Update in Curitiba June 2013 (2 Nights Healthy, 2 Nights Sick)
Curitiba was the 2nd half of my June 2013 Brazil trip after Belo Horizonte and Ouro Preto. I was consistently happy with the vibes of BH, but Curitiba was a city where I experienced some inconsistent highs & lows. I had plans to move here for a project last month yet had to delay everything till this December. It didn’t stop me from visiting as I had to meet some important peeps & take care of other things. As a result, I come bearing a report of Curitiba for the month of June 2013.
My Lodging Accommodations:
Centro - I stayed in Hotel Centro Europeu in Praca Osorio, which was ok for the price. I booked off of
http://www.despegar.com at a price of $53.00 a night but upon arrival, the hotel indicated there was an extra 10% tax I also had to pay up front. Location wise, it’s situated in Centro, which in my opinion is probably the most strategic neighborhood. The website I mentioned being despegar will have the best prices for hotels and lodging across Centro & Batel.
Logistically speaking, Centro is only a 10-15 minute walk away from Batel not to mention the lodging options there are cheaper. In Centro, you’ll have access to quick cheap delis, convenient stores, street food, and outdoor juice stands too whereas everything in Batel is a sit down restaurant with not too steep but higher price points. I ended up having a great strategic mid-point location in Centro.
Here’s why as you can see by the map
(Airport is north of everything btw):
![[Image: 9141274170_b988b649cf_b.jpg]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7298/9141274170_b988b649cf_b.jpg)
I didn’t know this upon immediate arrival in Curitiba but the neighborhoods to the east of Centro being
Juveve, Alto da Gloria, Alto da Rua XV, and Hugo Lange are full of traditional western type bars & lounges…not the botecos where everyone sits out separate outdoor tables & affiliates only with their own group in Belo Horizonte but actual “barzinhos” where you can go and talk to other groups of people. The football stadium is also in Juveve. Here's the problem with the nightlife to the east. Everything outside of
Rua Conselheiro Carrao is kind of scattered between the 4 neighborhoods so you would need a list of venue names to go from place to place via taxi, car, or even foot if you have the perseverance. It’s still a nice tidbit my future host family showed me as I thought the only nightlife in Curitiba was in Centro & Batel to start things off.
Cab rides between Centro and Batel should cost maybe 7-12 Reais whereas the ones between Centro & Juveve/Alto da Gloria/Alto da Rua XV/Hugo Lange are an estimated 12-16 Reais. Getting around without a car in CWB should be easy cheese unlike a lot of those cities in Santa Catarina south of Parana.
I didn’t get accustomed to the public transport system in Curitiba during my stay, but it’s well-known in the country as being the most efficient one with buses arriving frequently. Graduate programs in North America emphasizing sustainability & city planning spend a bit of time discussing Curitiba in their curriculum. If you ever had to meet a gal or peeps in a certain location, you could take that method too while cabbing it back home. More on nightlife later on.
Weather Precaution -
Oh this is important. Keep in mind that Curitiba has an actual winter from the months of May-October according to locals..sometimes it stretches out till November?
Sure 30-50F degrees shouldn't be so bad, but you have to realize the city is situated on a high altitude with a never ending cold breeze that lasts all day. If it's 70 degrees F, then the breeze will make it feel like 57 degrees F. If it's 50 degrees F, then it will feel like 42 F. I think you all catch my drift here. Coldest major city in Brazil at the highest altitude in terms of main municipalities here. Bring sweaters, scarves to protect yor neck from the breeze, and a coat.
I think I eventually got sick from experiencing different climates in a 5-6 day span (BH, Ouro Preto, then CWB) not to mention I tried going out for drinks on too many nights consecutively while dealing with quite a few responsibilities.
Profiling the Locals of Curitiba
1) These are known to be the coldest in all of Brazil. I’m not sure what it’s like in say Vitoria or Fortaleza as certain people in the RVF community have complained about, but many business tourists that come to Curitiba will bring that topic up. This includes people from other parts of Parana and in the states south being Santa Catarina & Rio Grande do Sul who claim that Curitibanos are “fechados” or “bem-reservados” (closed or well-reserved).
It's mainly Southern Brazilians and Paulistas that complain about Curitibanos. If you're from another part of Brazil..then there's a good chance you probably don't even recognize Curitiba, haha.
2) If saying hi (tudo bem or bom dia) with a smile to Curitiba locals..you might not get a response. If you ask an objective question about how to get somewhere, they will point you in the right direction with a smile & sometimes talk in abundance. These people speak fast yet concisely in getting their message across immediately. It’s almost like New Yorkers in a sense as they'll open up after a serious inquiry.
3) Outside of the airport, English levels in this city are probably worse than Belo Horizonte. Not that there are too many English speakers in BH to begin with, but it’s even less here in CWB.
4) People in general walk pretty fast here minding their own business without making eye contact. More on this later on.
5) Curitiba, Parana has the 2nd largest Polish diaspora in the world after Chicago, Illinois. Other ethnicities that make up the mix here include Natives, Ukrainians, Germans, African array, Italians, Lebanese, and Japanese. What many people tend to forget about Parana is that they have the 2nd largest Japanese & Asian population in the country after of course Sao Paulo state. Despite this, people will still ask Asians what kind they are & initiate conversations based on that in a very friendly way so I see it as a plus.
6) 50% of the locals in Curitiba are said to be from different parts of the country. Many people move here from Sao Paulo to avoid the chaos of their home city/state, other parts of Parana, different areas of states south as CWB is the main economic hub of So. Brazil, and of course various regions of the country. There are also quite a bit from Latin America like Chile, Peru, etc working here in the service industry. They will ask where you are from as a tourist and then mention their home country perhaps seeing if you know Spanish too.
Women in Curitiba
7) The women here are..pretty cold. You’re not going to get the friendly elegance of Gauchas in Rio Grande do Sul or the warmth & smiles of a Mineira here. Though Paulistas can be kind of cocky in an unintentionally humorous way, they really open up as being very friendly. Curitibanas though take quite a bit of work to penetrate. It’s almost like being in Eastern Europe again except you are going to find more outgoing gals in most of Poland, CR, and Slovakia. These chicks in a sense remind me of Serbian ones in Belgrade that will make no eye contact whatsoever.
With intermediate to advanced Portuguese skills, persistence, and a tendency to ask dumb objective questions, these are gals that will open up.
Bad news:
Coldest women in Brazil from my experiences.
Good news:
A) You control your own destiny at the bars & initiative.
B) Still more outgoing than the Ipanema/Leblon chicks in Rio.
C) More open than gals in Budapest, Hungary.
D) Easier than Catalan chicks in Barcelona.
E) Possible to get laid in a week with fairly decent-strong Portuguese (raises hand)
F) Tougher shields initially but it’s open game in a bar setting, which Curitiba possesses a lot of.
G) As mentioned earlier…50% of Curitibanos are not from the city. If you meet a girl who was originally from elsewhere while studying or working in the city, she is likely to be more outgoing while introducing you to her native Curitiba female friends in general.
H) High quantities of good looking women to target here.
I) These gals at heart claim to be diehard Brazilians and are generally very kind people despite the cold fronts. Not many tourists in general come to Curitiba so they will be excited to get acquainted with you once you get through the rude first impressions.
J) Out at the bars, clubs, and live music venues, you'll have some interaction with more milfy type chicks in their mid-30s to 40s. One thing I noticed in Belo Horizonte was that most of the women there were from their early 20s to early 30s while aging very gracefully, but you'll have some older targets to work with here in Curitiba if that is your thing.
Guys in Curitiba
8) Whereas the dudes in Belo Horizonte were more of the outgoing stylish type, you’ll see some scrawny guys here that look straight of of FSU. Predominantly speaking, you’re going to see a lot of meat heads with muscle tees out at the bars, lounges, and clubs. Keep in mind Curitiba is a major training ground for what is it UFC/MMA fighting? I believe Anderson Silva is from this city too. Even if many are not officially MMA fighters, they seem to be aspiring muscle men as you’ll see a lot of jacked meat heads at night. These are guys I could probably outgame, but you gotta be careful not to hit on the wrong girl or quickly give the thumbs up when accidentally bumping into one as they will not hesitate to brawl. I witnessed a big fight my first night with some good shots and bleeding as a result.
Miscellaneous Note
9) This city is about a 2-3 hour drive away from Balneariu Camboriu/Floripa as the rich folks in Curitiba will have 2nd homes in BC, but apparently not so much in Floripa. Curitibanos are also well-acquainted with Sao Paulo & love the underground metro system there. Why? Guess what other city 5 hours northeast of Curitiba holds all the concerts when big name foreign musicians come into Brazil?
While living in Curitiba..you'll have some fairly affordable options for "getting out" of the city for a change of pace.
Profiling the Tourists of Curitiba
1) While Sao Paulo is the economic capital of Brazil, I’d label Curitiba as the economic capital of So. Brazil that connects the South to the rest of the country. You will therefore meet predominantly business tourists from all over Brazil staying in a hotel out of Centro or Batel. With lower property leases for short-term events & hotel costs, it’s no wonder there are many conventions held in Curitiba instead of Sampa or Rio that attract people from other countries in Latin America too.
2) Most of the business tourists will stay only during the weekdays and leave on the weekends. Every now and then, you’ll get some families visiting Curitiba on the weekends as some of the good looking female ones will be visiting relatives/friends. A big draw for business tourists too would be Linha Turismo. See next section.
Daygame Suggestions –
Linha Turismo – This is a tourism line that takes passengers at 25 different stops around the city from destination to destination. To get on at first, you will need 30 Reais or $15.00 USD. Once paying that, you will have 5 tickets to ensure being able to enter again if you decide to stop off at say Tangua Park, Jardim Botanico, or the Arame Opera House.
http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/ing...nhaturismo
You would think only tourists utilize Linha Turismo, but a ton of locals like to engage in this activity…esp on Fridays as it’s a good excuse to get off of work or on weekends. It would be comparable to say San Diego residents taking a day off to indulge in their conveniently located world famous zoo. This especially applies to friends & family that are visiting locals in Curitiba so this is all the more reason to see all the sights via Linha Turismo where surprisingly everybody is super outgoing & helpful. Business tourists and young teenagers stopping in the city all partake too. Solid for daygame or to make friends at least.
Santa Felicidade & Madalosso – Santa Felicidade is a neighborhood with the most well-nown Italian restaurants in Curitiba. It’s located just northwest of Bariqui Park or Parque Barigui in Portuguese. Lot of hotties eating lunch in the Italian restaurants with Madalosso being the see & be seen place. That same restaurant is typically packed on Sundays as it’s a enormous one with multiple banquet rooms that apparently get full too. As for pricing, I can’t reveal it since my future host family paid for the meal but everything is brought out by waiters as you merely say yes or no to each dish with no menus involved. The restaurant brews it’s own beer, which I whole-heartedly recommend too.
http://www.madalosso.com.br/
This place is a far walk from Centro I believe 4-6 miles so you can always bus it out. After finishing a meal, you could walk around the neighborhood & then trot your bloated ass back to Centro/Batel as I’m sure the exercise would be vital to offset the binge eating.
Other Options:
As for other warnings about daygame, you could maybe try Centro but I will advise that it's tough. Curitibanos in Centro are always walking 100 miles per hour with their heads down. Pickpockets and scammers are typically the only people who will greet with a "tudo bem" in a shady manner so that doesn’t exactly help the cause either. I would only recommend taking the initiative in a café of some sort with seating.
As for malls..I don’t know which ones are best yet. I got a good feel for two malls in Belo Horizonte, but getting sick my last two days in Curitiba didn’t help matters not to mention I had interviews & commitments with old friends.
Barigui Park is a tough place to daygame as the people working out there are all about minding their own business. Brings me to my next point.
Night Game
Before I go off on dinner & nightlife venues, let’s get back to the topic of Barigui Park.
Whereas people working out there on weekday afternoons are a bit more closed off, I'd say it gets to be more social & lively at night. Was dropped off at Barigui after Linha Turismo at around 7:30 PM as I found the runners to be more outgoing & talkative altogether while wearing their nicest athletic gear in the evening. I however didn’t have my running clothes on hand while looking for a way home nursing a bad head cold, but this is something that is worth giving a shot here in Curitiba.
![[Image: Parque-Barigui3.jpg]](http://www.curitiba.parana.blog.br/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Parque-Barigui3.jpg)
General List of Bars/Restaurants in Curitiba:
http://www.afterhour.com.br/bares-e-rest...ilo=&pag=9
I came across that link after leaving Curitiba Ironically.
Here’s another good site of happenings around Curitiba as they have partner links to other Brazilian cities too:
http://www.festadasemana.com.br/curitiba/
Centro – Centro is a neighborhood with more dive-ish eat & drink places. It’s absolutely dead during the first three weeknights, but things kinda get crazy with a younger clientele there starting Thursday evenings. I unfortunately do not have any reports on that, but everything here is a good place to be at least for pregaming with cheaper prices. There is some good stuff just a block south of Praca Ossorio though I do not have specific venue names.
The one place I recommend on the cusp of Batel/Centro is
Aos Democratas. They close early on Wednesdays at say 1AM, but are open later days afterwards of course. Small intimate bar area with people standing around so you’ll be able to get some good approaches in. It’s appears to be crowded during Happy Hour too so go from 7-11:30 PM for some possibly good approaches.
Batel – The main nightlife area in Curitiba of course.
Avenida Batel is the main horizontal street on the southernmost tip of the neighborhood that has all the big name venues like
Taj (Sushi Restaurant/Lounge),
Sheridan’s (Hole in wall Irish type bar),
Soviet Vodka Bar,
Duc Club (top notch club on weekends),
Taboo (Supper club on weekends that hosts special house music events occasionally),
Hold Em Country Bar (Layout of a yuppy patio bar with crappy Sertanejo music), and the spot of my pickup being
Santa Marta (
Live crappy Sertanejo music). Just about every place including the generic Irish pubs on Avenida Batel will have a minimum 10 Reais cover charge just FYI.
The horizontal parallel streets north of Avenida Batel are where all your other venues are going to be located at such as
Slainte Irish Bar,
Bar Curityba, and
Barba where I don't believe have cover. There’s a whole lot more bar/lounge like venues offered in Batel I didn’t mention. The longest standing club in Curitiba is on Avenida Vicente Machado being
Lique. Expect some sort of cover charge/minimum drink consumption rule there however.
As for clubs,
Duc,
Club Vibe,
DJ Room and
Lique are the most popular options now at least in Batel with
Caribbean Disco Club being the it spot in
Reboucas south of Centro. One daughter in my future host family recommended Lique for the cream of the crop skinny club goer chicks. I might also have to ask where the sex hotels are too seeing how she has a boyfriend while living at home with her mom, lol.
Reboucas - I didn't get a chance to check out Reboucas but this is a neighborhood 1-2 KM south of Centro with quite a few bars. Check out the map I posted above for a good barometer on where that might be located. The popular club now there is
Caribbean Disco Club.
East Side Curitiba (Juveve, Alto da Gloria, Alto da Rua XV, and Hugo Lange)
The main street in Juveve is
Rua Conselheiro Carrao, which is next to the soccer stadium. Despite the location, most of the bars on Rua Conselheiro Carrao looked to be more posh instead of the casual sporty type. I didn't get to walk inside any of them but the ones that stood out while driving by were
Baroneza and
Devassa.
I had dinner on a Thursday night with some people as we tried going to
Bar Canabenta first. It was a trendy bar/restaurant with a nice outdoor patio full of hot professional chicks. The line to get in however was ridic. As a result we ended up having dinner at a place called
Carmel, which would be a nice date venue. There may be some good gaming opportunities if sitting inside there, but Bar Canabenta appears to be a better bet.
If you look at the websites with bar listings I posted above, you'll see many venues within the area so that would be your best choice in researching these 4 neighborhoods. Logically speaking..the best place to start though would be
Rua Conselheiro Carrao because it's a block area full of places you can navigate easily by foot. From that point..you can ask locals about other places as they might invite you out or send you in the right direction.
Most bars in Curitiba are going to start hopping Thursdays-Saturdays so I wouldn't really bother going out late before that. However, it shouldn't deter you from drinking from happy hour periods till about 11 PM on Tuesdays & Wednesdays as
Aos Democratas is a good place for that at least crowd wise. Remember that your health comes first as going all out on a weekday could result in sickness come peak party nights. I had to learn that the hard way in Curitiba.
Santa Marta on Tuesday Nights
While other places shut down between 11-1AM in Batel,
Santa Marta is the only poppin venue open till about 3-4AM on Tuesday nights. They're however closed on Wednesdays though but resume regular crazy hours Thursday again.
I tried looking for a place to drink around 12AM in Batel my first Tuesday night as all the bouncers and people on the street pointed me towards Santa Marta. The first people I met in line in at the bar were some cool dentists from Santiago, Chile in town for a convention. They were essentially my last minute wingmen. Upon entering..we were hit with awful live sertanejo music and then told to go downstairs because the upstairs was a "VIP" area, which appeared pretty crowded. As the only Asian guy in the SM, I was immediately scoped out by this one chick who was curious about my origins as we conversed in only Portuguese for 10-15 minutes before breaking things off cordially so I could find my Chilean friends.
After scoping out the scene with some attractive ladies in attendance, we ran across the first girl again as we momentarily held hands in a flirtatious manner during the 2nd encounter as she referred to me as "querido, demais." I knew I had it in the bag if I wanted to, but then went outside with my friends for a smoke.
Good convos were had in the patio as a lot of people started bumming cigarettes from my friends. Since they were then swarmed with kind attention for also being intriguing Chileans, I then drifted back inside to get a 2nd drink. The next gal I ran across was this milfy chick who kind of looked Eastern European so I opened with "voce parece muito polonesa, nao e?" That translated into "you seem very Polish eh?" She then excitingly revealed herself as a Brazilian of Polish descent as things hit off well. I got the feeling I wasn't going to seal the deal so tried exchanging info after a good 10-15 minutes talking. During the attempted switch, the first girl I encountered came roaring back with a jealous kiss while then dragging me upstairs into VIP as we danced, got complimentary drinks, met her other friends, and then made out.
Yeah she was pretty wasted & assertive, but I said "why not" to the easy first night bang here in CWB. My choices were the 7-7.5 milfy chick who wasn't going to bang first night or this 6.5-7 who was eager for a lay. The chick was also a professional in CWB from a small town in Santa Catarina as transplants will typically be more eager to meet strangers especially in a place like Curitiba where locals tend to be closed off initially. On the way out, we came across a really big fight with meat heads railing on each other. Bouncers tried restraining everybody but the verbal shots probably continued as we left the bar.
Cute face, decent body..but nothing to brag about. She wanted to hang out rest of the week I stayed even though I couldn't remember her name. I then found her name and number on my notes app of my phone so deleted it right away that next day. At that point...I was also really tired of crappy sertanejo music in terms of wasting my energy & spending money in those venues.
Overall Impression of Curitiba:
With intermediate to advanced level Portuguese & good game, I think one could really wreck shop here in a week's or a weekend's stay. With a ton of bar options situated south, east, and west of Centro where all the hotels are, this city is pretty convenient logistically speaking. High end clubs could be an option but I get the impression that one could live here for 3-4 months and not really experience all the bars alone that do not require a cover charge.
The bad news is that the people can be pretty cold first impression wise as it would take a lot of resiliency in dealing with the odd behavior of locals in Curitiba. With regards to overall vibes, I wouldn't say Curitiba is the most pleasant city to wake up to on a daily basis though it's a damn solid city on paper providing people with just about every convenient resource you could ask for. It's an environment where you could be on an overall high from a lay or just great times with a solid experience yet that positive momentum wouldn't necessarily carry over towards interacting with new strangers. Quite an odd abstract feeling I can't put into words.
As for the good news again, this is a city that's strategically located between hot spots like Sao Paulo, Londrina, Foz do Iguacu, and the beach towns of Santa Catarina being Floripa or Balneariu Camboriu. Cabs, restaurants, bars, and cafe food within town are cheaper than places like Belo Horizonte, Floripa, or Rio too as the infrastructure & offerings of the city will afford you great chances to have fun without necessarily breaking the bank. I stayed in Curitiba from a Tuesday afternoon till Saturday morning as I got a bad head cold Thursday preventing me from really doing night approaches the next couple of nights.
Most effective cold medicine I recommend buying while in Brazil if you forget your own btw:
![[Image: 17464.jpg]](http://www.cliquefarma.com.br/imagens/temp/ofertas/56/17464.jpg)
If healthy, I feel like I could've done more damage especially with the options Curitiba offers. I eventually recovered Saturday morning at 100% after a great night's rest and made it to Balneariu Camboriu where I spent that weekend doing family-related outdoorsy activities with old friends & a night out Saturday...with my luck involved crappy Sertanejo music again, lol. Although I would probably be happiest overall in say Belo Horizonte or Porto Alegre, there was one moment that stood out particularly as I arrived back in Curitiba from BC. The feeling that I was ready to start another work week & daily routine right then at that point....
in Curitiba gave me the sense that I was likely meant to live there for some time as will be the case later on this year with my pending move. Instead..it was off to the airport from the bus station with a layover in Rio before landing back home in the States.
Promotional Clip for Caribbean Disco Club
For other clubs, sure you guys could find stuff on youtube if typing in specific names I listed above.
Some guy biking to work in Curitiba
Clip done by professional actors about closed nature of Curitibanos, haha
