Olinda and Recife go hand in hand, with Olinda apparently being the "prettier sister"... however there is still broken glass all along the roadside, and the beaches are not really for human consumption! That said, it is quite a quaint little place as far as cities go, although it is clear that health and safety does not exist anywhere in Brazil as I encountered many massive holes in the pavements here late at night, and a nice electrical socket in the shower! I had planned to only stay in Olinda, and to maybe make a day trip to Recife, whereas Maaike had planned to do this other way around as her friend's aunty lives in Recife. As she could not get in touch with her, I had my little leech with me for a short while longer.

Unfortunately the hostel that we had initially chosen lacked character and charged rather more than we had anticipated, so we set off to find a different place to stay as soon as we arrived. We found a nice hostel with a pool and a 12-bed dorm room... this would've been pretty horrible had there been anyone else there, but we had it to ourselves and it was nice and spacious. The pool was also useful for us to discover our synchronised swimming skills :s Our first night consisted of an oversized, overpriced and horrendous meal, followed by witnessing a happy clappy marching band who could not keep time at all with random playing of banjos, woodwind instruments, triangles and terrible singing. This was particularly annoying when they stopped and played for a long time right outside out bedroom window!


The sights in Olinda are mainly in the old town, with lots of churches and colourful houses. There are also many handicraft stalls and the whole town is littered with tat! We saw many more tributes to Maria Bonita and Lampião, plus we discovered Caboclo De Lança who is a guy with sunglasses and flower in his mouth... I'm still not 100% clued up on his history, but this guy is everywhere! There were many carnival puppets, so we could not resist taking a few photos with these. It's amazing what simple pleasures please simple minds sometimes. We also found a group of dancers performing Frevo umbrella dancing which is something typical in the region. There was one very enthusiastic guy dancing, a slightly less enthusiastic girl, and another guy who was just walking through the steps. The happy bouncy fella was very excited when I asked to join in and to learn the dance, once I was finished I was knackered!

That night we were much in need of a fun night out, and found it very diffcult to find somewhere to go. Eventually we stumbled by a place playing music and wandered inside. The dancefloor was dead and there were just a few suspect characters lurking around the bar, with one weirdo in a yellow t-shirt who spent the whole night staring. This seemed to be the only place we would get an opportunity to dance our socks off, so we got some beer and hit the dancefloor. It was vey school disco-esque as every now and then a very young semi-conscious person would be carried out of the place after drinking too much. There was also the most odd gay couple I've ever seen, half of which was a morbidly obese man who was eating his very small boyfriend... not pretty to look at, but like a car crash I just couldn't help myself. There was also a brother and sister duo, with the siter being very interested to know if Maaike was my girlfriend as she was quite taken by her! I think I managed to explain in Portuguese that she wasn't, but that we both like men. That night I think maybe I drank too much as I woke up the next day in the middle of a dream about a washing machine... something I've not seen for a long time now!

Maaike finally managed to get in touch with the aunty of her friend (Marie), and she came to pick us up. I planned to spend the day in Recife and then go to Salvador on the overnight bus later on. By the time I got to the bus station I had just missed the bus and so ended up becoming the leech myself and staying one night too. This meant that I could make my dreams come true as Marie very kindly let me use her washing machine!

The day in Recife consisted of a visit to Casa Da Cultura, which is a prison that has been converted into a market. It is very impressive as it is still very prisonesque, with each shop having a cell door and large gates between the corridors. We also saw some more Carnival puppets including a Michael Jackson one... more photo opportunities we could not miss! There was a few groups just starting their carnival practice too, it is such a massive thing here and I bet it would be a lot of fun to visit when the celebrations are happening. Each town in Brazil has quite a different way of celebrating, and the big puppets are unique to Olinda/Recife.


On my way back to the bus station I met a nice young man on the Metro. He tried to help me with my backpack when it came time to get off, but underestimated how much it weighed and could not lift it! Through a tried and tested technique I can throw it fairly easily onto my back and he was amazed by this. Worryingly this guy was just coming back from a fitness test to get into the Brazilian airforce... not a promising start to his career if he can't even lift my bag! Although he does already have the aviators, so all is not lost. He was very sweet though and keen to practice his English so kept me entertained as I waited for my bus. Later we were joined by another friend of his who had been at the same tests... they were just 18 years old and made me feel very old!

After a short and sweet stay in Olinda and Recife I am ready to move on and hit the big cities... next up, Salvador!