Muitos lugares, tao pouco tempo

Pedro, Johan, and I making silly faces

I decided to spend my last 2 days in Olinda in another couchsurfer's home, Johan who has worked in real estate in various countries in Europe, Africa, and South America. When I arrived at his place he was speaking French to his business partner in Senegal through skype. Although I wasn't eavesdropping, it was nice to know I can still fully understand French.

Olinda is Pernambuco's old colonial city center, about a 15 minute drive from Recife. The colorful buildings reminded me of Salvador's Pelourinho neighborhood, very colonial in design. I mainly wanted to be in Olinda to take part in the pre-carnaval celebrations. The stone streets of Olinda were filled with people by early afternoon. Street vendors had already set up shop and were selling food and drinks to those who came to enjoy the show. However, my Sunday night was cut short because of the heavy rain. The weather has been working against me. It has been raining heavily throughout my last 5 days in the state of Pernambuco...I guess its time to move on. I left Olinda on on Monday night with Larissa, another solo traveler from Austria studying a year in Sao Paulo.

Larissa and I leaving Olinda

A few months ago, before the Mulheres Mil program started, I had blogged about taking part in a number of meetings to start up the program. One of the other professors, Goretti, had helped with the planning during the meetings. However, she moved back to Natal, the capital of Rio Grande de Norte, before the program was even launched. For months now she has been inviting us interns to come visit her. Well I decided to finally take her up on her offer. I arrived in Natal at 4am with Larissa but we would be staying different parts of town. I, somehow, managed to navigate to Goretti's home safely, bright and early in the morning. Her 20 year old daughter is travelling at the moment, so I she let me take a nap in her bed. As much as I prefer taking the overnight bus to my destinations, its still not comfortable enough for me to fully fall sleep.

Goretti and I at the mall

Her friend, Paulo, picked us up for lunch and showed me around town. Natal is about the same size as Ottawa, yet it seemed smaller. We went to the main beach, Ponta Negra, and a large shopping mall, which has a great view of the whole city. The city was settled on Christmas day in 1599 by the Portuguese, hence the name. There are various Christmas decor that stay up throughout the year to commemorate the city's name.

By the end of the night, Goretti and I were on a way to Pipa, which is about a 2 hour drive from Natal. Pipa is probably one of the most beautiful places I've been to in Brazil. The beaches are calmly stunning and very quiet. If I hadn't gone to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate New Years Eve, I probably would've joined my Fortaleza friends who had been here a few weeks before. I wish I had taken more pictures but, unfortunately, my camera broke the day I arrived to Natal :(.

Tim and I in Olinda

I had originally met Tim, a student from London who's studying a year in Rio de Janeiro, in Salvadar. Although he was in another hostel, he would often come over and spent time with people from my hostel. We coincidentally met again in Olinda when it turned out we were both staying at Johan's place. We made informal plans to meet up again in Pipa if I had the time. I hung out with him and his classmate, Gabriella, from France. We were a fairly international group exploring the beaches of Pipa.

Although my visit was short, I wouldn't have gone to Pipa if Goretti hadn't had taken me there. I'm extremely grateful for her hospitality, for taking me around her city and her favorite getaway. She now works at the Instituto Federal (IF) in Natal. I hate to say this but the IF in Natal looks way better and bigger than the IF in Fortaleza (I hope my colleagues don't read this). I sat in front of her class as her students hammered me with various questions. They were curious about my impression of Brazil, what I did in Fortaleza, how Canada is like, and...etc, etc. I have to admit, I have been speaking a lot of English this past month since I've hung around many gringos, non-Brazilians. Only a few short weeks of speaking English and I am already having issues speaking Portuguese. I'm scared about what will happen when I go back to Canada. O_O

I was in Pipa for a short time and in Natal for an even shorter time. Where am I going next?...Fortaleza :)