Olinda

Ada and a couple of her friends are going by taxi to Maceió to do some business and do the shopping. So I pay my share of the fuel cost, and get a quick ride to Maceió rodoviaria. There I catch a bus to Recife, arriving around 1530. I was not sure which stops the bus would make before the rodoviaria in the end; buses here usually drop passengers at stops more convenient for them. Fortunately I knew what the airport stop looked like and jump off there. I caught a metro to the centre and then a bus to Olinda. The locals were very helpful, showing me the right bus and where to get off.

Olinda was the old capital of Pernambuco before Recife took over. I think Olinda got the better deal. It's tranquil and pleasant compared to Recife, which is a gritty working city.

The HI hostel in Olinda is one of the better outfitted hostels that I have seen in Brazil with recent facilities. There is a nice pool I can cool off in after doing my tourist bit.

In the evening I found a restaurant by the water edge and treat myself to a goodbye Brazil fish dinner in the cool sea breeze. It was fairly good, but the mash tasted sour. I reckon the cook used sour cream or yoghurt instead of butter or cream. I'm sure the top restaurants in Brazil are a match for any in the world, but unless you have money, class and a car, you have to make do with ordinary cooks who make haphazard food.

That night I discovered that the hostel has one big drawback: it has very hungry mosquitoes and a dorm that is still warm from the hot day. I cannot open the window or more mossies will enter. The best I can do is sleep with the fan and light on and put on an eye shade. Inspite of the repellent, the mossies manage to find some uncovered spots. Grr. I'm sure that Brazilian rubbish breeds mossies in open containers, causing dengue fever, etc. When I was a child in Malaysia, I was a litterbug. So was my dad. And all the other citizens. Then the government introduced HBMI (Human Behaviour Modification Incentives), otherwise known as FINES, and nowadays, at least in the cities, littering is just not done. This is a public health issue, and so last century.

In the morning right after breakfast, I don't bother to shower; I just put on my thongs, sling my camera bag over my shoulder and go look at old Olinda. As I've said before, architecture is not my thing and I'm quite happy to see these buildings in glossy books. But the old churches and gaudily painted houses do look good in the viewfinder. I'm sure the locals paint them on purpose that way now for the tourists. Speaking of which, I'd like to know how those professional photographers manage to keep electricity poles and lines out of their shots. Maybe they have assistants lop them off before the shot and replace them afterwards.

Afterwards I treated myself to royal coconut juice as you can see from the picture. Then I had a dip in the pool before showering, repacking and checking out. The flight isn't until nearly midnight so I'll hang around the hostel where the WiFi is free, go to the airport when it's cooler, around 3 or 4 pm, rest and have dinner there before the flight.