Carnaval in Recife

This past week we headed to the state capital of Recife, a city famous for heat, mosquitoes, and carnaval. While we all enjoyed carnaval, we were somewhat less enthusiastic about heat and mosquitoes. Maya’s friend Margarida found us a little house to rent for the week in the area known as Bode, an ex-shantytown. Although we grumbled a bit about the lack of luxury items such as beds and mirrors, staying in Bode allowed us to see how people celebrate carnaval locally. There were big parties on every street corner, huge soundsystems blasting out pretty much every kind of music in existence.

Willa and Magnus in carnaval mood

On Sunday we all took the bus to Old Recife, the beautiful but rather dilapidated centre of the city. Its decadent grandeur seemed a very appropriate setting for carnaval. As we walked over the bridge into the city the smells, sights, and sounds of carnaval hit us. While Maya and Willa enjoyed the music, Ezra and Magnus investigated melted cheese wrapped in steak, a culinary classic not to be missed. A few caipirinhas later and we were enjoying the constant stream of musicians and performers. Carnaval in Recife isn’t “organized” as it is in Rio or Sao Paulo; it’s a bit more chaotic and organic. Different groups, wearing different costumes and playing different kinds of music, bump into each other, merge together, then break apart. Around each corner lies something new. While the most popular music in the Recife carnaval is frevo, there’s also lots of maracatu, a kind of African-derived music linked to Candomble. We were all pretty exhausted, but Maya led us on a quest to find acaraje, a kind of fried bean patty filled with chilli and shrimps; a great way to follow up steak-wrapped cheese!

Ezzie encounters a maracatu dancer

... as does Maya.

The next morning we headed off to the beach. Magnus was a bit worried about the shark attack warning signs, so we made Ezra go in the water first to check it was safe. The sharks had obviously already had breakfast, so we soon all followed Ezra into the warm, blue water. Ezra and Willa had the time of their lives splashing about and making friends.

All at sea

All in all, despite Willa’s 81 mosquito bites, we had a great time.