Curitiba Tourist Line

The included breakfast spread at the hostel was impressive - toast, buns, ham, loads of different cakes and pastries, tea, coffee and juice. I met an English couple Steve and Anna. I heard them speaking English so I introduced myself. They were really nice and had the same plan as I did for the day so I joined them. There is a green double decker tourist line bus that goes around the city stopping at 25 attractions. With the purchase of a $12 ticket, you are allowed to get off and on 4 times. It was turning out to be a really sunny day. We sat on the top level. It was cool cruising through the city. Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens. It was ok but I wasn't that impressed by it. Next we stopped at the German Forest. A little forested park with a wooden viewing tower. There are many urban parks in the city and Curitiba is one of the greenest cities in the country. It's good to see that Brazil is very forward thinking and trying to be considerate about the environment. Most places I've seen have different colored trash cans specifying if they are for metal, plastic, organic,etc.
   Parque Barigui was our third stop. This was a huge green area with a large lake and running track around it. I spotted a lone capybara in the distance eating some grass. The capybara is native to South America and it the world's largest rodent with webbed feet for swimming. They weigh up to 50kg. I have seen them before in Peru and Venezuela but never in a city park. It lets Steve and I approach it pretty close before heading off into some tall grass. Minutes later though we see a group of at least 50 capybara! They also let us approach close, being used to people. It's so cool to see them this close up and I get some great photos. We weren't sure which park to check out and we were both really glad we stopped at this one. It started to rain now and was pouring when we got on the bus. The tourist bus comes along about every 30 minutes. Our last stop was a 100m communications tower with a 360 degree viewing platform. Steve and Anna decided to skip this but I really wanted to see this. It was a tiny elevator to the top. At the top was a superb enclosed viewing area. Panoramic views all around. I was glad I got off here.
     While I was waiting for the bus, it started to rain more. When the bus arrived it was jam packed. They didn't put any cover on the open top and I could see a few people still up there with there umbrellas. There was about 25 people waiting at the stop with me. Some of them got on but the bus was getting too full. The doors were still open and no one else was getting on because they were in groups. I was by myself so I figured I could fit on the bus. I jumped on just as the doors closed. As I was standing there a Brazilian woman said something to me about the rain. I wasn't sure what she said so I just smiled and nodded. When the bus came to its first traffic light, I understood what she was saying. All the water from the top level rushed towards the front of the bus and fell like a waterfall at the front corner inside the bus. I had my raincoat on but my shorts and sandals were soaked. My camera and backpack were dry so I didn't care much. It was funny. The water really came down! It was intense. The woman who warned me now says to me 'You don't speak Portuguese?" She spoke a little bit of english and I told her how I didn't understand what she said earlier. We had a laugh about it. Finally some people got off and I was able to move a bit deeper into the bus away from the waterfall. I wondered why this bus wasn't set up better. Surely it must have rained on tours before? The rain was really intense now. Ssome of the streets were under more than 30cm of water! Thankfully the bus stops at the mall across the street from the hostel so I didn't have to walk far but by this point the rain had let up considerably.
    I changed, got something to eat and purchased my movie ticket for Tron Legacy in advance. It's great most of the movies are shown in english here with Portuguese subtitles and the cost was half of what it is in Canada.