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Before we arrived, we read some information that said Curitiba is the 3rd cleanest city in Latin America. Needless to say, we were a bit skeptical. The 3rd cleanest city in Latin America? Seems like a dubious distinction. It would be kind of like holding the record for the most home runs ever…in the minor leagues. A lot of wonderful things come to mind when we think of Latin America, but “clean” is certainly not one of them. Were we ever wrong about that. This city is truly spotless, not by Latin American standards, but by every first world standard. The only thing that can rival Curitiba’s cleanliness is its’ diversity. In the late 1800’s, the government realized that the area around Curitiba would not develop without a major increase in population, so the state began an immigration policy to attract new residents. New immigrants were given land grants, with the best land going to the earliest arrivals. The Italians were the first to take advantage of the program, but later settlers came from Germany, Poland, the Ukraine, France, England, Holland, Japan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The influence of European, Middle Eastern and Asian immigrants is apparent at every turn. Almost every park in town has a memorial dedicated to the immigrants from a particular country or region. Usually the park is the focal point of the neighborhood where they settled. Due to the excellent weather and quality of life, Curitiba has been one of the fastest growing cities in Brazil. It has quadrupled its population in the last 40 years to roughly 2.3 million in the metropolitan region and 1.4 million in the city itself. It also seems to have avoided many of the growing pains of other cities around the world by having a very long range plan for handling the growth. They have been practicing “urban planning” for several decades to deal with problems like pollution, sanitation, water supply, housing, etc. In spite of the 3rd world label they are stuck with, this is no 3rd world city. It is impeccably clean, traffic is almost nonexistent, public transportation is efficient, there are parks and green space everywhere and the crime rate is low. In fact, to find a bad part of town, you have to drive for quite a few miles outside of the city center. Unlike so many other places, the heart of the city is safe at all hours of the day or night. During our exploration of the city, we have visited the gorgeous botanical gardens, the opera house (an all-glass structure built in a ravine complete with a waterfall), the Oscar Niemeyer museum of architecture (“The Eye” as the locals call it), the city zoo on the outskirts of town, the main public park with a mini-zoo featuring toucans and other native birds, the 24-hour a day shopping avenue and the old historic quarter. We also went jogging in Barigui Park which is Curitiba’s answer to Central Park. It’s an oasis in the middle of the city with beautiful views of the skyline. There are countless other museums, parks, galleries, shops and restaurants to be explored with the help of the marvelous mass transit system. It is fast, efficient, inexpensive and privately owned. There are several different types of buses around Curitiba, all of which are part of an intricate network. There is no subway, but one of the bus lines functions in the same manner as an above-ground subway. The bus stops are tubular in shape and you pay going into the tube rather than on the bus. This line has dedicated lanes and straight routes throughout the city with less frequent stops. Different lines go around the city to connect various neighborhoods and the suburbs. The complete coverage of the bus lines and the on-time service all but eliminates the need for a car in the metro area. Regardless of your destination, you can easily get within a block or two using the buses. Curitiba is
an extremely livable city for anyone coming from the United States. It
has every modern convenience of the first world, and in some cases offers
things that we can no longer get at home. We have been wracking our brains
to come up with things that we enjoy at home that we cannot get here in
Curitiba and our subscription to Netflix is the only thing on the list.
This small problem can be overcome by visiting one of the many elegant
shopping malls in town, all who have movie theaters, all who show first-run
American movies in English.
Moreover, there is a feeling in Curitiba that has long become a thing of the past in much of the United States. As you walk down the streets, every time you turn a corner, there is a small independently owned record store (real vinyl), a neighborhood book store, or a CD store filled with jazz, blues, classical and other types of real music. All of the restaurants are neighborhood specific and specialize in their ethnic cuisine as well. The best thing about Curitiba is that there are no Best Buys, Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles, Taco Bells or Macaroni Grills. Yes, there is the occasional McDonalds, but it is easily avoided. These are all mom and pop stores and restaurants that have a real connection to their neighborhood and their city. To top it off, no matter what part of town you find yourself in, if there is a restaurant or bar with more than 4 tables, they will have live music – generally of the Latin jazz variety. The most enjoyable part of our stay has been strolling aimlessly down the streets at night stopping for a beer or glass of wine anytime we hear a band we like – but only one drink per stop, because we know there will be more great music just around the corner. While Curitiba has little in common with cities like New York or San Francisco, the “neighborhood” characteristic that is shares with them is very appealing. Each neighborhood in the city is separated from the next by nothing more than a street, so when you cross the street you’re never sure what’s coming next. One day we crossed the street in Japan Town and immediately stumbled upon the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We continued for a few more blocks to find a whole row of English-style pubs. A little further and its restaurant row in Little Italy. It’s wonderfully diverse and yet the people here seem to live side by side in tranquility. The only thing about Curitiba that doesn’t make sense to us is the cost of living. Considering the quality of life here, prices are almost ridiculous. We did some apartment hunting to see what it would cost to relocate here. In the most affluent neighborhood in the city (Batel), a 3000 square foot apartment in a high rise overlooking one of the quaint parks can be rented fully furnished for US$700 a month. Tack on an extra US$50 for twice weekly maid service. We’re not sure we’d ever need 3000 square feet of living space, but that seems to be the high end here in the most exclusive part of town. We also saw some nice fully furnished 2-bedroom apartments in the central city for US$180 – US$250 a month. Prices on other items are equally inexpensive. A week’s worth of groceries for cooking at our apartment cost $30. An elegant dinner in Little Italy with a bottle of wine ran $20. We always knew we could live for less in Latin America than in the United States, but we thought we would have to accept lesser quality products and service in exchange for the reduced cost. We have finally found a city with a 1st world standard of living at a 3rd world cost. We would not be at all surprised if we end up coming back here for a more lengthy stay – perhaps for good. Curitiba is urban living at its finest. To contact
Kori Click Here
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