The Lonely Planet guide we are using as our bible called Curitiba, a city of 1.2 million people south of Rio de Janeiro, a 'nice little stop off'. This didn't fill us with a lot of hope about the University city, but it was a handy place to rest on the way to the Iguacu Falls.

At first I thought we'd stumbled on a real gem when the extremely cheap hotel was heaven compared to the one in Rio. And as if the clean double bed and newish bathroom wasn't enough, we had our own TV with cable, including CNN International and the Universal channel, which had trashy American shows in English. At one point I wondered if we'd ever leave the hotel. I was so desperate for entertainment I sat through a entire episode of one of those CSI-style shows for the first time ever.

But being keen tourists we ventured out to see what was hot in Curitiba - aside from the stifling temperature. Just when I thought the discovery of a passable cup of coffee was going to be the highlight of the city, we stumbled across the Passeio Publico park.

It was the first time in my life the idea of a public park was exciting but then we noticed a lot of huge cages to our left. Something to look at! We were stunned to find the park was home to monkeys, birds and an aquarium. The monkeys were very cute and there was every type of bird you can imagine, including some fascinating ones like pelicans and flamingos. But the best part was the five or six varieties of 'toucano'. They are the most thrilling birds! So beautiful and strange looking, so pretty but with beaks which look like they could tear you to pieces. I stood there for a very long time admiring the mighty toucans until I noticed the locals looking at me like I was a freak.

And that was Curitiba really. We had some very nice meals, a Friday night out with cocktails and a lot of time in the hotel watching the CNN channel, catching up on the news. It was a 'nice little stop off' and a much needed rest before we launched ourselves into the huge adventure of visiting the Iguacu Falls, one of the most amazing places on earth, I'm sure.

Check out more photos from my trip in my Flickr album.

Read more about Brazil.