After a 35 minute taxi ride from the airport. We arrived at the Radisson hotel. Traffic was moderate, and it was clear from the parks and restaurants we passed that a lot of folks were out to enjoy their Sunday afternoon.

We took a half hour to unpack, and at 3 PM John Lewis and I headed out for a walk. We did a big loop though several blocks of high rises, many looking quite nice. The town reminds me of many Mexican cities, but a little cleaner overall. I've posted a few photos from the walk.

The city of Curitiba was founded by the Portugese in 1693 as a settlement. It's economy was mostly based on ranching and agriculture. The name is thought to come from the Tupi Indian words for "many pine cones", for the seed comes formed on the many Paraná pine trees in the area. The cover photo for this blog post is of two such pines in the courtyard below my hotel room.

I will keep my eyes open for more photo ops later today and add them to the posting.