Curitiba e Capivara - Primer día en Brasil - Día de la República

Me and Addi´s first full day in Brazil is today. We landed about 7 pm last night in Curitiba after a 3 hour delay. I was a little bit freaked out because they were saying they couldn´t tell us the problem and last year there was a big plane crash in Saõ Paolo last year with the same company, TAM. The Brazilians were really upset and some of them were yelling. One guy stood up in the plane and made an announcement, wanted everyone to file a complaint and then he had a huge fight with the pilot. It was actually very funny, but Addi and I were like: Please don´t piss off the pilot!



Addi with Juvenal and Mario.

Mario de Santos Neto, a Brasilian of Icelandic descent whom I´ve been in touch with since May (when he and his brother Juvenal visited Iceland) picked us up and drove us to the hotel Trans America, very nice hotel in the center. very nice choice Mario. Obrigada! We had a shower and the brothers picked us up at 9:30 and we had dinner at a nice restaurant close by. We both got a rucola salad, really good. Although I was scared of eating fresh veggies here I thought it would be alright at a fancy place like this. Then we got a Chorizo steak from Argentina. I wanted it well done and Addi medium. I usually like mine medium or medium rare but I´m too scared of getting sick. I haven´t forgotten the infection I got in Mexico City 7 years ago and being in the hospital in Canada after was no fun. So...I actually got the medium steak and Addi the well done one. I had like 5 bites and I had enough. The taste was really strange. At around 12:30 am we were back at the hotel, totally exhausted (the trip from Paris to here took more than 30 hrs).

This morning I thought it was the middle of the night. My head just wouldn´t move from the pillow. Breakfast was amazing and I ate like a pig, as I usually do. Then the Santos brothers picked us up and took us on a tour around Curitiba. First we went for a two hour walk around Parque Barigüí. The sun was shining. Lots of people all over because today is a national holiday. Brazil became a republic on this day in 1889, not long after the group of Icelanders came here. The Santos´s great grandfather, Karl Albert Baldvinsson came here at age 14 in 1873 (called Carlos Alberto in Brazil). At the park we saw not only people, dogs and birds but we saw this amazing creature they call capivara . It´s huge, but reminded us of our little guinea pig we had, Aggi, who died from a heart attack in my hands after being exposed to our Beagle, Talía.



Capivara - the biggest rodent in the world!

After this very relaxing walk...my god...the Santos brothers are always so relaxed! We feel so good around them. There´s no such thing as stress over here. We went to a restaurant called Rei de Camarão or King of Shrimps and had all you can eat seafood - Rodizio de frutos do mar. Afterwards we went on another walk to Memorial Polonês - The Polish memorial Park and had Sol beer close by. How relaxed can you be!? I wish I could import this feeling of relaxation. I would become a billionaire if I could...hehe...

Now we are resting at the hotel before they pick us up for dinner again. Tomorrow we´re having a meeting with a travel agency here in Curitiba and then we are driving to Florianapólis, an island about 4 hrs away.