For The Love of Travel

An early breakfast at 6am and we are off to explore fauna on the river. A very bumpy open air truck ride to the water’s edge, with a fantastic 3 hours to follow on the river. Great Egret, Great Keeskadee,  Yellow billed Cardinal, Nanaday Parakeet, Jabiru, catapulting caiman, and ‘mr cool’ caiman…can I swim right by you??

And later in the afternoon,  a walk to the monkey tower to get a view over the wetlands.

Thundery showers predicated for tonight and tomorrow. I am leaving for the Jaguar House Boat, some 6 hours drive away…it will be an amazing 4 days on board to see Jaguars, anacondas and other wild animals!!!!

 

Arrived in Cuiaba from Curitiba at midday and 6 of us met in the airport arrivals hall responding to our guide Nelson’s large white card, which had all our names. Introductions completed, we were spirited off to lunch at a ‘kilo restaurant’, you choose your food from the buffet, they weigh it and charge you accordingly.

Then time to head for the Pantanal area, a 77kms journey to our hotel in the wetlands, Pousada Araras Eco Lodge.

And we were very excited to see some local fauna on the way….giant anteater, great egret, caiman and hyacinth macaw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A night safari followed dinner and we actually saw the rare Brazilian tapir and crab-eating fox. Here are some nice images from Google (mine were not)…

 

Walking through the middle of Curitiba’s historic centre, there’s no chance of missing the city’s cathedral, Basilica Minor of Our Lady of Light, which dominates Praça Tiradentes. Built in 1876 in the Neo-Gothic style, the church features several stained-glass windows and paintings by artists such as Italian brothers Carlos and Anacleto Garbaccio. The structure was designed by a French architect who is said to have been inspired by Barcelona’s Metropolitan Cathedral, another large, Gothic place of worship.

Just to the left of the Cathedral is an example of Curitiba’s Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system.  The city has had an urban master plan since 1968, the first city in Brazil to have dedicated bus lanes.
– The BRT is cheaper to run than a tube system. Some employers subsidise their employees who use it.
– 80 per cent of travellers use the BRT.
– The bus rapid transit system uses triple section bendy buses. It carries 2 million passengers a day, including wheelchair.
– The bus fare is the same wherever you go.
– No one lives more than 400 metres from a bus stop.
– Urban growth is restricted to corridors of growth – along key transport routes. Tall buildings are allowed only along bus routes.  A transport gunzel’s dream, is Curitiba!!

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho — known as Oscar Niemeyer — was a Brazilian architect who is considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture, giving modernism a little samba flair!  His swirling forms and his curving lines replaced European

modernism’s harshness with softness and ease, as smooth as Brazilian jazz. His work is sensuous, almost hedonistic. He designed numerous houses, with a magical combination of lushness and spareness, and some spectacular high-rise housing and museums. Niemeyer’s architecture of exuberance was all the more striking because his politics were so far away from the lush, indulgent world that his buildings suggest. He was a lifelong communist, with a serious commitment to left-wing politics. I love his museum in Curitiba…”The Eye”.   There are 10 exhibitions on view….some of my favourites:

–  One that brings artworks from 21 artists who have blood ties with Japan. 
– David Feingold’s paintings, a floating mesh of colours and geometry 
– Photos of Valdir Cru

– Violeta Franca’s rich flora and fauna pics 

– my fave pencil etching by Francisco Faria!