For once I decided to take a day bus to my next stop which was Curitiba. Not that I particularly want to see Curitiba it’s just the jump off point for the Serra Verde Express.
Still I spent a full day there on the Sunday, not that I can say much to recommend the place. You know how sometimes you get a feeling about a place and you just do not like the look of the people at least once it’s starts to get dark? Curitiba was that kind of place.
One of the young girls walked to the hostel at night thinking it wasn’t far and she was fine but admitted she really did not like the look of the men around after dark. That and the local women had disappeared unless accompanied by a male. Then she said that she noticed it even before she started walking from the bus terminal but got ‘stubborn’ and walked anyway.
Being my diplomatic self I told her she was a fool, she’s young, skinny and blond. The next day we were warned by the hostel not to go out alone after dark as one of the guys had been mugged at knife point just down the corner from the hostel.
On the Monday morning I headed to the train station bright and early, thankfully it was only about five blocks from where I was staying so I didn’t have to get up at a horrible time!
I took the Serra Verde Express, one of the few train journeys in this part of the world, to Morretes. The train journey itself is quite beautiful and the train is comfortable enough at least in ‘Touristic’ class. Strangely enough they provide a guide for the journey but it’s only in Portuguese in Touristic class. You only get an English speaking guide in Executive class. Of course that is much more expensive and they limit the number of seats which I find strange. They had sold out when I brought my ticket so thats why I went touristic class.
It didn’t matter in the end though since the guide noticed when speaking to me that I didn’t speak Portuguese so gave the descriptions in English as well which I though was a really nice touch.
Now the scenery on the journey is spectacular. Apparently. I say apparently because it was a little hard to tell since the weather was miserable with low cloud cover, rain and mist blanketing the surroundings. Still it was a nice enough train ride. Shame about the weather.
Finally the train pulled into Morretes and a small group of us walked to the bus station which only took about 15 minutes thankfully and arrived just in time for the bus to Paranagua.
From there we found the port and managed to get on the last ferry for the day to Nova Brasilia on Ilha do Mel. It had ended up being a really long day of travel. Although at least it was using a variety of transport methods which made things a little more interesting.
I spent a couple of days on the island. Unfortunately my luck being the way it is it rained. It rained most of the time I was there. We’re talking about an island where there really isn’t much to do when it’s raining. So mostly I read.
On my last day on the island the rain stopped for a few hours so I went for a walk firstly up to see the old lighthouse then walking along the beaches and scrambling over rocks to get to the other small beach that has a cluster of hotels and bars along it length. I had some lunch there and kicked back thinking it was just as well I made it there before the tide came back in since some of the path to get there is not accessible at high tide.
I took the last local ferry back to the other side of the island where I was staying. At least I got to do something while I was on the island!