Week 11: Maragogi, Recife, Olinda
Day 71: Domingo (Sunday March 13th)
We woke up to take pictures of the sunrise and then went back to sleep. After breakfast we headed to the beach. We swam for a bit and found countless sand dollars stacked on top of each other in the ocean floor. After a relaxing beach morning we returned to the same cheap restaurant from the prior day. Then we showered and hung around the hostel. We did some laundry and watched one of the oceans 11 movies with some other hostel guests. We took a walk on the beach and had some great pictures of the sunset. We went back to the hostel and hung around with everyone in front of the tv drinking beer and eating snacks. Eventually Sarahi and I went out for burgers before heading to bed, once again without roommates.
Day 72: Segunda-feira (Monday)
We had some great breakfast table conversations in a blend of English, Spanish, and Portuguese. We planned to catch a ride with Mateus and another hostel guest but ended up waiting a couple extra hours. It was raining most of the morning so we mostly relaxed around the hostel. We piled into the backseat of a rental car and took a truly beautiful ride to Recife. After a struggle to find our next hostel we were eventually dropped off at the front door. It was a great experience though we were a little sad saying goodbye to Mateus. We had heard Recife is a very dangerous city, especially at night. But we were hungry so we headed out to find dinner. We ended up stopping at an Italian restaurant inside a Brazilian Walmart called “Bom Preco”. We bought a few things and then walked the few blocks home. Our hostel room had six beds which were mostly full all three nights. Everyone had different sleep schedules and it made for a rough night sleep. But we enjoyed our time at the hostel a lot. We watched a couple of English movies before heading to bed.
Day 73: Terça-feira (Tuesday)
We woke up to a lot of rain. We wanted to go to the beach but tried to wait out the rain. We ate breakfast, read, and enjoyed the fast internet. We walked amidst sky scrapers a few blocks to the ocean and walked on boa viagem (good voyage) beach. This beach is not protected by coral reefs so there’s a risk of shark attack. It’s the longest urban beach in Brazil, I think about 7 miles. There were maybe 20 different soccer, tennis, and basketball fields along the beach where we stayed. It’s a pretty nice city but it wasn’t our favorite. I told Sarahi a few times that it felt like Beijing because of the size and density among other things. We walked to McDonald’s for a late lunch and stopped by the grocery store on the way back. We picked up pizza and green beans, along with a couple of new fruits. One was acerola, which grows and looks like a crab apple but tastes more like a lemon. It has more vitamin c in one small bite than a whole orange but it’s a bit hard to eat. We also tried a fruit called pinha here and sugar apple in America. It’s really amazing, like a soft apple with seeds but segmented. It’s flavor is a cross between pineapple, banana, and mango but it almost tastes like custard it’s so sweet. We spent the evening relaxing and watching some tv. We met some travelers from Australia and Denmark and Mexico. We cooked our dinner and went to bed later in the night.
Day 75: Quarta-feira (Wednesday)
After breakfast and despite the rainy weather we took a bus to downtown Recife. There are three rivers that cross through Recife and the city is built on several islands. One of these islands has a lot of old buildings and churches. While on our bus the someone stepped into the street and was run over. We had to get off the bus but were pretty close and walked down a commercial street. We spent some time on the old section island looking at old churches and walking around the street vendors of various things. I stepped in a two foot deep hole in the street but luckily only skinned my shin. We had a nice lunch and walked to another island. We walked around some new and some old buildings. We took a bus back to our hostel and then went to the beach. We stayed for sunset and took some great pictures. We had an oven pizza again for dinner and relaxed with hostel guests until bed.
Day 76: Cinco-feira (Thursday)
It was finally time to move to Olinda! We decided to take a bus and after some directions at the hostel we finally made it there for about $0.75 each. Olinda has a way of making it feel like you’re in a very small town, but it is deceptively bigger than you would think! That first day, we started wandering and then a guide started talking to us. We ended up eating at a wonderful restaurant at the top of the hill and were entertained by cats. We visited even older churches and walked the entirety of the historic section. Although we weren’t prepared for the cost (only $25 total = R$100) it was worth the few hours of history and city lessons. Our minds were filled with all of the information we had learned about the city and we decided to head back to our pousada and hung out. Several hours later we decided to head to dinner, but the door was locked!! We ended up having to eat cereal and snacks for our dinner.
Day 77: Sexta-feira (Friday)
Sarahi was feeling sick most of the day. Luke hung around the room for awhile and we both went out for a walk in the middle of the day. Sarahi still wasn’t feeling well so I walked around the city for a couple hours and ate a $1 hot dog. We met up later and ate some soup and juice, watched the sunset. We then went to an observatory and looked at the moon and Jupiter through a telescope. Then we returned to the room and I watched some march madness on my phone. We went our later for some Mexican food! It was great and the first Mexican food we’ve had this year. We went to bed a little later.
Day 78: Domingo (Saturday)
This was Sarahi’s birthday so I’ll let her write this:
This was a pretty darn good day! After a great breakfast we wandered around the city and geeked out at a few different museums and churches (like the puppet museum shown below). After a very filling lunch, we spent the heat of the afternoon at the hotel and watched some Harry Potter (obviously another awesome geeky moment). Then, we watched the gorgeous sunset from the top of a building and tried a traditional Brazilian snack at the top of the historic center. After heading back to the pousada to freshen up, we went and had a spectacular dinner on a private patio with a view. I had Gorgonzola covered steak and Luke had seafood pasta paired with a delicious red wine! Then we took another beautiful way back to the pousada and hit the hay after a great day!
roamwith.me 