Sunday started at the beach in Pontão de Paraná (Paraná Point as we were on a peninsula) and we were planning a long day ending up in Deutch country at 3300 feet. Jean our Swiss neighbor turned us on to Colonia Witmarsum three hours inland.
Jean is an interesting guy, still very European even after forty years in Brazil. He likes Trump for his immigration policies and for attacking Muslims whom he thinks are overwhelming Europe’s weak leadership. His is not an unusual point of view among Europeans, if not their leaders obviously. I found him very enjoyable to talk to at the campground.
“Travel enriches the soul”
“Travel is my therapy.”
Whatever.
We bugged out at eight o’clock Sunday morning, and I should note we are now only one hour ahead of Eastern Time since daylight saving came into effect in the US.
We buzzed through town and took the road connecting the beach to the freeway which would get us back once more to the city of Curitiba.
Bit the freeway was blocked by an accident and Google Maps sent us into the back country on Paraná State Highway 410 into the mountains. The unknown! Adventure! Oh dear. We were forced to follow the red line to avoid the blockage.
It turned out to be a delightful discovery, a Sunday drive through glorious rainforests climbing up past restaurants and through villages filled with Brazilians enjoying their day off: it was great.
Mountains ahead.Sunday exercisers, and on the winding hill road with no sidewalks we met suicidal Brazilians walking and cycling among the curves. I’m pleased to report we killed no locals.
When we got to the other side of the hills we stopped for gas and the attendant said we couldn’t drive the road as our van was too long. By now we’ve seen plenty of far more gnarly roads.
Only cars buses and vans on this road. We met lots of tour bus Sprinter vans so it was really no problem.
Protection is respect for life and our future.
When the road got twisty there wasn’t much opportunity for photography but I did get a chance to highlight a few miserable miles of Roman road in the middle of the drive. I hate this stuff as it makes GANNET2 bounce so I drive below twenty mph like it’s dirt.
That involved lots of pulling over to let others participate in destruction derby.
By eleven we were at our first stop, a second visit to the Niemeyer museum in Curitiba. This time we knew where to park near the ticket booth and we knew to carry no bags and we knew where the entrance was and we knew we got in for free. We had it down. However once inside we found this much desired museum was not what we were looking for.
Teaching kids to draw:
But the problem was there was no explanation to speak of, no biographies no way to understand how this art related to Curitiba. It just seemed all random.
African, Asian art, beautiful stuff displayed beautifully but it all just flowed over us with no real idea what we were looking at or why.
That involved lots of pulling over to let others participate in destruction derby.
By eleven we were at our first stop, a second visit to the Niemeyer museum in Curitiba. This time we knew where to park near the ticket booth and we knew to carry no bags and we knew where the entrance was and we knew we got in for free. We had it down. However once inside we found this much desired museum was not what we were looking for.
Teaching kids to draw:
But the problem was there was no explanation to speak of, no biographies no way to understand how this art related to Curitiba. It just seemed all random.
African, Asian art, beautiful stuff displayed beautifully but it all just flowed over us with no real idea what we were looking at or why.
At least we finally got to it for ourselves and now do have you. We left at two and got driving to Colonia Witmarsum, an hour out of Curitiba, a place in the country where German immigrants landed, Anabaptists, refugees from revolutions in Europe, and though the people we met were thoroughly Brazilian the traditions live on in this little community.
Lunch:
The food was excellent as was the beer but we got leftovers and plenty of them from our sixty dollar meal. Pretzel to start: Lunch for two (hundred). Schnitzel, roast pork, sauerkraut, cabbage, mashed potato apple sauce, sliced sausage. Phew! Ordered through an iPad on the table. Weird.


































































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