Bye-Bye Brazil!

After two years, we are saying goodbye to Brazil, and hello to new adventures. See you soon back in the USA and later in the Marshall Islands!

 Thanks Ben & Firyuza for a great night out in Olinda!

Merry Christmas (in November!!)

It will be a few cold months 'til we're back to coconuts and beach days!
 

 Thanks for all the memories!

Olinda with Grandma Julie

For our last outing, we drove up to Olinda for a fantastic lunch at Beijupira and some shopping.

Picture postcard!

 Big mask

 Group selfie!

 Three lovely ladies

 Snuggling in Alto da Se

See you again soon!

Olinda Previa!

It's Carnaval season in Brazil!  That means there are parties and parades galore going on all around town.  This morning we got up and headed over to Olinda to watch a parade by one of the most popular blocos in Pernambuco.  A Bloco is a parading group that usually has dancers, musicians and other entertaining things in their parade, and people gather to watch and march with them.  Today we went to see the bloco Eu Acho E Pouco, and had a lot of fun!

During Carnaval kids often get to dress up in costumes.  Luckily aunt Linda sent this adorbs fairy costume just in time!  Thank you Linda!  We are ready!!

The dragon!

 Eric and the dragon.  Kylie couldn't tear her eyes from it!

Selfie cheese!

 Fun!

The parade begins!

That is a lot of people.  Luckily we found a little elevated ledge with space for us to watch from.

The bloco's headquarters.

Bring on the band, it's dancing time!

Shady ladies!  Kylie got a bit too hot to keep her costume on all morning.

The parade marches on.  That is a car attempting (futilely) to drive down the street.  Good luck with that!

One of Olinda's famous Carnaval puppets bidding us farewell.  What a fun morning!

Olinda in the Winter

Since my dad is here visiting, we made another visit to our neighboring city of Olinda to take in the historic sights.  It was a beautiful day for a walk, and we saw lots of cool stuff!

Breezy morning by the ocean.

Eric and Kylie ready for adventure!

We stopped at Convento São Francisco to tour.

Portuguese tile work in the courtyard.

Pretty old...

The view up from the courtyard.

Viva!

Dad and I making the requisite stop, posing as Carnaval goers.

Ready for a busy day of coconut selling!

Everyone say queijo!

Look very closely at those vines...there are zucchini growing on that roof!

Street art brightening our day.

More street art, this one wins Most Creative Use of Already Existing Windows.

The courtyard of our last stop of the day.  A beautiful morning tour indeed!

Visit from Mom & Jeannie!

This week, my mom and my aunt Jeannie came to visit for my birthday! We hit up what is becoming our local visitors to do list including morning caipirinhas on the beach, walking down the boardwalk and drinking coconuts, visiting Olinda, shopping at Shopping RioMar and a dinner at our favorite restaurants:  Kisu, Cia do Chopp, Camarada, Casa do Kebab, and Spettus. It was so nice to have them around for the week and get to catch up on news from home. Kylie certainly enjoyed the extra attention, and my mom was there for her first real solid food:  Pasta with roasted vegetables and sausage! Red pepper seemed to be the her favorite.

Our weekly shipment from the US included tamarind paste and Tajin!

Tamarind Margaritas for everyone!

 

Make a wish!

Mom, me and Miss K's leg and arm in Olinda!

Mom and Jeannie

Watch out!

Sertão soldiers!

Uh oh!

Kylie's mobile!

Bye Grandma!

Thanks for coming to see me!

Olinda - Part II

Olinda really is a must-see stop when coming to Recife. It's so cute and colonial. Check out our last trip to Olinda with Ron, Julie & Linda. I tried to pick photos of things that we didn't show last time. Olinda is so photogenic. It's pretty much impossible to come back with less than 200 pictures from there. We made the same basic loop around town as last time to check out the all the churches and markets. Here's what we saw today:

Kaali & Alison on the steps of Igreja do Carmo

Inside the church!

It was open today!

Arts & crafts market, a university, the library, São João Batista, and Jesus!

The chapel at São Francisco

 

Check out that ceiling! Whoa!

 More views in and from Igreja e Convento Franciscano de Nossa Sehnora das Neves

(I love the ridiculous long names of stuff here!)

 Azulejo tiles...

....made in Portugal and shipped and reassembled in Brazil 400 year ago!

An ancient sundial!

 Frevo time!

 Alison at Nossa Senhora das Graças e Seminario

View back to Recife

Lunch at Oficina do Sabor:

Coconut Shrimp in a pumpkin! DELICIOUS!

Also, Kylie's first use of a high-chair at a restaurant.

Monkeying around!

So much like the US / Virginia / not a jungle here!

 Beach party!

Post lunch walk along the boardwalk

 Looks like a deserted island!

 Lighthouse...hmmm... looks like the Bodie Island Lighthouse from the Outer Banks!

Copying much?

Cheese!

 What!?! Olinda is full of copycats!

P.S. This one is more expensive than an actual Bloomin' Onion at Outback here!

Since Kylie had approximately zero naps today, I whipped up a gourmet dinner of enchiladas and a sugar-free plum tart while she slept this afternoon! #besthusbandever!