La Rue Vibre !

Brazil ! this is an awe inspiring name. It makes you thing to Carnaval, footbal, girls on the beachs of Copacaban and Ipanema, and to the mighty Amazon…
Curitiba is nothing of it, but is still very good!

Curitiba is a dynamic city, often spoken of as the ‘model’ city about quality of life in Brazil. Street are very clean, bus stop well designed, and there are a lot of tourist activities. Only on problem in fact : people are speaking Portuguese! Our level in Spanish is not sufficient to help us understand what people are saying to us, neither to make them understand a thing. This is really frustrating, and we have to communicate with our hands. Hopefully people are really welcoming and helpful, some girls even conducted us to the contemporary art museum, out of town.

And what a museum! This is the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, the major Brazilian architect whose buildings are spread in all the country. The building is like a big eye over water. How can it stands? Clouds and sun reflect on the water and the glass. This si like being in another planet inside, because of the curved wall-roof carpeted by perpendicular small pieces of tainted metal, which absorb light and sounds. Next to this big eye is a giant cobblestone levitating, with about 10 thematic exhibits inside. They were very well designed, and we liked the one about Magda Frank,a contemporary stone sculptor.

The city is also filled of green spaces, like the botanic garden, a perfect place to relax amongst greenhouses. All this green spaces are great and make the city more tranquil. We loved the sense-garden : a marked pace with plants you can smell and touch.

For an introduction to Brazil, Curitiba may be the perfect city : Showing very well the warmness of Brazilian people, the incredible cahnges the country is passing trough, and the great potential it hold.