Friday, October 13, 2006

Olinda (4-5/Oct/06)

Lençois, Brazil

Got the bus down to Recife, which is a major city round here, of about 9 million. Pretty horrible and poor (there are serious droughts every few decades and thousands of subsistence farmers are forced to flock to the city) so we went straight to Olinda, which is a small colonial town next door (and much older than Recife). Olinda is really nice, a bit like Valparaiso (Chile), or Lisbon. Hills, cobbled streets, colourful houses, and loads of pretty little colonial churches have earned it respect in the form of UNESCO heritage status. Got a nice cheap hostel with a swimming pool and garden (need open spaces after so much beach - sun is a habit hard to kick).

Lazed about to relax from the ordeal of travelling and next day did the full-on tour of 2 monasteries and a billion churches. Then celebrated with some caipirinhas at the top of the hill (pretty strong ones - only 2 and we really noticed them).

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