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American Spirit II - Day 412; We Tour Recife and Olinda; Sunday, February 22, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 50; Swimming with Sea Turtles & Penguins; Saturday, February 22, 2014. I woke up at 4:00 AM and headed down to the aft section of the main deck, where the restaurant is, to type up Day 49's log. At 5:59 AM we reached our destination and dropped anchor. We were anchored in front of a giant L-shaped cliff face called Vicente Roca Point, part of Isabella Island."

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Up at 7:00 AM. It rained twice (according to Joel) during the night, so the clothes I hung up on the life lines before going to bed are soaked. Again.

Sigi from Merlyn of Poole joins us for coffee and then breakfast at 8:25 AM. We have bacon, scrambled eggs in bacon fat, cut up spiced potato, chilled guava and brown bread. Sigi tells Joel and me a little bit about his life in Germany, which is a truly amazing story. Born in East Germany, his mother and he escaped from East Germany in 1953 by jumping from a moving train. East Germany was on one side of the track and West Germany on the other. He is 4 years old, and he wakes up in the care of a nurse. One of his first recollections as a child. That's one of the great aspects about this Rally, the people you meet. We've met a handful of people who actually grew up in East Germany and only gained their freedom in 1989 when the wall fell.

From 10:00 AM to about 11:00 AM I typed one long and a couple of emails. Joel's phone is a 'hot spot,' and only when he turns it on can I send and receive emails on the boat when we're land based. At sea I use the satellite phone or SSB radio.

At 11:20 AM Jonathan, Jenny and Sigi from Merlyn of Poole; Jack from Civetta II; and Joel, Jeanine and I depart the marina and walk down the breakwater away from town to an area where we can take a water taxi across the channel to downtown Recife. We get on the ferry at 11:31 AM. Its a wooden skiff with 3 rows of seats and can accommodate 9 people. It even has life jackets stuffed under a seat in the bow. The boat looks 30 years old. It would never, ever be certified to carry passengers in the US. Never. So off we go for the 5 minute trip across the channel, where the current is 4-5 knots when the tide changes; and its changing now. The engine on this boat is like the ones you see in Southeast Asia. A long engine shaft about 6 feet long that enters the water behind the boat at an angle of about 60 degrees. When we get to the other side, the 70 year old guy driving the boat; who says he's been doing so for over 50 years, holds onto some steps that we exit onto, that appear to be hundreds of years old and covered with slippery algae. A marine police motor vessel (a large dingy, really) is tied up to the same spot. The charge to take the ferry is 2.5 Real apiece, or $.88.

Recife is known as the 'Brazilian Venice' for the numerous rivers that encircle and wind thru the city; and for the historic bridges that connect the 477 year old city. Its population is, depending on what source you look at, between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000. The part of Recife we're in is obviously the 'old city,' with almost no high rise buildings like we see in the parts of the city to the south. That part of Recife looks like Miami Beach or Panama City, with hundreds of high rise buildings.

Once on land again we climb up maybe 15 steps and are amazed at what we see. Hundreds of people in a square, many on bike's, and at one end of the square is a band playing and a lady singer dressed in a bright yellow, very fashionable and short dress, with the bottom of the dress cut into vertical strips. The sort of outfit that a rock star in the US would be wearing. We listen to her for a couple of songs, then walk around the square to a restaurant. There are many decorations about town as we walk around. The decorations, and another stage area that holds a band, are set up for Carnival. We're not sure if they're still celebrating Carnival since Lent has already started, but it appears that they're still having entertainment at night, including tonight. Many of the buildings are colored bright colors, like turquoise, light brown, green, pink, etc. With such colors alternating next to each other. There are a fair number of buildings that are shuttered; and others in need of some paint or repair. But the streets are clean and the people very friendly and non-threatening. The exact opposite of Salvador. We actually feel safe walking the streets. We walk over a bridge that has a bike lane that is so busy that its hard to cross it without being very, very careful.

We finally decide that we're going to Olinda, only 6 kilometers from Recife. It is an elevated city of steep cobble stone streets, colonial houses and baroque churches. Its also a UNESCO site. This year the city turned 480 years old. The Carnival in Olinda includes 2 meter tall dolls; and Carnival in Olinda draws up to a million people. Puppet heads adorn 3 2nd story windows overlooking a square.

Once in Olinda we have a drink and snack at a Bar E Restaurant Cantinho. The menu is in Portuguese and none of the waitresses speak a word of English. Not one word. Its on one of the highest hills in the city and overlooks the ocean, including the breakwaters and channel that we traversed to get to our marina in Recife. We can even see the sail boats in our marina, but can not distinguish individual boats because we're 3 to 5 miles away. But its a breathtaking sight: the two breakwaters; the channel we entered on; the beaches; and the high rise buildings to the south of our marina. Its a spectacular sight.

After our 'snack,' we go to the Catholic Cathedral located across the street. I'm not sure of the cathedral's name, but it might be 'Igreja De Sao Salvador.' It was built in 1548; destroyed by fine in 1631 (maybe by a Dutch invasion); and became a cathedral in 1676 when Olinda went from being a village to a city. We then spent the rest of the afternoon going into small shops that lined the narrow streets. In one shop I find a refrigerator type magnet that has a picture of a female tennis player on it; that is the exact same picture on a wall poster in the home of some friends of mine, Don and Patti E. in Odessa, Florida. Of course I buy the magnet, in case you're wondering. Jonathan and Jenny from Merlyn of Poole, when I show it to them, are very familiar with the picture. And they're from the United Kingdom! Who knew?! I bought another magnet that shows a cat looking into a mirror; except that the image the cat sees in the mirror is a male lion. My wife has 4 cats, and I'm sure Oliver sees a lion when he looks into the mirror!

As we got ready to take 2 cabs back to our marina at 5:00 PM, a band playing could be heard in the streets below our hill-top position. And many locals were starting to descend on our area, making the traffic congested. Tourist police also starting to becoming highly visible, driving in SUV's with 4 per vehicle; and congregating along the city's streets.

Once back at the boat it was obvious that it hadn't rained all day because my laundry was dry. So I took it off the life lines. Vlado on Civetta II had just finished cooking some loaves of bread and Hungarian goulash, and he offered everyone some.

At around 6:30 PM we were in high tide mode, and as a result the waves crashing along the other side of the breakwater from us were splashing up to 30 feet in the air as they did so. To the top of the light poles along the breakwater.

At 6:45 PM we watched the movie 'Daybreakers,' a good vampire movie; followed by 'Mysterious Island 2,' a Disney type movie staring the 'Rock.' Movie night ended at 9:50 PM. Joel then ordered Darlene's plane ticket to St. Lucia from Tampa. Darlene will be joining us for the 3 week trip home after the Rally ends on April 11. Jeanine used my back-up computer to do internet stuff, while I typed this log. Joel is in bed by 11:00 PM; and I'm next at around midnight. Jeanine is still up when I retire.

Brian Fox


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