Recife, Brazil

Church of Saint Anthony

            Monday, 22 Jan 2018 – This morning we had to get moving early in order to eat breakfast before our 4-hour excursion “Highlights of Recife and Olinda [Brazil].”  First, it was necessary to take a shuttle from the ship through the shipping area of the harbor, and then walk through a large, seemingly empty building to our tour bus.

            When signing up for excursions, Sally made a small error this time.  Although she might have chosen the best one, we had seen most of these sites in 2011.  However, we had a better guide this time – Hugo – who had spent some time in the U.S. and even used American slang (such as “gonna”).  First the bus drove through the heart of Recife (pronounced “Re-see’fee) to visit the gorgeous Golden Chapel that is part of the Convent and Church of Saint Anthony.  Its intricate Baroque design, covered in gold leaf, makes it one of the most beautiful and historic examples of religious art in Brazil.

            Recife is part of the fourth largest metropolitan area in Brazil, with a population of nearly 4 million.  Before being colonized by Portugal, the area was briefly held by the Dutch.  When we noticed an absence of languages other than Portuguese at tourist sites, we had to remind ourselves that Brazil is about the same size as continental U.S.A. (without Hawaii and Alaska) – and people in Brazil speak Portuguese, just as Americans speak English.

Sipping Coconut Juice in Olinda

Next, we headed to the 16th century colonial town of Olinda.  At Carmo Square, we left our motor coach and boarded a minivan to traverse the narrow winding, cobblestone streets of this historical city center.  Olinda's main square, the Alto da Sé, lies on the crest of the town's highest hill.  A remarkably well-preserved colonial city, founded in 1534, UNESCO has declared Olinda a world historical monument.  Upon arrival, we followed Hugo on foot to explore the Alto da Sé and the Sé Cathedral.  At one point, we watched a brief Brazilian dance by a few young people in colorful costumes.  After walking through two craft shops, we boarded the minivan and then the bus.

Photo Stop at an Urban Beach

En route to the ship, our bus stopped so that we could see a Recife urban beach.  Even though none of us planned to go into the water, Hugo somewhat jokingly warned us of the shark danger here.  He said that there have been 60 shark attacks since 1990, and 30 of them were fatal.  At the beach we saw a large sign warning of sharks – and this sign included an English translation.  Hugh told us that man created the shark problem by destroying mangroves forests.  A mangrove is a tree or shrub that grows in chiefly tropical coastal swamps that are flooded at high tide.  Mangroves typically have numerous tangled roots above the ground and form dense thickets.  Those mangrove forests were the habitat of many animals, which provided food for sharks that have lived in that part of the ocean for thousands of years.  After mangrove forests were destroyed, sharks started attacking humans.  There are reefs along much of the coast of Recife; in fact, the word “Recife” is derived from an Arabic word for reef.  Although he didn’t exactly say it, we both thought that Hugo implied that it is safest to swim inside the reef at low tide, when the sharks are less likely to be closest to shore.

We arrived back at the ship about 1:30 instead of 1:00.  Our group was probably minutes late at the various stops, which made the trip a little longer.

Since lunch wouldn’t be served much longer in the café, we hurried as fast as we could.  After eating, we swam for about a half hour, though Sally stopped a little before that.  Back in the room, Sally took a nap – which extended 3 hours.  Jesse wasn’t happy because we missed some dancing during that time.  Then we had dinner, and danced for a half hour before returning to our cabin for the night.