Church in old part of Curitiba

Old part of Curitiba

Pleasant Square in old part of Curitiba

Of more immediate interest, there is a cafe attached to an art museum where I can enjoy a coffee. A short distance down the hill is a modern building "City Memorial" which celebrates 300 years since the foundation of Curitiba and seems to be an exhibition and performance space. Interesting architecture with mural covering one wall which I think is supposed to represent the history of Curitiba since its founding. It includes a theatre and I could see some actors in their make-up. 

Mural in City Memorial

From there walked down the hill and out to the Botanic Gardens. Followed the road signs and Google which took me parallel to a railway line and through an area of light industry and bus parks. Once I reached the gardens realised I could have followed a parallel road through a more salubrious area on the other side of the tracks. The gardens are very pleasant and always show up in photos of Curitiba but they don't really compare with Regent's Park, or Kew, for example. The centre piece is a Kew-like glass house. Despite the damp weather today it is quite warm so the glass house doesn't seem to be doing much but I have read that Curitiba can get quite chilly.  Outside lots of heron-like birds are nibbling at the grass or something in it. They only attempt to move away when I get within a couple of metres of them and then they only move just far enough to keep their comfortable distance. The faster I move the faster they move.

Curitiba Botanic Gardens

Bird just keeps me at a constant distance

Araucaria Trees, a species native to South America
and probably food for dinosaurs

Felt I had done enough walking today so I got one of Curitiba's famous long buses back to the hotel. Each of the pod-like bus stations has a cashier who takes money to let you through the turnstile, 3.70 flat fare. The system looks to be very efficient. Jakarta has copied it but I wasn't very impressed with their version. 

One of Curitiba's Famous "Bus Stations"

Buses to all Destinations

Suitable for Straight Broad Avenues
Boris wouldn't like them

After a day looking round Curitiba I am quite impressed. Much pleasanter to walk around than Sao Paulo, yes there are people sleeping rough but far fewer of them. Curitiba doesn't have any "must see" attractions; most of its buildings are nondescript modern blocks, but it's done a great job of creating an attractive liveable city centre.

Back at the hotel booked a bus back to Sao Paulo for Saturday and a night in an Ibis close to the bus station. 

Later in the evening went back to the old town where I had a burger, salad and half bottle of Chilean Carmeniere at Madero which seems very popular. They play music videos and I was amused to see an original piece of Beatles footage accompanying Penny Lane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rB0pHI9fU&ebc=ANyPxKrVrDF16MM0THCAiinunPRT-v1mncnHw_UaHKbeE5MViwtcQdidbzK8dkT-h1QVZhE2tj1e7idf1eoyCDRp4HGwi10LEA

Walking back to the hotel found the street where all the young people hang out.

The "in" street for young  Curitibans

Serra Verde Express

Friday 11th March

Early breakfast and down to the station. Cool cloudy day; hope it brightens up. The helpful guy at the ticket office suggested being here 20 minutes before departure but that was a complete waste of time, waiting over 20 minutes in a crowded waiting room with hundreds of other people who were probably all told the same thing. Boarding of the train didn't start until 0825. But after that it all went smoothly, found my seat in the "executive" coach which was less than half full. Our train guide introduced herself and soon we were off, at not much more than a fast walking speed along the line I followed yesterday, past the Botanic Gardens. Think over half the people in our coach were from US, one Estonian, a Welsh woman and a couple of others I missed. The main advantage of paying for "executive" was an English speaking guide; the unlimited snacks I could have done without and even I can't face unlimited beer at 9.00 am. The first hour was through the unexciting outskirts of Curitiba and then through pleasant grassland and woods. But after a tunnel we were plunged into beautiful rain forest and from there it was all downhill physically but uphill metaphorically. To help things along, the sun put in an appearance and stayed with us off and on for the whole journey. The train followed almost vertical mountainsides, crossed wild rivers and ravines, passed lakes and we just caught a glimpse of an amazing deep canyon. As the Welsh woman behind me said "You don't know which way to look". Lots of bright yellow and violet flowers, which I think are Cassia and Tibouchina (based on http://www.arkive.org/eco-regions/atlantic-forest/image-H10)

and white flowers of what I think our guide told us was wild ginger.

Our Train

Flowers in the Forest

Deep Ravine

Waterfalls 

Lake in the Forest

Descending to the Lowlands

Some great photos at: 

http://www.treehugger.com/travel/riding-serra-verde-express-worlds-only-train-cross-atlantic-forest.html

Something I hadn't realised was that while long distance passenger railway services have virtually ceased in Brazil, there is still considerable freight traffic and this amazing mountain railway is the link between Curitiba and the port of Panagua. Which, of course, is why the line was built, not to amuse tourists.

More information on its history and some photos taken while it was being built at https://www.wdl.org/en/item/1427/

Clinging to the Edge of the Mountain

Building one of the Viaducts

Since it is mostly single track, we had to stop to allow a long freight train of bulk wagons to come up the hill, two locomotives at the front and another pair in the middle. After we arrived in Morretes, the terminus of the passenger service except on Sundays, I saw a freight train carrying over 50 shipping containers heading up the hill towards Curitiba. 

Morretes Station.
Considering the number of tourists who use it
I would have thought some sprucing up was called for

Not just for Tourists

Danish containers heading up through the forest and mountains

Morretes is a pretty enough little town on a river but it didn't take me long to explore as much as looked interesting. I didn't really feel like a heavy lunch or buffet, which is what most of the many restaurants are offering, so eventually settled on Cafe com Pause where I had a tasty tomato and cheese crepe, coffee and a beer;  think I am their only customer. I liked one of their posters “Life is what happens between coffee and wine”. Morretes has about 3 hours a day to make money from the tourists who come in on the train and since most come with organised tours, they are immediately whisked off to a few big restaurants, which look full, leaving the rest to pick up the crumbs, like me.  According to our guide, apart from tourism, the mainstay of the local economy is agriculture.

Morretes

Morretes

Morretes

Morretes

Morretes

Soon I was back on the train which left just after the scheduled time of 3.00pm, this time I was in the standard tourist carriage which had a slightly harder seat and a constant Portuguese commentary. Fuller than the Executive carriage but still not much more than half full. Brazilians make much more noise than North Americans, possibly because there seems to be a big party of women in our carraige. Just as enjoyable going back with a mixture of sunshine and cloud. 

In the evening it was raining so went across the road to Bierburger for another burger and a Curitiba Pale Ale; not bad.