Day 3 - Hit the Beach! - March 1, 2013

Today the plan was to go first to get tickets for the scenic train (for Day 4), then to drive over the mountains and down to the coast to see the beach and scenery along the way.  And so it went.  City traffic was a bit crazy, but the freeway over the mountains was wide open and scenic.   The beach towns were like those all over the world - small souvenir shops, swimwear, water activities, markets, lunch places, restaurants, bars and the like.  We stopped for a lunch of fresh veggies and ceviche with excellent Brazilian beer.

Here is Mauro, the rock star of AirBnb Hosts!

Next stop was the actual beach, a few miles down the road.  Mauro had selected South Beach, not so famous as the one in Miami, but quite nice.  It had a view of Ilha do Mel (Honey Island), which is limited to no more than 5000 human beings at any time.  Around the beach towns there were electronic signs showing the current population (2990).  Being Friday, it was bound to increase.  Weather was stunning, maybe 88 degrees and nice breeze.  The island provides a natural shelter for South Beach, and it is a great place to relax, swim, hike, read, and so forth.  The wind today made the water more agitated than usual.  We waded in across the extremely fine sand.  The water was VERY warm and pleasant.  I had to resist the urge to dive in, but my shorts pockets were full of documents and things that should not be wet.  We had a great time there and after a few hours we returned to Curitiba.

We toured the beautiful Curitiba Botanical Gardens on the way back to the house.  For the evening meal, Mauro made us a very nice vegetarian dish - sort of like a pirogi without the fried dough covering it.  After a nice conversation, we all headed off to sleep.

Walk 100 yards, and you have a private beach!