Days 50-53 Historical Recife and Olinda by CS & ES

  Recife, Brazil
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

From Natal, we took our nicest bus trip to date (heck yeah, double decker).  It was a relaxing 5 hours on the bus to Recife, where at Carolyn's mother's urging, we contacted the Sampaio family.  Leonardo (the father, a "retired" professor from 2 universities, one of the founders of the first MBA program in North or Northeastern Brazil, historian, member of the Department of Commerce, and member of a UN program for transparency in public service) picked us up from the bus station, and took us to his very nice home right in Recife.  The 2-story house had a pool and wonderful open air patio, dining room, and living room.

Leonardo and his daughter, Marisa, took us out to a nice regional Northeastern dinner, a "self service" with many different kinds of meats, chicken, pork, fish, and seafood to choose from.  Not to mentioned a large dessert buffet with lots of regonal goodies, and another new favorite for Erin - fried bananas with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top.  After a huge meal, Leonardo took us on a driving tour of Recife and Olinda, complete with a full history of each church/monument.  Did you know that the small city 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 statues) from the area... there were even multiple chastity belts on display.  Man, am I glad I wasn't raised in the 1700-1800s... metal underwear with 2 strategically placed holes and a padlock?  Not my idea of style or comfort :)  Anyway, he constructed a castle to house it all, and it's now a public museum.

Carolyn with Bodacious Rider

Erin with Bootylicious Rider

Erin with Bart look-a-like

Really Old Money

Ready for Battle

What not to pack in your carry-on

Notice the tiny animals parading on the blade

Priests have to defend themselves too!

Erin ready for battle

We met back up with Marisa at home, who had been at an appointment to set up her wedding reception (Congratulations on the wedding in April!), and she took us to a mall that had been renovated from the old customs building on the port.  We enjoyed lime and strawberry caipiroskas with a wonderful view of the city and its many bridges.  Following the drinks, we met with Leonardo, his other daughter Adriana, her husband Carlinhos, and their cute 5-yr old son, Edu to have dinner at the British Country Club.  Another wonderful dinner with great company.

The Lovely Sampaio Family

Yet another picture of Erin eating Brigadeiro

The next day, we left early with Leonardo to visit the 2nd oldest city in Brazil, Igarassu.  It was interesting that they had preserved the size of the village as it was, and kept all of the vegetation around it just as it had been when the Portuguese had settled it in the early 1500s. 

Picture of 2nd Oldest City in Brazil

We then drove to Itamaraca Island to visit Vila Velha, the oldest city in Brazil.

View from Vila Velha (Oldest City in BR)

Oldest Church in Oldest City in BR

Confessional Chair with Emergency Poo Hole

After drinking the coldest and sweetest coconut water ever, we drove to IBAMA's Manitee Project.  IBAMA saves injured manitees, and breeds manitees for release into the wild.  A baby manitee had just been born that morning, so the place was buzzing with excitement.

Manitee

Manitee with Baby

Next stop, Forte Orange, where there were many restaurants right on the beach.  

Carolyn at Forte Orange

Artistic Palm

Overlooking at Fort Orange Lookout

We enjoyed a grilled fish lunch and swam a bit in the river before renting a boat to cross to the small island on the other side.  We saw the sunset, it was beautiful.  

Artistic Sunset

Palms

Sand waves

Sand waves com agua

Sunset

Palm in Moonlight

Moonlight Palms

Sunset over Island

Sunset with Huts

We met up with the family again for some delicious tapioca and pizza at Papa Capim.  After a full day, we went back home and fell asleep.

The next morning, we left with Adriana's family and Leonardo to go to Porto de Galinhas, a small beach town just south of Recife with crystal clear waters with pools for snorkling and big waves for surfing.  Apparently, there are no sharks at this beach, which was a relief after hearing about all of the shark sightings and attacks off the coast of Boa Viagem Beach in Recife.  We had a very nice day, body boarding with Edu (who hit the waves for the first time on his brand new little board), and he rode them like a champ!  We rented a surfboard for an hour, but learned a valuable lesson about choosing a rental.  If the nose of the board is taped on with electrical tape, either bargain the price WAY down or get another rental.  We weren't as successful surfing as we had been in Natal and Jericoacoara, and ended up having more fun on the body boards.

Editor's Note:  During our trip to Porto de Galinhas, one of the most picturesque beaches in Brazil, our camera broke so we couldn't get any more pictures :( :( :(

We drove back to Recife, had a nice dinner at home, and walked a few blocks from their home where a pre-Carnival party had begun at 10 am that morning.  Since it was 10 pm by the time we got there, most people were drunk or headed home, and we had the unfortunate experience of seeing paramedics tending to a pedestrian laying in the middle of the street after being hit by a car.

On our last day in Recife, we headed out in the early afternoon with Marisa to go to Casa da Cultura, which had just closed minutes prior to us arriving.  We took a nice driving tour of Recife in the day light, had another wonderful lunch, and rushed to the bus station to catch our bus to Salvador.

** Thank you so much to Leonardo, Marisa, Adriana, and Carlinhos for being our gracious hosts and tour guides during our stay in Recife.  We had a great time, and hope to come back to visit, maybe even during Carnival! **