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We had arrived in Olinda the night before and unfortunately neither of us got good nights sleeps in our male and female 4 bed dorms... but our moods improved when we saw breakfast. Fresh fruit, sausage, ham, cheese and a nice sunny day in Olinda.
We left our little hostel and went for an explore. We liked Olinda straight away. It had a quaint feel too it, with hilly cobbled streets and orange red roofs that reminded me of the Mediterranean. We realized pretty quickly that something was going on - there were people everywhere, dressed up in costumes (lots of men in drag...) and all walking the same direction down the street. We realized as it was the weekend they were practicing for carnaval which was to start the following week. There were marching bands and the streets were filled with people and music. We decided to walk through the crowds and uphill to get a view of the town. On the way we navigated streets that were jam packed with people all wearing the same tshirt. Turns out in the run up to carnaval pubs have events on where you buy a tshirt for that pub and party for the day.
At the top of the steep hill was a large church but unfortunately all the churches were boarded up, protection for carnaval, and so very few of them were open to visitors. We decided to have lunch in a small restaurant that had a great view from the window of the town below and the beach. We ordered a steak to share and it came with a massive plate of trimmings including rice, frijoles (beans) and salad. Afterwards we walked off our lunch by heading down to the coast.
Unfortunately, from up the hill we could see a definite discoloration in the seawater close to shore. We'd been warned not to swim in the water as it wasn't very clean (for foreigners anyway, locals swim in it). So instead we basked in the sunshine on a bench for a while and watched the world go by.
When evening came we headed out to find food. In the centre we stumbled across a busy area full of food stalls and lots of people drinking and eating and sitting on the pavement. Here we tried some different street foods and I fell in love with my new favourite gluten free fast food - tapioca. They basically put tapioca flour in a pan and as it heats up in sticks together to form a pancake (no liquid necessary). They then fill it with either sweet or savory fillings, fold it in half and given it to you in a little paper bag. I tried a savory one with beef jerky in and then a sweet one, and I almost died and went to heaven. The sweet one had banana, coconut, cheese and chocolate and it was divine! I know you're thinking, "cheese?" but trust me, it works! We wondered if this food fair was going to be on every night because if so we were definitely coming back the next night.
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