Ice Cream with Chica

 Chica (our "vovó" from the first apartment I stayed in) took us out to eat some ice cream, which was extremely nice of her.  She is a doll.

Logan got chocolate chip mint ice cream, and mixed it with Coca-Cola.  I thought it looked like sewer water, so I had to take a picture.

Fenearte

Fenearte is a northeastern art exhibit which is huge.  They display art, artifacts, and cultural knick-knacks from all over the Northeast of Brazil, as well as the whole nation for that matter--and even from some foreign lands.  Let's take a look.

 Jaren's foot was still recovering from his run-in with the oyster back in Natal, so we got a wheelchair to tote him around.  This statue was carved out of a single tree.  It's a northeastern man playing the accordion.

 This artisan made tons and tons of tiny clay pieces with hundreds of different names written on them.  There are literally billions of Brazilian names, and she used a lot of them. 

 These little girls dressed up to help sell little dolls.  All proceeds went towards an institution that helped people with depression.

 Jaren with a real Indian, in the middle of Fenearte.  Luckily, he spoke Portuguese, so we could ask him to take a picture with him.

This doesn't have anything to do with Fenearte--but look!  The guy in the pink is an absolute replica of what Logan will look like in 20 years!  Incredible.

João Pessoa

 In the city of João Pessoa, we visited the Church of São Francisco.  This cathedral was built by the African slaves, who left a good part of their heritage in the art and architecture of the building. 

 A mural on the sides of the entrance to the church, still with its original colored tiles.

 This sculpture is called "Indian of the Future."  I'm not exactly sure why.  But it was inside of the church.  Also not exactly sure why.

 All kinds of artful artifacts inside the chapel.  I thought these heads looked interesting. 

 In the city of Natal, we were visiting a beach called Ponta Negra.  While walking around in a shallow area, we couldn't see the mounds of open oysters invisible beneath the water.  Jaren stepped onto one of them, cutting his toe very deeply.  It has affected the rest of his time here in Recife considerably.  This is him being carried by two girls, who took pity on him.

 Our group in front of the cathedral.

 Down the road from the Church of São Francisco, you can see another church.  These cobblestone roads are called "paralelepipedo."  That's a fun word when you're trying to learn Portuguese.

 A typical Brazilian street in the city. 

 These telephone booths are everywhere in the cities of Brazil, called "orelhões" ("big ears") because of their shape. 

 They say this is the point in South America closest to Africa.  We stopped there to take pictures on our way back from João Pessoa.

 On the way back we stopped at a Brazilian Churrascaria (grill) and had a wonderful rodizio.  It's like Tucano's.  This is the grilled banana.  Delicious!

This is the guy that gave us our meat at the churrascaria. 

Natal

On our way to João Pessoa, we stopped at a place called Jacaré, which means "alligator." 

 We had a delicious dinner at a place on the bay.  Here I am with friends Jessica and Logan.

 The sun setting beautiful over the crystal waters of Jacaré.

 The house we stayed at in João Pessoa had turtles that wandered around the outhouse in the back.  Hortus here was nice enough to let me hold him without getting spooked.

 This is the beautiful city of Natal, known for its breathtaking beaches.  The weather was perfect that day, for which we were very fortunate as it is the middle of winter here and it has been quite rainy a lot of the time.

 This was a good day.

White as the day, on the beautiful beach known as Jenipabu.  This beach is known for its sand dunes, which you can kind of see in the background, but they go much higher than the ones shown in the photo.  The water here was very salty; it burned the eyes and the nostrils.  But it was sure beautiful.

At the Apartment

Brian and I enjoying some fruit back at the apartment.

Soccer Game

 We had the opportunity to go to the stadium in Recife and watch the local team play.  The name of the team is "Sport," and its pronounced "zportch."  The games here are a lot different than in the U.S.  In order to make sure none of the men enter the stadium with guns, they have to lift up their shirts to show their belts as they pass through security.  The bleachers are just huge concrete steps, and I didn't understand much of the shouting that was going on because I'm pretty sure 90% of it was profanity.  Lots and lots and lots of excited fans, hoping that their team will come out victorious--hopeful to the point of cursing repeatedly.

Here's a good shot of what the stands looked like--big concrete steps.  It was actually kind of nice because you could stand or sit and still see the field easily.

 Our group.  We stand out a little bit from the rest of the crowd, but we've gotten used to it.

 This was really cool--on the side opposite us there were massive yellow flags or banners that they somehow raised and lowered every once in a while to cover the audience.  It made me wonder what it would have been like to be on the other side!

 Jaren and I having a good time.

 Taylor and a few others decided to go and buy Sport jerseys.  The Sport colors are Red and Black.

Sport ended up beating ABC (the name of the other team) 2-0.  We ended up leaving a little bit before the end, though, to avoid the crowds.

Museum of the State of Pernambuco

 We took a group trip to a really interesting museum called the Museu do Estado de Pernambuco (Museum of the State of Pernambuco).  Recife has a lot of history, being one of the first cities in Brazil to be colonized by Europeans.  The museum is actually the home of a man who dealt with African slave trade, and underneath the house was a "senzala," a room where the slaves were kept. 

 The house has obviously been well-kept, though its been around since the 19th Century.  The architecture is a wonderful representation of what could have been found in Recife at that time.

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The museum is protected by cannons.  

This is the door that leads to the senzala, where the slaves were kept.  We weren't allowed to enter due to refurbishment.


This is just one of the statues outside the museum, but I took a picture because it reminds me of what Link looks like when he finds something in a chest.