C & C globetrotting around the world…

Christoph lived in Maringá from 2000 to 2002 during his voluntary service and has lots of fond memories of the people and the places. We really took some time off touristy things in Maringá and spent time to relax and meet up with old friends. Maringá is not a touristic city at all, but for Christoph is has emotional value. Maringá is a city in southern Brazil founded on 10 May, 1947 as a planned urban area with about 350,000 inhabitants. It is crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn and is a regional centre for commerce, services, agro-industries and universities. The city also has a high concentration of hospitals and is generally richer than many other Brazilian cities. Maringá takes its name from a song by Joubert de Carvalho in honour of his great love, Maria do Ingá, latter shortened to “Maringá”. At the time of establishment of the city is was very popular in the media, thus the city became known as the “Cidade Cancao” (Song City).

We arrived in Maringá with Karina and Patrick, who had picked us up in Puerto Iguazu. Unfortunately they were very busy visiting their friends and family, so we didn’t get to spend much time with them, but stayed with their friends, Debora and Jose Paulo. Our hosts were really really nice and right away we felt like we knew each other (actually, Christoph knew Debora from 12 years ago). We felt right at home at their place and stayed over a week there. We had lots of fun spending time with them and also met their families. They really took care of us and we always had a good laugh. During the day when they were working, we used the time to catch up on the Blog and to visit the city.

The Cathedral of Maringá was completed in 1972, on the 25^th birthday of the city. With its 124m in height is the tallest church in South America (and 16th tallest in the world). The architect was inspired by the Soviet sputnik satellites when he designed the cathedral’s modernist, conical shape. We also visited the Parque do Inga, Maringa’s central park. It was left with the original flora and fauna that existed in the area before the city was built. We saw many kinds of birds, monkeys and 2 beautiful peacocks.

Otherwise there is not much to see in this extremely young city, but we visited the hospital where Chistoph worked. The hospital is run by a catholic brotherhood from Trier (reason also why Chris came to do his volunteering here) and there have been major upgrades in the last 10 years. We got a guided tour by Amelia, the lady working in the Social Services department. Chris was extremely happy that lots of people remembered him and were extremely pleased to see him again. Christoph had lived with the brothers as well, so we visited them in their convent. Many are gone, but still a few remain and we had lunch with them one day. There are some old friends of Christoph’s that we met in the evening and it was wonderful. Cecilia was also happy to meet them. Josyara was like a mother to Christoph in Maringá and still is very warm and welcoming. Her husband Roberto and her son Victor Hugo were also very nice and we spent 2 evenings with them. We even baked together, so we had lots of fun talking about old times and laughing. Cecilia was happy that she was able to understand most of what was being said in Portuguese, so Christoph didn’t need to translate all the time. We also met with Karlos, an old colleague of Christoph’s, and his family. The guys were really happy to meet up after such a long time.

Food-wise, we tried a few different Brazilian specialties in Maringá. Besides the obvious churrasco (BBQ), we also had Pizza Rodizio. The waiters walk around with 35 different kinds of pizzas and you choose which one you want to eat a slice of. It’s all-you-can-eat, so it’s interesting to try some crazy combinations. For lunch we tried a restaurant where you choose from many different dishes and pay by weight. It was fun to get a bigger variety of dishes. There is also a famous fast food joint in town called “Banze Lanches”. Christoph used to go there while he worked in the hospital and he was surprised to see the same people still work there. What was amazing is that they remembered him too. Maringá also has a large Japanese community that has been living there for over 100 years now and therefore has also lots of Japanese restaurants. We went with Debora and Jose Paulo to a sushi place that was really great. We had a beautifully ornamented and delicious sushi boat. Fruit shakes and sugar cane juice are also readily available everywhere and delicious. You just have to tell them not to add sugar, as it’s sweet enough.

On the week-end Debora and Jose Paulo organized a “churrasco”, a Brazilian BBQ at their “chacarra”, their week-end house. Located just outside town, the place is cute and has an orchard as well as a jacuzzi. There we spent a nice day with their families. Christoph made a good caipirinha, the beer was cold and Jose Paulo’s BBQ excellent. Overall it was wonderful to meet and spend time with all these people and we hope to see them all again soon. Thanks again everyone for everything! We are awaiting you in Montreal.