Monte Recife

Again, arriving a little the worse for wear on Friday morning, Erin and I got the metro and then a taxi to our hotel in Olinda.  Olinda is Recife´s historic twin town.  They were built at the same time in the 17th Century - Recife being the much larger port town, Olinda being where the rich merchants would live.<br><br> <br><br>The pousada turned out to be a rather colourful affair decorated with huge puppets which are used in Olinda´s Carnaval celebrations - purported to be the best in ...

... we left. Carnaval night felt less friendly from that point on. Having a local nearby means things are explained, strange puddles are pointed out and avoided, the best places to eat with views of the river are found and fabulous food consumed. Also walking through the crowds we were less pushed around, and loi did a good job of protecting us from people barging through our group. It was more fun with him around. So we agreed to call it a night and head home. We got a good ...

... of Olinda, had lunch, laughed, talked, cuddled as old friends do. Last night I met his family and his son at their international Capoeira Angola Encounter.... After the Roda, his son Aruande, fell asleep in my arms as we walked back to my pousada... He is so cute! I love Olinda. It is so lovely, so amazing, such a culturally diverse place. So friendly, everyone smiles and laughs and I~ve found it so easy to get ...

... ramp time. We were back on-board in short order and soon sitting down to a pleasant evening meal as the sun set and Recife fell astern. Our table, bye the way, is well situated on the upper deck of the Gold Pearl restaurant with both side and stern window views (special thanks to Senior Carnival Cruise Director John Heald and our singing Matre di, Ken Byrne, for the fantastic table and eclectic mix of tablemates).

... pictures that morning before. It took me about an hour or so to put it all together. In class, I got up to give my presentation, and it wasn't on my flash drive! So I ended up having to remember what I had written, and just wing it. Considering all this, it went surprisingly OK. Good speaking practice too. Oh, and by the way, if you thought winging presentations in English was bad, try it in a second language... Later, we played Scrabble in ...

... overlooking recife. So there was nothing else to do but get drunk, eat junk food and watch the novellas (I think that´s what they call the Brazilian soap operas here). We both felt so dirty post-carnaval so it was a night of grooming. I brought some local moisturiser and it seems to have cleared up a lot of the heat rash, and we groomed nails and put treatment in our hair. With new clothes and a polished visage I feel like a new ...

(as predicted, have been rather slack at sitting down to update blog, so am doing this retrospectively from Rio...) After a joyful though bleary eyed reunion with Kelly and Helen at Rio airport on 29th Jan, we made our way up to the state of Permambuco, home of Recife and Olinda. Pre- Carnival preparation consisted of three nights at a small town south of Recife called Gaibu, to enjoy the quiet beaches where the Brazilians go on ...

... deu muita paz." Depoimento de Cinthia estudante de Ciências Contábeis (UFPE), evangelizada por Eliza Ito (UFRJ); Maria Débora e Juliana (missionária) Após ter feito a oração convidado Jesus a entrar em sua vida, Cinthia aceitou fazer um estudo bíblico de edificação. Ela se demonstrou muito aberta e interessada no que tínhamos para compartilhar. Manifestou, no in ...

... of Olinda has 365 churches? One for every day of the year! The next day we enjoyed sleeping in (without hostel-mates arriving late at night or getting up early in the morning) and caught up on emails and internet stuff. After a nice lunch with Marisa, we went to the Brennand Institute. Ricardo Brennand was a collector of artwork and weapons rich in history (including wax ...

... in Pernambuco state which is one of the first inhabited regions in Brazil. Olinda is a word heritage city (title given by UNESCO) and Recife, its neighbour, was built by the Dutch, and houses various types of architecture that mirrors its time of glory when sugar was almost as important as gold and not only attracted the Portuguese and the Dutch, but also the English. Olinda is a friendly, pretty ...