Day 48: Olinda and Laundry

Day 48
Today I'm in: Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil


Things started out smoothly today with a three-mile run along the beach (still loving those new shoes - thanks, Tekkie Town!)  Along the way I stopped into three lavanderias and inquired about same-day laundry service.  I got  nãos from all three and was starting to worry that I might have to wait until I got to Fernando de Noronha the next day to get things washed.  Noronha is a small island with a reputation for being incredibly expensive and I knew that laundry there would cost a fortune, if I was even able to find a place to do it.  


Fortunately, when I got back to the hotel one of the reception clerks called me over and said there was an express laundry service at Hiper Bompreço, a Walmart-like behemoth of a store a few blocks from the hotel.  I packed everything into a bag and walked over, and lo and behold the staff there said everything would be ready 7pm.


With that settled I went back to the hotel to meet up with Tim and Isabela, whom I'd met the previous day at the beach, to go to Olinda.  Olinda is a separate town, but it's basically merged into greater Recife over the years and it took us only about 25 minutes to get there in a taxi.   The cab dropped us off in the main plaza and we hit the cobbled streets to see some of the sights. 

Olinda is a much older settlement than Recife.  It was founded by the Portuguese, but in the 18th century the Dutch set their sights on northeast Brazil and the town was invaded and recaptured quite a few times.  After a particularly brutal sacking and recapture, the Portuguese decided to move their court down the coast to Recife, where the reef that gives the city its name forms a natural protection against invasion.  Olinda was left idle and most of its buildings began to crumble.  It's only the last 20 or so that the town's historic center and brightly-painted buildings have begun to draw tourists, and after being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site a few years back, much of Olinda has been restored.

 It's very atmospheric - stone streets (some still paved in the original stones dredged off the reef - you can see the shells embedded in them), pastel-painted houses with tiled roofs, plazas shaded by banyan trees and large, imposing churches everywhere you turn.  The town is built around a series of hills, so periodically you'd come across an incredible view of the Atlantic, or the Recife skyline in the distance, or sometimes both.  Many of the buildings have been turned into restaurants or pousadas, but the few shops we saw were not overly touristy (bar one that sold t-shirts with the Portuguese equivalent of "my parents went to Olinda and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." 


Olinda also hosts its own carnaval every February - Rio's celebration is the best-known but the northeastern carnavals draw more influence from African traditions and are apparently the place to go if you want to be a participant rather than a spectator.  We visited one of the samba schools where giant masks and costumes were ready to go for next summer's celebration.  

Today was really bright - no clouds in the sky - and quite warm (we kept laughing because our taxi driver told us today was one of the coldest winter days he could remember) so by 5pm we were pretty worn out and headed back to Boa Viagem for the night.  A little bit before 7pm I walked back to the Hiper Bompreço to pick up my laundry, which was ready to go with each item individually and wastefully wrapped in plastic.  Upon returning home to unpack, however, I discovered that one pair of shorts was missing, which required another trip back to straighten things out using my very poor (but improving!) schoolboy Portuguese and some pantomime that bordered on interpretive dance at times.  The shorts were eventually located and all is well inside my suitcase again. 

Tomorrow's a big day for me - I'm off to Fernando de Noronha, an island archipelago about 500 kilometers east of Recife and one of the only landfalls between South America and Africa.  I've wanted to visit Noronha  for years and years and am really excited to finally be going.  Small, remote places don't have a reputation for internet connectivity, so I may or may not be off the grid for a few days.  Stay tuned.