Life did not have a chance to return to normal after an eventful and marvellous weekend in Maragogi. On Wednesday we (the Canadians and I) headed off to Recife with our voluntary tour guide (this was an appropriate and beneficial title for him as we got some free parking out of it) for the day. After the brilliant and burning sunshine of Monday, the slightly cooler and overcast Wednesday was a welcome reprieve.
The first stop was a museum about the history of the people from the northeast of Brazil. The familiar objects of old-fashioned cameras and and fine china are juxtaposed against the religious/superstitious objects, such as these little carvings:
People who were healed of their illness after much prayer would bring a token to show their appreciation and thankfulness for the restoration of their health. Some of these limbs were rather grotesque, showing large sores and gaping wounds. Not all of them were this graphic. Carvings of babies were included in the collection for mothers who prayed for children.
Point of interest #2: the bank and the Christian book store. The bank for self-explanatory reasons, and the store for interest. (Note: this is different than the reading room.) It's so wonderful to see a familiar looking store so far from home. I found my souvenir here too: a Portuguese Bible. Not that I can read it, of course, but, perhaps, with time…
From there we walked along streets that lined the rivers with fish for sale in tanks and bags. What's a more logical to sell pet fish than by a riverbank?
The Casa da Cultura was practically right around the corner where we had parked with our guide's unofficial and unasked for club card. The Casa used to be a prison but has been converted to a shopping centre within the past 40-50 years; cells have been transformed into tiny shops and bathrooms; and the building is complete with steep stairs and its original three wings. There is a lookout on the top floor in the middle of the jail from where the jailers could see in every direction. A clever design, really.
Markets were next, after lunch of course, both indoor and outdoor. (Incidentally, we had lunch at the same shopping centre where I had been less than a week before on my minister's tour. I didn't remember this from the previous time, but there is a skating rink in the centre of the mall. Brazilians wear more protection skating than they do riding motorbikes.) The small stalls are closely set together and the narrow aisles are filled with people. Similar items can be found from stall to stall, which makes the souvenir shopping for younger siblings somewhat disappointing: no one of a kind gifts here. To be fair, buying gifts for them is hard enough when half of them only want Lord of the Rings Lego… I think the largest disappointment were the lovely straw fedora hats that all came from China. Negativity aside, navigating the aisles was a fun adventure, as was attempting to communicate in a combination of broken Portuguese and English. Brownie points for understanding the prices!
We could have spent all day in the market and surrounding stores, but were herded into vehicle in order to make it to Olinda in time for the sunset. Our smooth-talking tour guide deftly managed to avoid a parking ticket and we darted through traffic to a monastery at the top of a hill in order to view the city and ocean below.
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| Recife in the evening |
Olinda is a historic city and a part of Carnival fills these streets. We parked at the Igreja da Misericordia, which was built in 1540, and walked along the cobblestone streets. Thankfully we didn't have to walk up or down any of them as they could give a European city a run for its money. We poked around in a few shops and then made our way to a restaurant for yet another meal. This past week has given the week that includes Christmas and New Year's some heavy competition in the food consumption department; so much so that I think this week has won. It has felt a little like a spring break. We leisurely shared a meal, admired the lights of the city, and watched the set up for the birthday party next to us that we weren't invited to, even though the popping of the curly balloons (yes, curly balloons) interrupted our meal. There was some live music inside that we couldn't really hear, but that was fine; our own conversations were entertaining enough.
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| not the greatest quality due to the light, but this is what the streets look like |
I really ought to blog more often instead of lumping several days' worth of adventure into a single blog post. So let's move on to the next scene.
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