We had a buffet breakfast this morning in the restaurant next to the hotel and then went to explore the beaches of Maceio. We walked south along the beachfront. The sand was packed full of people, with lots of stalls where you could rent umbrellas and deck chairs, people selling drinks and snacks and other items. We visited a large craft market next to the beach and browsed all the handbags, clothes and general beachy souvenirs and tit-tat. Afterwards we spott...

Olinda to Maceio We'd decided to save the pennies and instead of getting a taxi to the bus station to catch our bus to Maceio, we made our way there on public transport instead. This would involve a local bus to Recife train station where we would catch a train to the out of town bus station. When the local bus arrived it was already full but we somehow managed to squeeze on with our big rucksacks and wedge ourselves in the aisle. We were too big to fit through...

We walked around the town again today but it was much much quieter. All the revelers from the day before had had to return to work until carnaval officially started. We decided to visit a church which we'd heard was still open to tourists. Inside were corridors and rooms full of intricate blue and white tiles. There was also a large courtyard with a sundial and a small garden. Afterwards, we walked up to the top of the hill again. There were markets there, food...

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 qu...

1/2/13 We slept well in our hammocks last night as we had our mosquito nets up to protect us from bugs. We seem to have got the hang of the hammock thing - the secret is to tie it tight and sleep across it on a bit of a diagonal to keep your back straighter. We headed out to explore our new surroundings. The small town was compact and bustling. We walked down to the rivers edge. Here we caught a small boat over to a small island in the middle of the lake. This...