Curitiba and Train to Morretes – Mata Atlantica (Atlantic Rain Forest) & Serra Verde

Continuing our tour of southern Brazil, we laid up for a month in Curitiba, Parana, about 450 km southwest of Sao Paulo. I had never heard of the place 6 months ago, but having had such a great time in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, why not? The real attraction was visiting the adjacent “Mata Atlantica,” which is unique to Brazil, where 50% of the flora and fauna are specific, yet only 20% of the original forest remains. Curitiba has about half a million inhabitants and is busy, safe, and pleasant. There is a nice mix of historical Portuguese and modern Brazil in the city. Famous for its variety of parks, I’d say Curitiba is more of a destination for travelers my age looking for consistency, comfort, and relaxation. The must-visits are the Mercado Central and Botanical Gardens, with their beautiful architecture.

The highlight of the trip was the Serra Verde Express, taken from Curitiba through the mountainous Mata Atlantica to the town of Morretes on the coast. This historical track was a 19th-century engineering marvel designed to link goods from the interior to the seaport. Much like our own first transcontinental railroad, competing infrastructure developments and new technology rendered the line almost obsolete. We passed through several long-abandoned and ghost-like towns, now all but reclaimed by the forest. A skeleton is all that’s left of a once-vibrant time in Brazil in the 1800s, leaving me to wonder about our own future. The forest and mountains are marvelous, and I’m told they were largely unchanged from when the Portuguese first arrived. The abundant Pinon trees are its signature and unique to the region.