Recife

Things worked out perfectly for this trip. I had to go the US Embassy in Recife, which though only4 hours away from Natal, was not to easy for me to go. I would have to think about taking the bus there, then I would have to think about finding somewhere to stay because my appointment was early in the morning.

Fortunately prior to making my appointment I met a lady in church who worked in Recife and traveled back to Natal each weekend. I told her that I was planning to go to Recife and she offered to take me with her and allow to stay with her while I was there. The only problem was that I would have to make sure that my appointment was scheduled for before she would go on vacation. We exchanged numbers and I went about booking my appointment.

I was fortunate because I got the only available appoint in the same week the lady was going on vacation. My appointment was on a Wednesday and she would go on vacation the weekend after my appointment. I went with her on the Sunday before the appointment so I could get acquainted with Recife and see some of the sights. My plan was to return on the Wednesday night on my own since she would be staying until the Friday.

To cut a long story short I ended up staying the entire week, well from Monday to Friday because I just fell in love with Recife. This city was totally different from the other two cities in the northeast that I visited thus far. Recife is very historic. There are many brightly colored old colonial buildings and also many colonial churches and plazas. I loved exploring the city and seeing the history of the city as reflected in the buildings and museums. Most of the historic buildings were found in downtown Recife or Recife Antigo.

~downtown Recife also known as Marco Zero or Ground Zero, where the city got started~

~ a cool church I found while exploring, located in the area of one of the commercial center~

~cool colonial buildings, look at the colors~

~ Capela Dourada or the Golden Church, one of the oldest churches in the Old Recife~

~Justice Building~

On my first day I spent the day finding the bus route to the Embassy and exploring the city. Recife is huge and very dangerous city (it has the highest murder rate in all of Brazil) so I had to be extra careful. The Embassy was located in the heart of city so most buses pass by there. My appointed at the embassy was only for a couple of hours so I had a lot of time to explore Recife. One of the must see places in Recife is actually outside of the city in the city of Olinda.

Olinda was originally the capital of Pernambuco and had some of the most beautiful churches in northeast. It is also on a hill so the city has the natural backdrop of the sea and beautiful blue skies.

~View of the ocean from one of the highest points in Olinda~

I explored Olinda on foot, which was the best way, because the streets were extremely narrow and that way I could get to see the flavor of the small city. Olinda was the exact picture of what I had in my head of colonial Latin America. The city was filled with small colorful houses, large colonial/Victorian houses with large gardens and many very old churches. I really felt like I had stepped back in time.

~one of the many churches in Olinda, this one is cool because there is like a courtyard in front of the church with a fountain, which was dry, and a cross~

~Another church which has a beautiful view at the back of the lower parts of Olinda and of Recife~

~View of Recife from Olinda~

I must say unlike the other northeast cities I had visited up to that point Recife was my favorite northeast city because it had much more to offer the visitor.

~Boa Viagem, the best beach in Recife~