Recife

Gang,

A lot has been going on the last two weeks, sorry I haven't been able to throw you all a post. Long story short, after much deliberation, some pleading, and finally a little luck, we have made it out of AMAN on our own terms. As I write, the sounds and cadences of Recife in the state of Pernambuco make their way past the hammock on the porch of our pousada room we checked into yesterday. Our plane landed at about 6:30 AM on Thursday and after having the inn explain that we couldn't check in until noon (a standard policy we were aware of but casually and unsuccessfully hoped against) we decided that a little beach time was warranted.

8 hours, 2 bags of pineapple, countless cups of cerveja, a few new friends, and a WICKED sunburn later, we stumbled back to the inn and checked in, more cultured in the ways of the Northeast or "Nordeste" of Brazil then when we had arrived. We spent a little time recovering from the days activities (read: I sat in the room whimpering and putting on Pós Sol, an after sunburn product) and then headed to the mall for a movie (Gigantes do Aço or Real Steel in English, quite enjoyable)

Today we headed to Porto de Galinhas (Chicken Port, a local vacation spot famous for natural pools full of schools of fish and some of the best scuba diving in the world) where I spent much of the day in the shade or covering myself with sun block (bloqueda de sol) After visiting the natural pools and laying about most of the day, we headed to a creperia (Crepe restaurant) for dinner and made our way back to Recife.

I need to reapply my post sunburn cream before going to sleep but hope everyone's having a grand old time in the states and elsewhere and for those of you covered in several inches of snow, BUNDLE UP! It took us 2 hours of scouring a Brazilian mall to find a sweater ("Sunburned skin loses it's ability to regulate heat which is why you feel so cold, dummy." (Eliasen, 2011) ) so I don't know how to say bundle up in Portuguese.

Tchau for now!