Curitiba...clean!

We spent two wonderfully clean days in one of the most pro-environment cities in the world, Cutitiba. Architects and city planners from all over come to this Brazillian city to study how it is run. The streets are clean, public works are everywhere, and you can get lost in the number of parks spread thoughout the city. There was really not much to do, but it made Nicole's inner hippie geek so happy, we rested after Rio, and Stacen finally got some of Medical school applications in. We did get the chance to visit Latin America's largest organic market, filled with kilos upon kilos of fruit, vegetables, nuts, teas, and herbs. Stacen almost died of joy when he saw a huge bucket of chamomile! Adding to the awesomeness, there was pet/bird store filled with chickens, geese, turkeys and... bunnies!!
The most drama we encountered was convincing a drunk guy in the park that we would NOT be sharing some wine with him. We met a bunch of interesting people in the kitchen, one of which was a 50 something year old brazilian with a crazy accent. Nicole was able to understand him if he talked slowly, but Stacen unfortunately was lost without the translation.
After these two restful days, we hopped on a 26-hour bus to Montevideo, complete with five movies dubbed in Spanish (!!!), breakfast and snack (which were actually both the same thing--a trans fat uruguayan hoho the horror!), and a dinner served in the bus. We finally arrived in Montevideo (Uruguay capital) yesterday morning, and you guys will get an update soon...