We really enjoyed our stay at Pousada Borghetto Sant’Anna. I wish we had more time to visit with our host who is enjoying the good life. After a quick stop at Casa Valduga (Boutique XYZ Winery) for 3 bottles of fine valley wine, we started toward Curitiba – a 7-hour drive. It was long and fascinating. The terrain was between 2,000’-3, 000’ and many winding tropical & forest roads. There were forests of an ancient pine type, what we dubbed some “the umbrella pines”. See pictures. The Appalachians often came to mind. The highway usually went around the towns along the way. They were in good condition in general, but not set up for speed. Trucks were more than half the traffic on BR116. 450 hp in the Cayenne certainly opens the 2 lanes for passing. Driving is a wonderful way to see the country. We feel the immensity of the landscape, always imagining what it would be like to live here. This is certainly not a tourist destination, but the accommodations are sure better than the Andes. 
We lunched at a local family run Commida Corrida restaurant in a small town on the roadside. We always have an eye out for home cooked road food and we found one. Once again, the food was delicious, but a little too rich. See pictures.
We made it to the Sheraton 4 Points in Curitiba which aims for the middle class aspiration market. We took a walk around a couple of the major streets of this mainly high-rise residential neighborhood. We settled for an easy dinner at the hotel.
Gas is about $8 per gallon. In general, it feels to me that the Real to Dollar exchange rate should be set at 3/1, (not 1.59/1), to be competitive internationally. However, prepared food is about 1/3 less than what it would cost in the US. I bet wages are out of balance with the economy. The feel is that of the US in the ’60s, adding Internet & recent technology. English is not widely spoken here. Financial transactions such as credit cards, ATMs and exchange of $$ are difficult. Those who were English fluent or spoke well were very friendly. It has been a pleasure interacting with the people of Brazil.
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