One of the things I really wanted to do while in Brazil was visit my church's temple in Curtitiba. When I served a mission I got to go through the temple in Sao Paulo and the one in Recife on a regular basis while I was in each respective place (2 months in Sao Paulo to learn Portuguese, and 16 months in the Recife area to serve the people there). In fact, when I came home from my mission, I knew the ceremonies much better in Portuguese than I did in English! So I thought it would be really cool to be able to go to a 3rd temple in Brazil. Currently there are 6 operating ones (Recife, Manuas, Sao Paulo, Curtitiba, Porto Alegre, and Campinas) and there is one in Fortaleza under construction and one in Rio de Janeiro announced. Of those 8 total, 5 are in Southern Brazil. Anyway, with my former mission companion living just outside of Curtitiba we planned on staying at her house on the weekend and going with her to the temple and then on a tour bus of Curtitiba.
Dani wanted us to come Friday night so we could "take advantage of" the entire day on Saturday. I put that in quotes because to us that means we get up and going to see the sights around 9am, but we keep forgetting to take into account this relaxed Brazilian culture, which meant we actually left the house around NOON. That's just how things work in Brazil. They take forever. We bought a bed for Safari Girl on December 10. The store said they'd deliver it the next day and then come back to put it together on December 17th. When we tried to ask about a quicker date they insinuated that we were super lucky to get it done that quickly. Of course they didn't arrive to deliver the bed until two days after they said they would and they still haven't come back to put it together and it's now January 16th! That's pretty much how it's gone with anything we've ordered. The Internet guy, other furniture...it's all come not hours but DAYS after they said they would. In the States we think a four hour window for a plumber to show up is bad...try waiting at home for several days with small children and no friends while waiting for service people to show! Papai's co-workers said that's just how it is here and if you call to try and hurry them they seem to take even longer as if to teach you a lesson! On my mission we used to joke that Mormon standard time is 10 minutes late but Brazilian standard time is 40-60 minutes late. At my companion's house it means it takes a lot longer to actually get any where or do anything than we plan on. I think she had to make a cake for someone or something, and in her defense we did end up deciding to skip the temple because I forgot my recommend back at our apartment. I was so bummed!!! I really wanted to do a session there. In our minds, skipping the temple meant we could see more sights in Curtitiba. I guess it didn't mean the same thing to my friend. By the time we were finally ready to leave the house around 11:30am it was almost lunch time and she started talking about making and eating lunch before we left. I quickly suggested we had already taken so long maybe we should just get a snack to eat on the way. Thankfully, she went for that idea.
It was a good thing we skipped lunch. When we got to Curtitiba we discovered the tour bus lasts three hours! Dani and I waited in line with the kids and picked up some snacks (Cheetohs and Doritos--they have them here but they are not quite the same). Mario and Papai parked the cars. When they made it back we learned that they were parked at a place that closed at 4 and it was nearly 1pm and we hadn't caught the three hour bus yet. So they left to go repark. While they were gone the double decker tour bus came. I ran into a couple speaking English--they were here from Texas while the husband worked for a couple of weeks. They didn't speak any Portuguese and I wondered how they were surviving! They hopped onto the covered double decker bus before we had a chance to chat much. Just as the covered double decker bus left, Mario and Papai arrived. Luckily, we were able to catch another bus minutes later. Unfortunately, the top deck wasn't covered and it looked like it was going to rain.
The bus cost for $30 reais for 5 people, the bus took us around all the sights in Curtitiba. We could get off at spend some time at any place we wanted but we'd have to buy another $30 reias worth of tickets to get back on and that would make our round trip take even longer. So we talked about riding the full round trip and then driving back to the places we'd like to see in more detail later. The Boss was terrified of riding on the top of the bus so Papai and I traded off sitting with him inside the bus. I got to go up first. I couldn't blame The Boss too much for being nervous--on the turns I had to close my eyes and say a little prayer! It felt like the bus would topple over. Plus, on the top deck we were so close to the power lines that if you stood up at the wrong moment you could get fried! But the sights were beautiful! Curtitiba is supposedly the most 1st world city of Brazil. It has lots of "green" spaces. What I loved most about the bus ride was being with my friend and seeing her love of that city. Curtitiba is to her what the ocean is to me. She was in heaven being there and so excited to tell us about each sight. That was the best thing about the whole day.
This is after the tour--Papai and I are right above the CU of Curtitiba and Henrique and Safari Girl are next to us.
The 9 of us take up 5 rows of seats!
Bus stations are pretty cool here. Many are like this one and some of them are connected to a bus called the Tube which travels the city quickly because it has it's own lanes down the center of the streets that cars cannot pass into.
Buildings in the center of Curtitiba
A central bus station
More buildings/a church
This was an old gunpowder storeroom that was "recycled" into an arena shaped theater in 1976 called Teatro Paiol.
My cute view the first part of the trip. My view the 2nd part of the trip (after it started raining). Safari Girl wanted me to document that she was now on a bus because she thought it's cool that she's been on a plane, a boat, a train, and a bus on this Brazilian Adventure we're having.
Botanical Garden
Funny story here--my friend kept urging me to hop off the bus while we were stopped to take a picture at the botanical gardens. "It's fine," she told me, "The bus driver isn't even on the bus." So I hopped off and the picture on the left is the only one I got as I noticed the bus was pulling away without me! I was able to flag it down and get back on just in the nick of time. The picture on the right is taken from the bus of the trees in downtown. They are furry with vines!
Towards the end of the ride we forced The Boss to face his fears and ride on the top deck. He loved it! The boys kept reaching out their arms to grab leaves of the trees and The Boss thought that was awesome!
This is the Ukrainian Memorial called Memorial Ucraniano.
It's a replica of Saint Micheal's Church in the Mountain of the Tiger in Mallet.
It's a replica of Saint Micheal's Church in the Mountain of the Tiger in Mallet.
Another park or something. With the chaos of children, rain, and lots of other people, it was hard to follow what was going on....
This is the only telephone tower in Brazil with an observation deck that is open to visitors. It's 109 meters high and gives you a 360 degree view of city of Curtitiba. Supposedly, it's one of the most visited tourist points in Curtitiba.
Torre Panoramica
Torre Panoramica
We saw lots of memorials to different group of people who settled the city--Arabs, Germans, Italians, Polish, Ukrainians, and more. We enjoyed seeing the Italian neighborhood of Santa Felicidade, which is full of really nice restaurants and wealthy homes.
The bus ride itself wasn't all that amazing to us. We were a little underwhelmed. It was a bit hard to see the sights and between the chaos of our kids and the rain I found it tough to focus on the information tidbits (which were in Portuguese and English--with a strong Portuguese accent). Either way I had to treally focus to actually understand and that was tricky with everything that was going on. It was also tricky to get any good pictures of anything we saw from the bus. I think the bus was less tour and more just a way to GET TO the places to tour, if that makes sense. It rained on us off an on (and when it rains it pours here) and then during my turn inside with The Boss my friend wanted me to move to a seat closer to her which meant I could hardly see anything with all the people standing up in front of me. Even from the top you could hardly see anything of the sight from the road. We thought we'd actually SEE more things when in reality the bus just gave us a very general tour of the city and where everything was situated. That was fine, too. As I said, it was just fun to be with my friend and see her love of the city.
When the tour finished, Papai and I really wanted to see the temple, the German Forest, and the Wire (Arame in Portuguese) Opera House (mostly because my friend gave me a souvenir mug of it, and because Papai had had a conversation about with his co-worker trying to figure out what the word "arame" meant in Portuguese). We talked about that with my friends but then they took us to the Botanical Gardens instead because they were closer and easier to find. They were beautiful. Some memories there that stick out to me were seeing a bunch of nuns in khaki habits ( I've seen nuns in movies but I don't know that I've ever seen one in real life. How can that be?), The Boss climbing up wire stairs without getting scared (he was scared as soon as he got to the top and realized what he did), and just the beauty of the place. During the tour it was hard to understand why people call Curtitiba a first world city and why my friend was so in love with it, but stopping at these gardens I began to catch the vision.
The Botanical Garden
A little river with a bridge and rocks for the kids to jum p across, this is right in front of the wire building from the picture above.
Inside that building, up the stairs we got a beautiful view of the grounds and of Curtitiba in the distance.
I took this picture of Felipe just as we noticed a sign that said don't climb on the rocks...
When we left the gardens we were all really hungry since it was nearly (our) dinner time and all we'd had to eat that day was chips for lunch. So we set out for Habib's, which is an typical Brazilian arabic fast food place that has a play place! Except first my friend wanted to stop and take pictures at the University of Parana. I didn't feel any particular connection to this place and my family was on the verge of meltdown mode but I hopped out quickly to snap a few pictures with my friend. It was special for her.
University of Parana
Then after turning around several times and driving in circles for awhile, we found Habib's. The kids meals came with Ninja Turtle backpacks and consisted of fries, pigs-in-a-blanket, and juice. The kids did an okay job eating. Papai and I ordered fries and these little things that had a different name but essentially were just little pizzas. Mario insisted the dough/crust is different than but I couldn't tell the difference. My fresh pineapple juice was awesome and I got to drink some of The Boss's strawberry juice. Our waiter was a member of our church! It's rare to randomly bump into a church member here! The kids LOVED the playground with it's slide and ball pit and Habib's also had some video games to play and to top it off, they had a little boat ride that rocks back and forth (that makes it sound gentle but it has more of a thrill to it--even for the adults that rode it). We had dessert--churro bites for the kids, a milkshake and arabic dessert for Papai and I to split and my friend's family ordered these things that looked (again) like mini pizzas with chocolate topping (brigadeiro) and real M&Ms on top. They were super messy to eat.
Most Habib's have a playplace--this one had a slide, some climbing stuff and a ball pit.
Mini ride!
The evening ended a bit messy in the stressful sort of way. The Boss screaming because he didn't want to be anywhere near the ride when it was going--it sounded like it really needed to be oiled or something. When it finished it came to a shrieking halt and The Boss didn't like the noise. Safari Girl was in meltdown mode because she wanted to go on the ride one last time with my friend's family but not without Papai or I and neither of us wanted to go. She was indecisive so the operator started the ride and then she was bawling. The messiness continued when we reluctantly agreed to go with my friend to her mom's house since she lives right there in Curtitiba and my friend doesn't often get to see her. There Safari Girl got bit by their dog (licked or maybe nipped is more like it as there weren't any signs of an actual bite--but based on her reaction to the "bite" any person passing by the house would agree that it must have been a bite!) Then it started thundering, which frightened our nervous kids. We never did figure out why we went to the house since my friend's mom wasn't even there. We did meet her brother and see the house and I think she just wanted to share that with us. Needless to say, we were very, very happy to get home, shower, and go to bed after our fun day. We slept again with The Boss on the twin bed and Safari Girl, Papai and I sidewise on our queen blow-up bed.
In the morning, miracle of miracles, we were up and ready for church on time. My friend's husband is the bishop and since we each only have one car we couldn't be late! It was fun to go to church with my friend and see a bunch of the friends we made at Christmas. Papai took the kids to Primary so I got to go to Relief Society and Sunday School with Dani. Presidente Cruz's wife told us she had been thinking about us and wondering if she'd see us again so that she could invite us to their family Christmas party next year. We said we'd LOVE to come but I'm sure we won't be able to. That was so nice of her! During Sacrament a girl got her arm stuck in the place in the back of the pew that holds hymnbooks. It was seriously stuck tight (she was in the pew in front of us) and it took several helping hands and some oil to get it out. I felt bad for the lovely girl speaking--it was pretty hard to complete with that excitement!
After church we went home and I played Uno outside on the steps with my kids, my friend's kids' and two of their friends--Viktor and Polianna. I was amazed by Viktor's English skills. He didn't speak a ton but what he did say he said with hardly a hint of an accent and my friend said he's learned all the English he knows from playing video games. We're pretty sure he could understand a whole lot more than he could speak as well. While I entertained the kids and attempted to keep the peace between my two kids (that job alone could take up all my energy all day long!) Papai was inside chatting with Dani and Mario while Dani made lunch. Afterward, he commented on what a fun and awesome couple they are when you actually get a chance to sit down and chat with them. That was my whole plan on taking the kids--so Papai would get to know them and see that side of them. So I'm glad that worked out. We had a delicious lunch of rice, pan meat (That is a direct translation of what they called it. It was kind of a roast--like something we might do in a crockpot but she did it in her pressure cooker), tender shredded chicken in this orange sauce, and acerola (small red fruit) juice and passion fruit juice. After lunch, I did the dishes and my friend and I tried to figure out together what to do about our children. While we were chatting Papai packed up the car and we left around 3pm. They really wanted us to stay but we really wanted to go see the temple, ad nd sometimes it's just quicker and easier to do things in a smaller group.
I used this map app that supposedly doesn't use our cell phone data to help Papai navigate to the temple and boy was that a trick! But we made it. The temple was beautiful and Papai and I both thought the church really knows what it's doing. There on the grounds, perfectly placed, was a lovely araucaria that is unique to that region (and that Papai is kind of ga-ga over). We spent quite some time on the temple grounds, enjoying the peace there and the beauty there. We walked around the whole building, had the kids "touch the temple", and took lots of pictures. This was one of my most favorite parts of the day. There is no better place to go than to the temple to soothe the soul, renew strength, heal an aching heart, feel peace, and know that God knows and love you personally. It is the best feeling in the world. I still hope to go back and go inside for a session.
After the temple, we were on a bit of a high and thought maybe we'd stop by the Opera House just to see it, since Dani had said everything was free. So we stopped there and just got out, walked around, and took some pictures. It was beautiful!
Entrance
Bridge a lake over to the Opera House
On a lake with a waterfall!
Model of the area
Peeking inside the theater
In the parking lot--it's still fairly easy to find pay phones in Brazil!
Then because that was so awesome, and I had really wanted to see the German forest the day before, we decided to navigate ourselves there. Papai and I were a good team navigating this city. We made it there and it didn't seem like it was much--just a building and a look out tower with some good views of Curtitiba. But it turned out the lookout tower had stairs that spiraled down, down, down, into this beautiful green forest of jungle trees and plants. At the bottom we followed this charming cobblestone path and every so often we'd come to a sign that had one page of the Hansel and Gretel story. Halfway through the forest continuing on the cobblestone path we came across the Witch's House. It wasn't actually made of candy but it was still really cool, especially when we found out that it is a children's library and a witch reads stories to the children and then hands out candy. It was closed that day but how cool! We followed the path all the way to the end to a garden and a building front. In the evening light it was picturesque--so much so that a couple was taking pregnancy pictures. In Brazil, they like to take pictures with their big huge belly showing skin and all. Papai didn't care to have some other woman's huge bare pregnant belly in our pictures and so he cleverly positioned us to cover them up. We spent some time there and then we headed back through the forest. I was utterly and completely charmed with this forest. Poor Papai--I kept gasping and possibly squealing with delight and remarking how completely in love I was with this place. It was charming and romantic and beautiful! It was almost as totally awesome as the ocean for me--that's how awesome it was!
Bridge leading out to the lookout tower, The tower after we hiked down into the forest....
Cobblestone path through the jungle forest
The Witch's House a,k,a the Children's Library
Curtitiba from the Lookout tower
Safari Girl swinging on a vine and one of the plaques with a page from the Hansel and Gretel story.
Leaves almost the same size as Safari Girl!
On our way back through the forest and up to the lookout tower. The kids enjoyed climbing on the light pole.
Finally, we were ready to head home. As we navigated ourselves through the center of Curtitiba we came across the zoo and on a whim decided to hop out and see what we could see. It closed at 8pm and we only had 10 minutes to race through the whole thing but it was BEAUTIFUL! Mostly, what we saw were birds but that was fun because we finally saw the kind of toucan that I imagine when I think of a toucan. The ones at the zoo in Joinville are small with smaller beaks than I imagine. The one at this Curtitiba zoo was big with shiny thick black feathers and a huge beautiful beak. It was awesome! The zoo was all very green with some fountains, a HUGE playground, several ponds, and a lake with some islands. I've never been to Central Park but that's what it reminded me of because it is just this huge green space in the middle of tons of sky scrapers. The trees are so tall and thick though that you could easily forget that you are in the middle of the city. I wish we could have spent more time there. We were hoping that the closing time would be on "Brazilian time" --you know, 40 minutes late or something but just before 8pm a police officer blew his whistle and actively encouraged people to leave. So we headed back to our car and finally headed home.
Toco Toucan
HUGE playground
Statue water feature
Pond and suspension bridge
A couple of islands on a lake--we were on our way out here--almost to the gates.
We had SUCH a fun day! Papai and I were definitely on a high from having so much fun exploring the city. It was a blast and definitely a day that I will remember on this trip of a lifetime!
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