Just Can't Get Enough

Are you tired of posts about Curitiba yet?

Me neither.

I just can't seem to get enough of that city even though I've visited and posted about it several times before.

We are in our last month of living in Brazil and we knew we wanted to say our final ex-pat good-byes to one of our favorite cities in person. We set off the middle of last week, knowing we would have a long holiday weekend to spend in Curitiba together.

It rained for most of the trip, but somehow that didn't matter because, well, it's Curitiba. The cooler weather and overcast skies just add to the city's charm.

I fell into my normal rut with contentment. I explored the Batel area and enjoyed coffee at Lucca while getting some work done. We ate fondue at Chateau de Gazon and drank Submarinos at the Bar do Alemão.

I've talked about all that before though, so let's move on to what was new and different. I find there is always something that falls into this category with each visit.

Despite the rain and being forced to watch a couple movies during the trip, my husband and I made it out to Botanical Gardens on Saturday. I hadn't been there in over two years and even then it was a very quick visit. We checked out the grounds and stumbled upon some things we hadn't seen before.

There was a new area that was all about plants and the senses. You were supposed to put on a blindfold and then follow the metal railing throughout the area to touch and smell different plants as you tried to identify them.

Quite a cool set up and the whole area was beautifully manicured. We didn't do the blind fold, but we did check out the different plants and snapped some photos.

Next stop?

You guessed it, Parque Barigui so that I could visit Harold one last time and was I in for a surprise! It was feeding time and I got some photos of 19 Capivaras as they munched on the grass near the lake. They didn't seem to mind anyone being around. They were less than 15 feet away! I could have hung out with them forever. I wasn't the only one interested. They were drawing quite the crowd.

Of course, you can't go to Curitiba without getting excellent food and despite our usual repeats we tried a few new places. For example, who knew that a Brazilian restaurant could do Chicago-style pizza so well?

A friend here told me about Michigan Avenue Pizza Bar and considering that I think Chicago-style pizza is one of the best foods on earth I was immediately intrigued, and well, skeptical. So far even the places we've tried in the US outside of Chicago, claiming to have that style of pizza haven't even come close.

When Saturday night came around we decided we would give it a try. We decided to go for two individual stuffed pizzas. Me, the Americano (I mean, why not?) and my husband kept it real with the Mexicana which is actually a Brazilian creation. It has Doritos in it.

The final call – awesome! Not exactly the same, but darn close. It could have used more tomato sauce, but that seems to be a constant issue here. I must admit it didn't hurt that they had a video of a Cranberries concert on the tv for our entire dinner. Considering they are my all-time favorite band and I was eating one of my all-time favorite foods I was quite happy.

In other food, yours truly had the opportunity to try the first frozen yogurt available in southern Brazil, or so claims Yoguland. This modern, colorful little shop recently opened in Batel and it was so good I had to visit twice.

They have two flavors – natural and lichia (lychee). Given the healthy theme the idea is you are supposed to get fruit and granola toppings (yes, they were called “toppings”). Personally, I preferred it plain. I guess I was expecting that sweet, rather fake, frozen yogurt from home, but it was nothing like that. It had the same tartness you get from Greek yogurt, just barely sweet. It was fantastic!

On the second visit we learned the guy taking our order lived in the US for 7 years and just recently moving back to Curitiba. He actually went to the University of Tennessee, not far from central KY. Another “small world” experience.

I can't help but be sad that I won't be going back to Curitiba anytime soon. I'll likely return someday, because as I've mentioned before it tops not only my list for favorite cities in Brazil, but it is on my list of favorites of any city I've visited.

Next post? How our rainy Sunday led to a new discovery – Morretes!