Blogs from Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil, South America - page 3

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South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda February 22nd 2008

From Maceió we travelled up the coast to the UNESCO heritage town of Olinda. Although Olinda is just 6 km north of Recife, when Soraia and I were there we managed only to see its nightlife and not the beautiful historic centre. And it was definately worth the return visit! The historic centre of Olinda sits up on a hill overlooking the Atlantic ocean. Its cobbled streets are filled with colonial buildings painted in a variety of different colours. But whats really great is the the cultural element of the city. On every street there are artist workshops and the sound of the marakatu drums or frevo comeing out of the windows of houses. What really struck me was the mix of old and new - the old crumbling coloured buildings of Olinda and the sight ... read more
Carnival puppets
Handicraft market
Historic Olinda - with new Recife in the background

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda February 20th 2008

Setting off bright and early the next day, we drove out to the Brazilian side of the falls, where we saw a couple of guys engaged in a street fight (bricks and heads don´t mix very well), wandered around an excellent bird sanctuary and indulged in a helicopter flight over the falls. Feeling something like a military operation, the helicopter headed up river before rounding the bend and offering unsurpassed views of the falls in all their glory, circling several times for maximum sight seeing before rocking on back to base. In the afternoon we took the park bus (very good transport system) to go and walk up to the falls. Swelteringly hot and very humid, the walk was otherwise highly enjoyable, culminating in a series of walkways which take you out to the middle of ... read more
Devil's Throat from the Air, Iguazu Falls
Flamingo a-go go, Iguazu bird park
The falls, Brazilian side, Iguazu

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda February 14th 2008

Often referred to as the Paris of the South, BA does bear a striking resemblance to its European counterpart, even sporting a massive obelisk in the middle of its main thoroughfare, the massive 22-lane Avenida 9 de Julio, supposedly the widest avenue in the world (not a good place to jaywalk!). Surrounded by suitably drab and decrepit suburbs, the city centre is very clean and tidy, feeling most un-South American, and seems to ooze elegance, sophistication and intelligence. Argentinians are exceptionally good looking normally, and being the capital, it draws the cream of the crop, so it is nigh on impossible to find an ugly person there, however while the women are always fashionaly attired, a suspicious number of the men still parade mullets with pride. Crawling through heavy traffic, the tension in the air was ... read more
Free camp on the way to BA
Into the Paris of the South
Central Plaza, Buenos Aires

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda January 28th 2008

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time for Olinda, but I'm glad we made the effort to get there and walk around because it's such a pretty place! When we got back to Recife, from Fernando do Noronha, we immediately bought our bus ticket to Fortaleza (another 12-hour ride), as time is quickly running out! Luckily it was a night bus which meant that we had all of Sunday to ourselves. Olinda is not far from Recife, took us about half an hour, and the journey was a smooth one... we took the metro then a bus! It was a very hot day that day, but upon arriving we were immediately approached by a tour guide who offered to show us the main attractions. He was only 15 years old, but really knew his stuff. Olinda is ... read more
The streets of Olinda
Striking....
Carnival preparations

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda November 1st 2007

Das Ende unserer Amazonasreise, Belém! Unser Hostel (Hotel Vitória Régia, 30 R$ incl. breakfast) erwies sich als ein perfekter Ausgangspunkt um die quirlige Stadt zu besichtigen. Der Mercado "Ver-o-Peso", einer der wohl bekanntesten Maerkte Brasiliens, bietet alles. Von Lebensmitteln, heilenden Pflanzen und Kraeutern aus dem Regenwald, Kleidung, frischen Fruchtsaeften, bis hin zu riesigen Portionen einheimischen Essens fuer wenig Geld. Selbst um das Fussballspiel Brasilien gegen Ecuador (Endstand: 5:0) zu schauen musste man auf den Markt an eine der unzahligen kleinen Bars, die alle mit Minifernsehern ausgestattet sind. Der Rest der Stadt schien sich nicht gross fuer das Ereignis zu interessieren. Und da soll noch mal jemand sagen, dass die Brasilianer fussballverrueckt sind... Fazit Belém: nette Stadt, durchaus sehenswert Nach einer 12 stuendigen Busfahrt kommen wir in ... read more
Hafen von Belém
Catedral de Sé in Belém
Auf dem Ver-o-Peso gibt es alles...

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda October 7th 2007

Sun 7th Oct: Would you believe it, just as I stepped out to go to the late night carnival, it started to rain - the first rain I saw since the thunderstorms in Belem. While sheltering from the rain in the main square I got into conversation with a Brazilian lawyer (who spoke some broken English), a Danish chap living in Brazil (who spoke some French) and some locals (one spoke Spanish). With the mix of languages and lots of sign language thrown in, we had a very lively animated evening .. the free flow of beer also helped the fluency. The time flew and I didn´t get to bed until after one ... but a great night, and I didn´t even see any carnival dancing. An early morning walk after breakfast helped to waken me ... read more
Reggae
Pousada Olinda

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda October 6th 2007

Sat 6th Oct: As I was having some difficulty getting a ticket for the coach last night (coach full because of the weekend, and long queue for relief coach laid on), I played the senior citizen card and was moved to the front of the queue! What a difference this coach was to the one from Natal to Forteleza. It was like being in first class on an airline - wide comfortable seats which reclining to a sleeping horizontal position, with complementary blankets, etc. I had a better sleep on the coach than I had in the two previous nights in the last hotel. We arrived in Recife just before 8:00 am and headed straight for the tourist office in the bus station. Again, very helpful. Phoned to confirm at a pousada in Olinda (just outside ... read more
The main Cathedral
Gold-leafed Altar
Colonial Style

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda July 22nd 2007

(Nick) Monday 16th July - we left on another overnight bus, this time to Salvador. We had heard a lot of good things about the place, not least that it is the ´Soul of Brazil´, so were really looking forward to it. Tuesday 17th July - arrived at 07h00, hooked up with some other gringos off the bus and bargained for a ride into town in a battered old minibus, listening to AC:DC (let´s rock!)on its battered old stereo. Salvador is divided into the Upper Town and Lower Town, and the highlight is the Pelourinho area, which is in the Upper. It consists of the oldest buildings in the city, dating from Colonial times, spread across several squares: Terreiro de Jesus Square - the key building was the Cathedral (1672), and although it looked a bit ... read more
Palacio Branco, Salvador
Igreja Sâo Pedro dos Clérigos and Igreja da Ordem Terceira de Sâo Domingus
Live music

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda April 7th 2007

For the last month, week after week our hopes of finally starting our trip were dashed as we found more and more problems with the car. The latest snag happened on Wednesday night when the rusted screws holding the engine in place came loose and one-by-one fell out as we drove. The car eventually gave up after all but two screws had popped out. With cruel irony, this happened right outside the house of Valquer, the seller of the car, when we came by to finally say good-bye. In what we can only attribute to a combination of Salvadorian hospitality and an extremely guilty conscience, Valquer - who in the past few weeks had already given us back R$1000 (about R3500), chaperoned us as we shopped for various tools and accessories for the car, taken us ... read more
Why does it always rain on me?
Vitoria´s cutest fan
Vitoria´s cutest fan

South America » Brazil » Pernambuco » Olinda February 4th 2007

I've now got just over a day left in Olinda, my next destination is the Archipeglo of Fernando de Noronha, which I fly out to on Tuesday. I did make it to Fatboy slim on Thursday night, he was pretty good. Most of the music would have been recognisable to somefrom the UK. His set didn't start till 0:30 and went on till 3:00. While I was there I was adopted by a group of local students, who were all aged around 18, who thought I was crazy and/or brave to be travelling on my own! Most of them only spoke a bit of Portuguese, so the one who spoke the best English acted as my translator. They even came from Olinda, so managed to share a taxi back home. I've exchanged emails with one of ... read more
Carnival Truck 1
Carnival Truck 2
Man painting




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