Colourful Curitiba

There was a bit of itinerary drama the day before I left São Paulo because I was told I couldn´t be granted a visa to Paraguay unless I was on a round-trip ticket. I decided to cross out Bogota and Asuncion, saving about USD800 (the ticket to Bogota was gonna be a killer), and getting to actually spend decent time in the other cities - Curitiba, Buenos Aires, Recife, Rio. The date changes were meant to clock up about USD120, but somehow I managed to dodge all of that with the sweet ticketing counter lady at TAM airlines and get away with cooler dates (chronos, not homo-s) and not a cent.

And now I´m in Curitiba. Last night was a blast, went to this *wicked* Brasilian raggae concert in the middle of this random forest. Pot - and a spirit that blends Bob Marley with an almost pagan love of the earth - never filled the air with such vengeance.

Today I was (quite literally) immersed trawling through the pre-festive madness at Curitiba flea market, colourful, boisterous and quaint at the same time. My highlight was stumbling upon an elderly gent and lady, strumming and singing Indigenous American folk tunes in harmony - and the moment of sheer awe when I realised he was actually blind.

After, it was the environment exhibition of the Fundação Boticário, where my friend Leo works. It was ingenious how they´ve used sensory video clips, map-based periscopic biodiversity snapshots (you look into a peephole placed on a life-sized interactive map of Brasil to see a plant or animal that features in the eco-system of the area), chronological maps showing the extent of human impact on the environment.. I could go on. It was just a really innovative approach to environmental education, to me, and I think many of their concepts could be applied to env ed elsewhere.

Talking to Leo about the stuff he´s done/is doing with UNICEF, UNEP, Peace Child and Fundação Boticário gave me a lot of insight to NGO work in development. It struck me once more how instrumental building networks is, in this line of work. Besides working your ass off, of course.

It´s only my second day in Curitiba. I can´t wait for the rest.