Marante Recife

... we had a group. We sat in the hammocks and were in and out of the pool all day. At night, I stayed in and got some much needed sleep. The next day was the same…. Sun by the pool, hammocks, food, and then I left to go to another hostel in the city of Recife. This was a bad idea. I ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. I mean a WHOLE lot of nothing. No one there spoke English either and it was dead ...

... coming from the left ´(it was coming from every angle`!)and he told me to walk backwards for a bit to even it out. We both had a good giggle. We were right up the front for Caetano Veloso, yup he is here for carnaval, and we three of us had a ball dancing together and laughing. Loi brought his frevo umbrella and each time the TV camera boom passed overhead we three all hammed it up to get on camera. Both Tracy and I were dying to pee so we had to leave the front and find ...

... a good friend is a joy. I have just made a copy of a DVD he made for me of him teaching all the dances, so I can train to it whilst I´m in Australia and away from here. How sweet is that!. I need to work out how to be a bit nicer to Tracy, I´m finding it hard to translate and be a guide and still relax and have a holiday and unfortunately I´m not describing it all that well to Missy. Also having PMS up till recently doesn´t help anything. I think I will shout her dinner ...

... was the one we were wanting to stay at so we agreed. The pousada was located in the historic centre and in the middle of all the action. Olinda is quite a large city (300,000 people) but the historic centre has only 20,000 people. Olinda is famous for its colonial architecture and is one of the best preserved cities in Brazil (and is a world heritage site). It is said that Olinda comes from the Portuguese O! Linda! meaning Oh, beautiful. It really is ...

Yesterday was the festival of Friday (might as well have a friday festival)... and the bloco and doll of friday wandered past our poussada. Jaz and I must have got confused between the two days as we drank three very strong caiperinhas and fell asleep. Again I missed seeing Carlos and he missed seeing me - its a comedy of errors. So I´ve enlisted my friends to give a message to him and he had his friends Wendell and Demais get a message to me. They turned up ...

... and take it from you. If they cannot make it in, you throw it on the floor, where people can´t trip on it, and voila the next day when you return the streets are scowered clean. So I am learning to eat, and throw the rubbish, it is so contrary to all that I work for... I have been given a bit of teasing, but also kudos, that ´oxossi´(aka Carlos who danced Oxossi, the man of the forest) walked me to the beach. All the girls of my household were laughing and teasing me ...

... glad because it is such a privelidge to stay with locals, to be invited to live as a local at Carnaval. Today is a relatively free day for me so I think I might wander the streets alone for a bit before joining the afoaxe. It´s safe to walk here alone before 9, after 9 you need a friend with you. I absolutely love it here. I promise to post pictures soon. Sorry about the spelling. My time is up and I need to get some food I think... Much love to all. Boa Carnaval Soooz

... vamos pelas necessidades do compus. Lembro do testemunho dos estudantes que iam para a faculdade de Filosofia. Eles enfrentaram várias barreiras para evangelizar naquele instituto. Até o momento em que decidiram clamar ao Senhor da Colheita. Eles não estavam mais se conformando em ir ao campus e não verem ninguém recebendo Jesus como Salvador. Eles pediram um sinal e foram atendidos. Após suas orações eles passaram ...

... today, dumped our backpacks in the left luggage office, had brunch, and caught the metro to the centre of Recife. The cultural centre, set up in the old prison, is a place that sells lots of touristy souvenirs, but it is not anywhere so nice as the one in Fortaleza, far less choice of items (by now we are looking for presents for our family). From there we wandered to a park marked on the map where two rivers join, but found a flash military place, not open to the likes of us. Our ...

... though there was a huge communication problem, i felt comfortable from day 1..thanks for the amazing brasilian family!! The volunteer program was horrible!! and I really hope that us volunteers can pool enough bad things together and spread the word so that others who want to help should not go through the program VOLUNTEER BRASIL!! However nasty they were, I was still fortunate enough to have a great orphanage to volunteer with...after being placed with the ...