We left Lencois by bus, 7 hours back to Salvador and decided not to spend another night there but wait out 4 hours or so for the night bus to Recife. With the Sao Joao holiday celebrations in full swing the terminal was a hive of activity as families loaded onto buses piled high with multi-coloured micro-fibre blankets and full sized pillows.
The time went quickly as we picked up our online bus reservation ticket and watched the world go by through the rodoviario (bus terminal). Brazilians look to be very comfortable with their body shapes. The women squeeze their xxxl bodies into the skimpiest, tightest, stretch-lycra clothes they can find. Bras are exposed under cropped tops and the most popular item of clothing are the cut off denim shorts with all their shaggy threads. Some of the shorts look like they have been eaten by hungry bums they are so brief.
There was a pillar of power points where people queued to recharge their cellphones but only one or two of the ten points worked so it was entertaining seeing them go through the routine of finding the working ones.
The terminal was divided into an arrival area and a departure area with fast food shops in between and small shops, closed for the holidays, around the edges. On the second floor were small ticketing booths of all the different bus companies. There were probably 40 of them.The whole area was open to the outside with a bit of air movement to keep it from being stiflingly hot and sticky.Our bus left on time and was not unlike all the other buses we have taken.
In the daylight we were able to see fields of sugar cane and bananas on the slopes. Nearby were many enclaves of identical looking houses all joined in rows which we decided were residences for the plantation workers.
After a smooth 14 hour journey and enough sleep we arrived at the terminal and after a walk aver linking bridges we were on the metro to the centre of Recife. Once again, we were reminded that we are idosos (old) and were offered seats. I did suggest to John before we left that we should dye our hair so we don't stand out as OAP backpackers. He didn't take to the idea and I didn't want to look like the much younger wife with dyed hair so we did nothing about it!
We decided we had had enough of big cities, Recife could fit NZ's population, so opted to head for the World Heritage seaside area of Olinda just outside Recife. The local bus from the centre took us over two of the three islands that make up the centre of Recife so we were able to see the middle class area of Boa Viagem and its flash high rise apartment buildings.
Once we arrived in Olinda we were rushed at by men in red tee shirts who were offering their services as tour guides to show us around the old city and its 16 or so churches. Every day of our stay we were shouted at by them or they would clap their hands to get our attention from across the street. This was the first time we had experienced this in Brazil.
No one in our guest house spoke English and it was not as clean as as we have had before but there were not many places with double rooms and the hostels only have dorms.
We spent time walking the cobbled hilly streets and visited only one church. I wanted to visit the puppet museum but it was closed all the days we were in town so that was disappointing. It has enormous puppets that are used at Carnival and children's toys.
We found some interesting places to eat nearby the guest house. We had savoury crepes at a creperie, curried pizzas, and Mexican food under a blue light so the decor would glow in the dark.
On our last day we walked quite a long way along the newly built beach promenade and watched the fishermen fishing from the groynes scattered along the beach. We lucked upon a Walmart mall and bought some things we would need for our upcoming Amazon boat trip.
From the beach we could see the high rise buildings of downtown Recife.
These fishermen covered huge slabs of styrofoam with a timber frame and used them to fish from in the lagoon. Out side the lagoon were signs telling of the danger from sharks. Sadly the beaches were dirty and all the smelly waste from the road kerbside drains runs into the water where the children and families swim and play.
The beach had roughly made beach bars pumping out loud music to their customers sitting on plastic seats enjoying the sun. Each bar was competing with the other so it was noisy place to be.It was not what we had thought the lovely beach would be but did enjoy the chance to get laundry dried and eat some different food.
We caught a Uber taxi to the metro station and the metro into the international airport for our flight to Sanrtarem, the starting point for our boat trip up the Amazon.
The time went quickly as we picked up our online bus reservation ticket and watched the world go by through the rodoviario (bus terminal). Brazilians look to be very comfortable with their body shapes. The women squeeze their xxxl bodies into the skimpiest, tightest, stretch-lycra clothes they can find. Bras are exposed under cropped tops and the most popular item of clothing are the cut off denim shorts with all their shaggy threads. Some of the shorts look like they have been eaten by hungry bums they are so brief.
There was a pillar of power points where people queued to recharge their cellphones but only one or two of the ten points worked so it was entertaining seeing them go through the routine of finding the working ones.
The terminal was divided into an arrival area and a departure area with fast food shops in between and small shops, closed for the holidays, around the edges. On the second floor were small ticketing booths of all the different bus companies. There were probably 40 of them.The whole area was open to the outside with a bit of air movement to keep it from being stiflingly hot and sticky.Our bus left on time and was not unlike all the other buses we have taken.
In the daylight we were able to see fields of sugar cane and bananas on the slopes. Nearby were many enclaves of identical looking houses all joined in rows which we decided were residences for the plantation workers.
After a smooth 14 hour journey and enough sleep we arrived at the terminal and after a walk aver linking bridges we were on the metro to the centre of Recife. Once again, we were reminded that we are idosos (old) and were offered seats. I did suggest to John before we left that we should dye our hair so we don't stand out as OAP backpackers. He didn't take to the idea and I didn't want to look like the much younger wife with dyed hair so we did nothing about it!
We decided we had had enough of big cities, Recife could fit NZ's population, so opted to head for the World Heritage seaside area of Olinda just outside Recife. The local bus from the centre took us over two of the three islands that make up the centre of Recife so we were able to see the middle class area of Boa Viagem and its flash high rise apartment buildings.
Once we arrived in Olinda we were rushed at by men in red tee shirts who were offering their services as tour guides to show us around the old city and its 16 or so churches. Every day of our stay we were shouted at by them or they would clap their hands to get our attention from across the street. This was the first time we had experienced this in Brazil.
 |
A Mauritanian style historic house  |
No one in our guest house spoke English and it was not as clean as as we have had before but there were not many places with double rooms and the hostels only have dorms.
We spent time walking the cobbled hilly streets and visited only one church. I wanted to visit the puppet museum but it was closed all the days we were in town so that was disappointing. It has enormous puppets that are used at Carnival and children's toys.
 |
| These men took the horses for a roll in the sand and a swim in the sea |
We found some interesting places to eat nearby the guest house. We had savoury crepes at a creperie, curried pizzas, and Mexican food under a blue light so the decor would glow in the dark.
On our last day we walked quite a long way along the newly built beach promenade and watched the fishermen fishing from the groynes scattered along the beach. We lucked upon a Walmart mall and bought some things we would need for our upcoming Amazon boat trip.
From the beach we could see the high rise buildings of downtown Recife.
These fishermen covered huge slabs of styrofoam with a timber frame and used them to fish from in the lagoon. Out side the lagoon were signs telling of the danger from sharks. Sadly the beaches were dirty and all the smelly waste from the road kerbside drains runs into the water where the children and families swim and play.
The beach had roughly made beach bars pumping out loud music to their customers sitting on plastic seats enjoying the sun. Each bar was competing with the other so it was noisy place to be.It was not what we had thought the lovely beach would be but did enjoy the chance to get laundry dried and eat some different food.
We caught a Uber taxi to the metro station and the metro into the international airport for our flight to Sanrtarem, the starting point for our boat trip up the Amazon.
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