Curitiba

Curitiba was an interesting city and an unplanned stop. Coming from Ilha del Mel, Johanna and I tried to get a bus ticket to Paraty, but there were all full for 3 days!! So we had to stay in Curitiba and make the most of it, which I certainly believe we did! While in Curitiba, I couch surfed for the first time. We stayed with 5 boys and one French girl that had couch surfed with the boys and then ended up moving in with them. It was a blast and completely free! Couch surfing is where you arrange to sleep on some one's couch through a safe website. There are references by real people and you can talk to the person before you stay with them to make sure you feel comfortable. With the boys we stayed with in Curitiba, Johanna had already stayed with them so I totally felt fine with them.
Curitiba is well know for its architecture. One of the boys, Dako, took me out on his motorcycle to see the sites, which was awesome! We saw this funky museum, which looked like an eye on a stick, that was designed by the famous Oscar Niemeyer who designed Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. We also visited the Botanical Gardens which are beautifully perched on a lagoon.
All of the boys in the house were from the more central part of Brazil and so they all had country draws which was so funny to me! They sounded like they were singing the whole time. I loved it!
One night, Johanna, Sophie (the French girl) and I went to a club to watch live music. It was really fun to see a young up-and-coming Brazilian band perform! The music they played was a mix of Portuguese speaking original and classic songs, the Beatles and Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were really good! I couldn't believe they didn't speak English by the way they sang it! Such a weird phenomenon. The crowd went wild for every song, Brazilian or American the same which was cool to see. I just wondered if they understood the lyrics!
One night we did get a chance to drink and party with the boys as well. I showed them a couple drinking games from the states and they LOVED them!
Overall, Curitiba was an unexpected, time travel event, where were were arrested in place, yet reminded of carefree college summers years ago. It was sweet and very homey.