Arrival in Curitiba
Beyond Barra do Turvo the road makes its final climb onto the Paraná plateau, and the change is felt as much as seen. At roughly 3,065 ft (934 m), Curitiba is high enough to be Brazil's coldest state capital — a sharp contrast after weeks near sea level, with real seasons and shifting skies locals joke about surviving four in a single day.
Museu Oscar Niemeyer
The first stop in the city is the Museu Oscar Niemeyer, its yellow "Olho" building one of the most recognizable pieces of architecture in southern Brazil. There's no need to see everything inside — the point is the building itself and a first taste of the principal exhibitions, an introduction to one of the country's major centers for art, architecture, and design. After a long morning of highway, the shift in surroundings is immediate: forest and mountains give way, almost without transition, to Niemeyer's sweeping modernist lines.