Our four day trip from Salvador to Recife was
uneventful and Matthew soon got his sea legs. We arrived in Recife at
nightfall and anchored in the channel awaiting the morning tide. Several cans of
beer and glasses of wine were drunk before a good nights sleep in the calm
water. We went up the shallow channel into marina at first light. The
marina was not up to our expectations ie difficulty hooking up to fresh
water and electricity, we had to dinghy ashore and the water was very dirty
contaminated with sewage and all kinds of rubbish;rats were often seen scurrying
along the low sea wall were tied up to. However the yacht club bar, restaurant
and lovely swimming pool compensated somewhat. That night we ventured into
Recife old town where preparations for the carnival were underway. We
sat in a pavement bar and watched the locals fill the narrow streets dressed in
exotic colourful costumes. Drumming bands endlessly passed by. The
atomosphere was great and we taxied home without any problems.
Next day with great difficulty a car was hired -generally nobody speaks a
word of English. Bob Joan Matt Chris Keith and I headed off into the hills to
try and find the real Brazil . We found it alright. We stayed in a
rural town with one hotel and two bars. The hotel provided natural
thermal spa facilities and a four hour power cut after torriential afternoon
rain. After taking the waters we sat on the hotels roadside verandah
and watched the pigs goats cows and horses and children wandering up the
main street. The locals were very friendly, no English spoken of course,
but we were the main tourist attraction. Spending a few days out of the
city was lovely and much cooler.
Following our return our big day at the carnival started at 8am. We were
taken by coach to Olinda, a small town bordering on Recife, which is famous for
inter alia its street walking carnival. Our vantage point was a hotel
terrace overlooking the main crossroads. Beer etc was flowing by
9.30. We had all bought carnival gear and ventured into the streets to
join in the dancing with the noisy crowds of locals. A great day out, the
carnival atmoshere invective and great fun. Unfortunately not everyones
experiences were happy. Several of our crowd were pickpocketed, loosing
money watchesand mobile phones, mainly stolen by gangs of youths. At the end of
the day we had to walk miles to find our coach and it started to rain - but
thats Brazil!
That evening Matthew and I took a taxi into old town Recife to see - from a
great distaance - a concert by Manu Choa (an international musical
celebrity). Good music, huge crowds but great good humoured fun and
we returned to the marina safely. The rest of the crew were not in
favour of our outing but in fact it went off quite peaceful and was well
worth the effort.
Goodbye Recife. Good bye Brazil. Now the last long passage of
our voyage begins - two weeks plus to reach Grenada where the partying will
really begin. Rain and squalls expected along the way but who cares -
we've seen it all before!
Love and best wishes etc from me (Ann) and the crew of Andante. We
miss you all!
PS Sam please dont pay 37 bill until the deadline. Keep K informed. K
also says he still hasn't got Tims moby number
yet.