Ohh, Pretty!

6/19/14

In Recife (‘Hay-see-fee’), our hotel just happened to be an “official FIFA hotel” right on the beach (nice!), and we arrived just minutes before busloads of a Costa Rican tour group disembarked and took over the lobby. Clearly, Nick was going to be in good company. [Nick: It was a tour group put together by an agency called Sport Viajes. They took over the hotel that night, but must have flown out right after the game, as on the second night they were completely missing.] We are quickly learning that we should have brought a team jersey for everyday of the week – everyone else seems to be in team colors each day. We’re the ones that look out of place in normal clothes ;o) Our first task was to find a place to do laundry – not an easy task, a most places charge by the item and can only air dry your clothes. (Dryers and one-day laundry services are few and far between outside the U.S., let alone a self-service laundromat.) But after many generous phone calls and translations by Fe, we found a place that would accommodate the demanding gringos and delivery our machine-dried laundry to the hotel by the next morning (for a high price, of course, but worth it with the limited time we had).

View from our hotel room

With “chores” done and time to spare, we headed to the historic colonial town of Olinda, just north of Recife, a World Heritage Site that got its name from the Portuguese explorer who first stood atop its highest peak and exclaimed “Oh, pretty” (or at least that’s what they tell the tourists). It’s a beautiful little town that overlooks the ocean and Recife below. Established in the early 1500’s, this colonial city still had its cobblestone streets and many of its original (albeit restored) Portuguese buildings and cathedrals. Hopefully we will be able to return to Recife (depending on where Costa Rica qualifies in its group) and will have more time to explore Olinda. As it was, we only had a few hours, so while Filipe and Nick secured a spot at a local restaurant for dinner and the night’s game, Fe and I walked around to explore some of the City. We toured a 300 year old cathedral and a synagogue that is now an artisan market for tourists. 

Sé Cathedral

Sé Cathedral

Sé Cathedral

Sé Cathedral Bell Tower

Olinda Synagogue Turned Artisan Market

The restaurant where we ate was perfect: our table was on a balcony overlooking Olinda and the Atlantic Ocean, and we could hear the ringing of the church bells all over town as the sun set over the Recife in the distance. It was beautifully picture perfect. And the food and soccer game were really good too! The highlight of the day, however, was getting Nick to agree that if Brazil wins the World Cup, he’ll get his hair cut like Neymar Jr. Game. On! [Nick: Hair grows back right? And I can hopefully re -tint the blond tips :-)]

Filipe & Nick watching the game

Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Convent of San Francisco

Rooftop cat overlooking Olinda

Olinda with Recife in the background

Recife at sunset

After dinner, a local guide took us around the nightly street market and up an observatory tower where we got a glimpse of Saturn and its rings. [Nick: It was interesting to see space education and outreach in Brazil. Cool to think that my work makes a tiny contribution to something that is of interest around the world.] Fe and I were still a little skeptical that it was really Saturn and not a slide or picture that had been strategically placed in the telescope – it looked just a little too postcard-like: white circle with a white ring around it, no blurred lines... But Nick seems to think it was real, so who knows. [Nick: It was real. I’ve seen Saturn multiple times thru large telescopes. But of course the moon is fake. Scientists used to fake the moon using cheese, today we use Styrofoam. Attracts less pests.]

Olinda Night Market with Observatory in the background

Cat checking her moon weight

View of the night market from the observatory

We drove through the narrow streets, checking out the old colonial restorations (unfortunately most of them were closed at night) and stopped at an artisan market that was located on the site of a previous slave market (odd and creepy). Where each merchant had their tiny stalls was once a windowless holding cell for a human being before being sold to the highest bidder. A very sobering moment of Brazil’s past. But not to be too dismal, Olinda and Recife are known for their Carnival festivals and for which they are very proud. So the main auction room of the old slave market had been turned into an art gallery of sorts where the town’s giant paper mache puppets were on display. These larger than life busts are designed to resemble actual celebrities but, not being Brazilian, we had no idea who they were supposed to be. They were very cool though – impressive that someone can dance around with these giant things on for hours on end parading through the streets. [Nick: And often in the rain, in 90 degree weather.]

Slave market stalls

Slave Auction turned Carnival Puppet Museum

Carnival Puppets

As is our custom, we moved to the next eating location to watch the next soccer match of the day. We found a kitschy American-themed diner where we enjoyed overpriced milkshakes and yet another giant tv. Not a bad way to end the day :o) [Nick: In Fortaleza and Recife ice cream is everywhere. There are stand-alone McDonald’s, Bob’s Burgers, and other chain ice cream stands. Makes sense since in the winter the average day is still in the 80’s. Hmm, my kinda town. I lost 20 lbs on the world trip but I don’t think that is happening in Brazil.]