Olinda

I made it to breakfast at a quarter to nine - the buffet was quite good and I ate at Bekki's table. Jfer didn't make it down until everyone was leaving so we grabbed her a piece of cake. Our group of seventeen consisted of Doug and Luciana and their American friends. We took a bus to Olinda - about 40-50 minutes north of Recife. We got off the bus and the new people in the group bought Super Soakers - very important at carnaval - and we headed into town. Olinda, at least the part we were in, seem older than Recife. Most of the buildings and churches are probably at least a hundred (an possibly several centuries) old and often show it. Still, the buildings are painted in pastels and there is greenery everywhere - lots of banana plants and cocos palms.

Carnaval here is less like Mardi Gras but more like Eeyor's Birthday Party in Austin (sans the pot :-). There are people everywhere, often crowded closely together. Many but not all are wearing all sorts of costumes. We've seen tens of nun and nurses, super heroes and cave men. Anything skimpy goes. Lots of people are carrying water guns and water fights break out all the time. They also cans of annoying white foamy stuff (no, it's not silly string) that gets messy when sprayed on you.