Curitiba - Paraná - Brasil.

Hello, travelers. Today I am here to talk about the city I was born and raised in. That is called Curitiba and it's in the South of Brazil. Six hours from São Paulo by car, Curitiba is the ecological capital of Brazil. It is known to be the "London" of Brazil, because of its snobs, its weather(cold and foggy) and its development in culture(related to the north of Brazil). I've lived in Curitiba for 16 years and it was my biggest pleasure to be raised there. It is a wonderful city to live in. Curitibanos(people who are born in Curitiba) are considered to be snobbish, and that can be true, but don't forget we are talking about Brazil, which has the warmest people in the planet. Curitiba can be a very provincial city. There isn't as much liberty and freedom to people who are off the wall to get off the closet as San Francisco, the city I live in now. But Curitiba is also a very good place to raise your kids. It is like living somewhere everybody knows everybody, even though it's a Megalopolis. Curitiba is just lovely, my little old mother-city that I know is waiting for me to always come back and say I'll never forget her. And I won't, not in this lifetime. I love it very very much.

Sal Grosso, outside tables at Largo da Ordem.

So let's talk about the places to go! 16 years can be a whole lot of experience for someone living in a city. So yes, I know about Curitiba as well as I know myself. The night is one of my favorite things in Curitiba. You can try many different bars and clubs and you'll love most of them. One of my favorite bars in Curitiba are: O Torto, Café do Teatro, Mafalda, Baba Salim, Wonka Bar, Korova, James Bar, Bar do Alemão, Sal Grosso, Era só o que faltava, Casa di Bela, Jokers, Mustang Sally, Peggy Sue, Empório São Francisco, Jacobina, VU, Ponto Final, Kitinete, Retrô e Porão Rock Club. These are some of the bars I used to go when I lived in Curitiba and they were all very nice, but very different from each other. If you need more information about a type of bar, let me know and I can try to help you out.

Parque Barigüi.

Another thing I like about Curitiba are the parks. My favorite is Parque Barigüi. I remember when I used to jog with my mom in it and it was a very nice feeling. There is an amusement park in the park and also, little boats in form of swans. On weekends, this Park turns into a mess, full of people, dogs, kids running around... it's very funny.

Curitiba is also known as the shopping mall city. There are a lot of them everywhere. I think it's because it rains a lot, so people want to stay inside a place most of the time. Shopping malls are great for that. There are all types of shopping malls in Curitiba. There is Crystal Shopping, the one for the riches, Curitiba, the one for the people that live in the metropolitan regions, Park Shopping Barigüi, Müeller, Paladium... a lot of different shopping malls all around town.

MON.

There is one museum that is really famous in Curitiba. Museu Oscar Niemeyer, also known as MON. It's in MON that most of the modern and more important expositions are held. There is a huge part of the building that has a form of an eye, so a lot of people call it "The Museum of the Eye". It is really nice.

If you want to drink and talk in the daylight, a good idea is to head to the Park "Bosque do Alemão", where you can find little places to sit down and ask for a beer. If you don't know much about brazilian beers, they are very light. My favorite is Bohemia... it is a very soft and delicious beer and it's one of the most expensive ones, being really good.

Largo da Ordem.

Another good thing to do in Curitiba is to wander around Largo da Ordem(an old city downtown that has not been rebuilt, looking just as it used to). It is my favorite thing to do, at daylight or night. When it's in the afternoon, you can try going into the "Casa Lilás", which is a little lilac restaurant in the middle of the Largo. You can sit down in the grass, eat some petit gâteau and drink a coke. It's delicious, there's nothing else I love to do more. It's my safe-place. You can also go to Largo when the "Feirinha de Domingo" is held. It's on sunday mornings and you can stay at the Wonka Bar from night until the light comes up and the fair starts. I've done that before and it's really cool, but you have to have a lot of energy. In Largo da Ordem, you can also go to the "Ruínas São Francisco", where there's a theater-like place and it looks like ruins. It is opened. Also, there is the Memorial of the city, which is a beautiful place too(mainly to have romances played around).

"Diagnóstico: Paixão!", play held in the theater "Pé no Palco".

One really cool thing I love about Curitiba is the theater. There are a lot of theaters everywhere and there is a theater festival every year in Curitiba, where a lot of plays are presented in one month, everywhere in town. It's beautiful, my favorite time of the year.

Ópera de Arame.

The "Ópera de Arame" and the Botanical Garden are very beautiful places too. They are far from the center of the city, but they're worth seeing.

There is one street called "Rua XV", that holds everything from stores to crazy people wandering about the street. Some people call the peak of the street "Boca Maldita". It is a very nice place to walk and see people and feel the heat of Curitiba's heart.

Morretes.

A very nice thing to do is to get down to Morretes, which is a city close to Curitiba. There, you can see how a really small town in the middle of the nature is. You have to eat Barreado and go down the river with a buoy. The city is fantastic and it's good just to hang out and have fun in the little center, eat a lot of different things and see the hand-made souvenirs.

Edelweiss, a boulangerie in the rich part of Curitiba. Delicious!

If you want to eat well, Curitiba is the place to go. Brazil is the best place to eat you can ever find and Curitiba is not bad in that question. There are a thousand delicious restaurants you can try, including the churrascarias(barbecue places) where you eat all you can. Madalosso, Churrascão Colônia, KF, Batel Grill, Babilônia, Spaghetto and Taishô are some of the restaurants all around Curitiba that are really, really, really good. There are several others too... anywhere you eat in Curitiba is normally very good.

Biblioteca Pública(Public Library).

If you like reading, there are some good places to find books in Curitiba. Either you can go directly to the main library, in the center of the city, next to the "Boca Maldita" or you can go to the "sebos". The library rents books and they have a building full of them. It's just beautiful to get in and see it. But the "sebos" are places where you can find used or new books for better prices than a regular book store. Books in Brazil are very expensive if you don't know your way around. But if you go to the "sebos", you can find some great bargains.


Largo da Ordem, next to the TUC.

Curitiba is the cleanest and whitest city I've been to in Brazil. It is good to remember that I was raised in a city where people praise their values, yet it is such a Megalopolis. Today, I realize that Curitiba is not my place anymore. I have it inside me that if you live all your life in one place, you'll be happy, but blind. It can feel good, but feeling good all the time is not what I want for my life. Maybe when I grow older. But then, I will have so many places that I'll feel good at that I'll have to choose between them. Curitiba is always going to be one of them. Or better, the first. Since it was the first place I've lived and it is in my comfort zone. Can't wait to go back and see friends and family. That's the best thing about the city, for me.