Day 4 Monday - The Beach!!!!

Well the hard bed kicked in last night and sleep did not come that well but that was not going to hide the excitement of our free day where we were journeying to the beach. Now I'm not sure what the philosophy was in planning the free day at the very beginning but the weather was beautiful and we had been told since it is there winter and rainy season that it would probably be cool (that is 85 to 90 degrees to them) and rainy everyday. Well the temperature has run true but so far not the rain.

So we headed off for Porto de Galinhas which is a famous Brasilian beach that when the tide goes out pools of fish are formed that you can go swim in and swim with the fish. Why this is such a big deal in North Eastern Brasil is because of the shark situation. Recife means reefs and these beaches are beautiful because of the reefs but unfortunately somehow in the recent years the sharks have been able to get up to the beach area and have attacked many unsuspecting victims. Just this past week a small girl was attacked by a shark in mid calve deep water. There are signs up that crack me up because they say something about DANGER there are more sharks than average. Well since to me average should be zero I laugh at these signs. Needless to say I am perfectly content with swimming with unaggresive fish in a pool where I can ensure there are no sharks before I get in. The beach was beautiful and we took these flat boats out to the pools and swim. We tried to use the water proof camera but I'm not sure it turned out as swell as we hoped. We haven't gotten the pictures from the other water proof camera developed yet so maybe they are better. We had a blast just being at the beach, walking down the sand, seeing the locals selling their things, and just relaxing. It was like we were on vacation!!!

After we had our fill we headed back to Recife. The drive there and back reminded me of Hawaii with all the sugar cane fields and the rolling hills that dot the landscape before they fall off into the ocean. When we got back we ate at Daniel's favorite restaraunt Costa Bravo after a quick trip to the mall where we just could not resist the tempation to go into Wal-Mart. It was tonight that we got our first taste of a downpoor in Brasil. This downpour filled the city with smoke because tomorrow is a corn holiday which is huge here. In fact everyone gets off work and the night before they build these big bonfires in the road throughout the city to roast the corn. Needless to say I don't think they got much roasting done tonight but the smoke and the asthma are not going well together at all.

Today on the drive to the beach we got to spend some time getting to know Danny - the owner and driver of the van mobile. He has moved here and met a Brasilian woman Lea who we have also gotten to know. This sounds very familiar to the Daniel and Jana story. Maybe I should move here and meet a man!!! Danny has made our trip so enjoyable filling us in on history, culture and all while speaking our language!!!

Here are some pictures of our beach fun:

Feeding the Fish as we swim with them

Jana, Me, and Jenn on the beach

On the boat getting ready to head out to the pools This pool supposedly is shaped like Brasil

you be the judge I think it resembles
The whole gang at the pools

The picture you have all been waiting for:

Me being silly; I don't really know the significance of this chicken just know we all had to take turns taken our picture with it. Everybody was so serious and cute I had to excite this group!!!

How can anyone resist Baby Jack's cuteness? I wander if we get good deals and attention from the locals because of his cuteness.