Olinda

After breakfast the Germans and us left Praia da Pipa and with it the crazy Dutch girl from our room. On our way to the next town (where we had to change buses) we passed trees without leaves but instead they were full of either bright yellow or purple blossoms!

The searching for the bus stop in that deserted town (deserted because of the public holidays) was like a paper chase: we were sent from one place to another...but we finally found it and got on the bus to Olinda via Recife (2,7 million inhabitants). On the way we saw very beautiful landscape but also many run-down, desolate or forsaken places, scrap, rubbish, semi-finished buildings, so many things that no one seemed to be responsible for. Especially in the favela-like areas of Recife we felt very unsafe.

Olinda in contrast was wonderful and sweet. The historic center consists of beautifully restored houses, some of them with tiled fronts again and with flowers like bougainvillea, oleander and jasmine growing over the walls. Their odour was captivating! For the first time there were many beautiful Brazilian girls. We saw a breathtaking golden sunset behind Recife's very impressive skyline. The streets became very lively at night. Right next to one of the many churches there were huge crazy Christmas figures that seemed very weird to us and there was a stage where a loud party took place.

We noticed funny discounts in Brazil: e.g. you can get 2 for 1, but it costs just as much as if you bought each separately.

Finding a connection to Salvador was difficult again since everything was closed due to the holidays. We were sweaty and sticky and had to take an expensive taxi to Recife where we had to pay a lot again for the night bus to Salvador.