24 RTW Day 47 Recife, Brazil

By travelerdon on June 21, 2024

Saturday, April 20, 2024

We arrive today in Recife, Brazil (pronounced Es-e-fee) in the rain and fog. The shoreline is interesting as this place has its own harbor. We get breakfast and don’t stress over time. We are only in port for 8 hours but we are basically convinced we only need 4. Add to that my Bronchitis and I don’t want to over exert myself. We are told, though, that this is not a place to wander around on your own and we take heed! Need I tell you that Brazil has more crime than all the other countries on earth combined!

When we get off the ship, there are busses waiting to take us to the terminal (we are not allowed to walk through the port!). This a good thing for most ports have almost a mile to walk to get to the taxi stands. We have no excursion planned for the day and we negotiate with the taxis and agree on a rate of $100 USD for 3 hours. We probably could have done better, but hey, these people need money too!

So off we go with our driver, Franklin, cruising through Recife! He doesn’t speak a single word of English and we don’t speak Portuguese (How many of you thought Brazil spoke Spanish? You’d be incorrect!) We never find anyone today that speaks English! So we defer to our uncle. And our driver’s uncle! Uncle Google! We chat all day with Franklin via Google Translate! Such a marvelous modern tool!

Franklin takes us up the hill to the next town of Olinda where colorful buildings and houses are everywhere! We visit Cathedrals and churches and photograph them to our cameras delight! We get ocean and harbor views in the rain and fog! At times the rain is heavier. But it is a warm rain and at no time do we feel uncomfortable! Soaking wet, the only thing i attempt to do is keep the camera dry. I am mostly successful at that. I am carrying a dry cloth in my back pocket that I use to occasionally wipe down the camera.

Franklin takes us to the Mercado and finds us a lunch restaurant called ‘Cafe de Mercado where they have an upstairs buffet of local foods, most of which we don’t recognize! But it all looks delicious, including some sushi. Franklin assures us that all the food is made fresh! We buy Franklin his lunch and we all have a good time, all the while chatting with Franklin via Google Translate!

Franklin tells me to put my camera away until we get back to the cab. I have no place to put it except hold it close to my body so that is what I do! You think this is foreshadowing? It’s not, LOL we arrive back at the cab even with me still taking photos and all is well!

We then drive back down into Recife which turns out to be a bit disappointing as it is no where as photogenic as Olinda. But we see some sights and Franklin takes us to a prison that is now a marketplace. We decline to go inside and from shipmates later, we discover that this was a mistake! The photos we see of the Marketplace are spectacular!

Back to the ship, we go to our cabin and change into dry clothes and go to the bar for a drink. The ship leaves the dock at 4 PM and we are on our way back across the Atlantic towards Africa!

We go to dinner and then to the show where Davey McCaulley entertains us as an Escape Artist, Comedian, and Sleight of Hand Artist.

Now it’s off to bed! Goodnight All!