Rosie in Recife

We got home, and it was warm – not too hot, but definately hotter than NZ. We had showers and saw Jacqueline and Alvaró breifly, and I talked to you guys at home a bit. We had a breakfast of bread and cheese, which was a nice simple meal after three days of aeroplane food and Sao Paulo fast food. Then we just slept. Although by this time it had got so so so hot and the air conditioner and both fans in Neno’s house were broken, so I didn’t really sleep much.

At about 4pm we ventured out into the heat. Just walking down the hill was exhausting, but we had to walk cos Alvaró had Neno’s motorbike. The summer seems to be way way WAY more hot than when I came last time, but it also varies more, so at night time the temperature does drop to 24 degrees, whereas before, the temperaure always stayed within a couple of degrees, regardles of day or night. Anyway, we walked through the Olinda streets and this time they were beautifully clean and tidy again. Apparently the day before had been a huge pre-Carnaval party which why it was such a mess, and every morning, the cleaners go through the streets and clean it up again. We went to our favourite caldo place (caldo is a kind of hot spicy soup with chunks of meat in it) and had some beer, cachaça (which was a mission for me after the memories of SP) and caldo. There were already heaps of foreigners in Olinda (yeah I know – I’m a foreigner too (also, I can’t spell foreigner)). We saw about four groups of non-Brazilians, which never ever happened before. And they all eat and drink in the same place which kind of annoys me.

Although it seems like one of the most popular bars for tourists (including those from other parts of Brasil) is Aloma’s Bar – which is the one I was telling you about with medieval doors and long wooden tables and seating. I think most people will be shocked when Carnaval starts and they realise this bar is in the middle of the gay street. Haha.

Every night that week leading up to Carnaval had some pre-Carnaval party. That night was “The Night of Silence”. First we went to the local Frevo school and watched the frevo competition. It’s seriously the most amazing dance ever. We then moved on to watch the official bloco group of this night (a group of up to hundreds of people with percussion instruments and trombones and singing and dancing ), and dancing singing women who were wearing shiny off-the-shoulder old-fashioned dresses. It was so colourful and sparkly and beautiful. There were thousands of people in Olinda that night, and when we went to Aloma’s Bar, it was PACKED, so we drank beer outside from the street venders. Even though it was almost a week before cCarnaval started, the city was already packed, streamers were everywhere, everyone was colourful and ready to party…it was really nice.

Tuesday I woke up with a horrible headache and drank about three litres of Guaraná…man it was so good! I never bought any iBuprofen to Brasil, and man on those first few days I missed those magic pink pills. I didn’t really drink very much, but I was tired and jet-lagged and dehydrated and hot all the time, so it seemed like I constantly had a headache. Also, I could of hit myself, cos before we left, I was going around the pharmacy thinking of all the things I might need, when I saw Berocca. I almost took some, but thought that only 15 tablets wouldn’t really be worth it. But now I’m thinking even 15 mornings of waking up without feeling like I’m hungover would be better than none. Lesson learned.

A couple of days after we arrived was Neno’s mum’s birthday, and we had a surprise birthday party for her at Jaqueline’s house. Jaqueline had already decorated her house with streamers and masks and umberellas for Carnaval, so it looked really cool already, but we went over early and blew up hundreds of balloons, and Neno and Álvero went to pick up the birthday cake and little party foods.

Here, it’s traditional to have these little finger foods at parties – all in the shape of little balls. There are two main types which are literaaly translated to Little Salts (savoury types) and Sweets (sweet types funnily enough). They were so so good, but it did lead to difficult questions from Neno’s family like “What are traditional party foods in NZ?” And these led on to even more difficult questions such as “What cultural festivals do you have in NZ?” and “What is the culture of NZ?”. It’s incredibly hard to answer these questions, especially to people from a country which has such rich, colourful traditions and history. I mean we don’t have traditional festivals (I’m sure Waitangi Day doesn’t count, even when you’re desperate), traditional music, dances, we’re not a very religious country, and even our worship of rugby pales in comparison to Brasil’s adoration of football.

And I know Maori culture is supposed to be our culture but when I tried to explain that it became kinda hard to justify Maori as an actual culture. The natives or “indians” of Brasil still live very closly to their culture – language, rituals, religion, clothing, jobs… The majority of Maori seem to be more culturally similar to “gangsters” in America with their taste of music, dancing, language, clothing…And the culture of the indians of Brasil also seem to be alive…it has changed with time while still being distinctly native. For example, they can now use different materials for tools and crafts, and different instruments for music. They have new types of clothes for diffent climates as they travel through Brasil, but you always know which tribe they’re from. On the other hand, Maori seem to be clinging to a culture they had in the past. It’s more like they’re repeating things from the past, and can something really be called a culture if it isn’t progressing and moving forward?

Anyway, I have no idea how that turned from a birthday party into an analysis of culture. Instead, let’s look at some pictures; it really was a cool birthday party: