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	<title>leafyblog</title>
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	<description>yer favorite transplants in northeastern brazil</description>
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		<title>Lew Simons on The Daily Beast!</title>
		<link>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=90</link>
		<comments>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=90#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:32:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>leafy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lew Simons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Southeast Asia]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=90</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href='<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0\" width=\"400\" height=\"264\" ><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"webhost=fora.tv&#038;clipid=11001&#038;cliptype=full\" /><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\"  /><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://fora.tv/embedded_player\" /><embed flashvars=\"webhost=fora.tv&#038;clipid=11001&#038;cliptype=full\" src=\"http://fora.tv/embedded_player\" width=\"400\" height=\"264\" allowScriptAccess=\"always\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" pluginspage=\"http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer\"></embed></object>&#8216; >Lew Simons on Fora TV.  SOutheast Asia: The Next Front</a></p>
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		<title>Back in the US&#8230;Briefly</title>
		<link>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=88</link>
		<comments>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=88#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:33:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>leafy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=88</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well folks, we made back, althought Letty will be returning to Natal on her Fullbright for a few more months of study.  She ran the Porto Alegre Marathon last week, and both of us are recovering.
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well folks, we made back, althought <strong><em>Letty</em></strong> will be returning to Natal on her Fullbright for a few more months of study.  She ran the <a href="http://www.copacabanarunners.net/imarapoa.html">Porto Alegre Marathon</a> last week, and both of us are recovering.</p>
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		<title>Back to work&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=63</link>
		<comments>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=63#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:05:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>leafy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Atlantic Forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leishmanial]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marcio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Selma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UFRN]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=63</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Now that our guests were gone, we got back down to the thing that we normally do, which is take the bus from our apartment in Ponta Negra to the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, where we both work. Actually, we work in the same building, one flight of stairs away from each [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Now that our guests were gone, we got back down to the thing that we normally do, which is take the bus from our apartment in Ponta Negra to the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, where we both work. Actually, we work in the same building, one flight of stairs away from each other. It&#8217;s kind of a coincidence considering how different the work we do is.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/img-5362.jpg" alt="restinga - a type of atlantic rainforest" width="200" height="150" align="left" />Letty is working as a postdoc in the Ecologia department, teaching and doing research on the Atlantic Forest in the state. It&#8217;s the northern-most extent of this extremely endangered rainforest- a world &#8216;biodiversity hotspot&#8217;. Even basic stats of size shape and distribution of these fragments are lacking. Letty and collaborators use satellite photography and aerial images to construct detailed maps of fragments and to look for opportunities for corridors. She&#8217;ll soon be &#8216;em campo&#8217; taking measurements in the fragments. Oh yeah. And the fragments database will also serve as basis for focused exploration of biodiversity and search for new species in this understudied area. The great thing is, she has a lot of support from the local scientific community, including biologists within the state environmental ministry and a group designated by UNESCO to help preserve this ecosystem.<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/marcios.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/marcios-small.jpg" alt="marcios catch borboletas" width="200" height="150" align="right" /></a></p>
<p>One of the people Letty works with is Prof. Marcio Zikan Cardoso (in blue) who heads up the undergraduate curriculum, and also studies boborletas (butterflies).</p>
<p>Adam is working in a laboratory that studies the immunogenetics of leishmaniasis. Yup. Leishmaniasis, a scary protozoan that gives you skin ulcers, mucosal deterioration or internal organ damage (depending on where you are in the world) and is spread by a little <img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/adam-pipet.jpg" alt="adam pipets nothing" width="200" height="150" align="left" />sand-fly. Here in Natal, about 100-200 cases are seen per year. Mostly kids. The strange thing is, most people in the neighborhoods from which these patients come don&#8217;t get sick, they develop an immunity to the disease. Adam&#8217;s laboratory is trying to figure out what makes some people unlucky enough to get the disease.</p>
<p>Adam works with Prof. Selma, an MD/PhD who is also on Letty&#8217;s running team. It&#8217;s a busy lab, with about 10 grad students and various undergrads.<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/joao-gloria.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/joao-gloria-small.jpg" alt="Joao and Gloria handle parasites" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
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		<title>Webe belated.</title>
		<link>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=5</link>
		<comments>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=5#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:36:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>leafy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=5</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[SO! This is our first real post to our blog from brazil and We know, it&#8217;s been like, 4 months. OK enough excuses. Well no excuses really. But part of the motivation for this was our awesome visitors, Will and Gordy! If it wasn’t for them, we might never have left Natal (which is lovely, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>SO! This is our first real post to our blog from brazil and <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">We know</span>, it&#8217;s been like, 4 months. OK enough excuses. Well no excuses really. But part of the motivation for this was our awesome visitors, Will and Gordy! If it wasn’t for them, we might never have left Natal (which is lovely, although not as photogenic as some of the places around these parts.) Look here&#8217;s proof. <a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0632.jpg"><img height="267" alt="Jangadas ply the reefs of Porto de Galinhas" src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0632-small.jpg" width="400" /></a> Paradise no? Well there&#8217;s more to the story, but this is just a teaser. The real posts will follow!</p>
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		<title>Carnaval 2009, an invitation</title>
		<link>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=6</link>
		<comments>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=6#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:11:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>leafy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=6</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ok so this goes out to all you people. Your presence is requested, in Olinda, and Recife in February (20-25). Plans are in the works, a house is being rented, arrangements being made. All you need is an airplane ticket to Recife.   Need convincing? Looks fun doesn&#8217;t it?   Keep reading. 


 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ok so this goes out to all you people. <span style="COLOR: teal">Your</span> presence is requested, in Olinda, and Recife in February (20-25). Plans are in the works, a house is being rented, arrangements being made. All you need is an airplane ticket to Recife.   <strong>Need convincing? Looks fun doesn&#8217;t it?   Keep reading.</strong> <strong><img height="269" alt="gardner1 sm" src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/gardner1-sm.jpg" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p><strong><img height="269" alt="maracatu sm" src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/maracatu-sm.jpg" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p><strong><br />
 </strong></p>
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		<title>yar my old friend cadmus</title>
		<link>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=7</link>
		<comments>http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=7#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:09:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>leafy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afoxé]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Choro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gordy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olinda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Porto de Galinhas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recife]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/?p=7</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So Gordy decided to visit us here, labeling it &#8220;his last grimy trip.&#8221; Logically, we were motivated to show him some grimy locales, necessitating that we leave Natal. First though, we had some work to finish up at the uni, so gordy went surfing. And lost his wedding ring to &#8220;o mar profundo.&#8221; Arrr the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So Gordy decided to visit us here, labeling it &#8220;his last grimy trip.&#8221; Logically, we were motivated to show him some grimy locales, necessitating that we leave <a title="map natal" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=Natal,+Brazil&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=-5.834616,-41.616211&amp;spn=18.586968,28.300781&amp;t=h&amp;z=5" target="_blank">Natal</a>. First though, we had some work to finish up at the uni, so gordy went surfing. And lost his wedding ring to &#8220;o mar profundo.&#8221; Arrr the Freudian slipperiness!<img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0562.jpg" alt="Looking freudian" width="200" height="133" align="right" /></p>
<p>Seriously though, Gordy was a devoted husband throughout trip, recounting to us frequently how exactly Jeanne would feel in each situation encountered. Gordy also did some interesting sightseeing in Natal, and even managed to go inside the forte, by far the oldest building around here, and take some pictures, which we plan steal from him at some point.</p>
<p>Then it was time to head south. There did exist the option of going to a regional out-of-season carnaval, in the small <a title="definition of sertao" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sert%C3%A3o" target="_blank">sertão</a> city of <a title="Map" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=currais+novos,+rn,+brazil&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=-6.058624,-36.518555&amp;spn=2.332332,3.537598&amp;t=h&amp;z=8" target="_blank">Currais</a> Novos. However, Adam&#8217;s labmate João warned him that &#8220;lá e mais facil namorar do que pegar gripe.&#8221; (It&#8217;s easier to find love there than to catch a cold.) So, we went to Recife instead.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0418.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0418-small.jpg" alt="The Blue Shop, old Olinda" width="200" height="133" align="left" /></a>Actually, we booked it to <a title="Map Olinda" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=olinda,+brazil&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=-6.719165,-35.079346&amp;spn=4.657728,7.075195&amp;t=h&amp;z=7" target="_blank">Olinda</a> , an ancient funky town on one side of Recife. Olinda sits to the north of the city, and we knew we were coming from the north, and that the Recife bus terminal was well out of our way. Luckily, a friendly woman behind us was headed to Olinda, she told us where to get off, and took us with her to town in a friend&#8217;s cab, while he played a DVD of Elvis in Hawaii on his dashboard, and sang along, without knowing a word of English, and also without really keeping his eyes on the road. Lucky for us this was late-career Elvis and the pelvis action was minimal so we made it to our pousada in one piece (each).<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/img-0403.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/img-0403-small.jpg" alt="Colored houses in old Olinda" width="200" height="266" align="right" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/olinda-street.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Our first pousada, Pousada d&#8217;Olinda, was kind of a hole given the price, Lonely Planet: 5 demerits. On the other hand, Olinda itself is enchanting. Steep hills, cobblestones everywhere, amazing views and at night: music.</p>
<p>Our first night walking around, we pass a group of folks in matching T-shirts. They have a mixture of guitars, cavacão (a little mandolin-like thing), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_(samba)" target="_blank">mini-banjos</a> (ok we really don;t know what these things are called), saxaphones, tamborines, little shaker thingies. They are handing out song-books. Next thing we know, we are walking through the streets with 50 people, little kids, 80-year-olds, and teenage punks, everyone banging on drums and singing from the songbook. Vendors catch on, and soon we are fully stocked with beers and salty fried snacks. We made it through the whole song-book, 30+ classics, understanding basically only that about 95% had the word coracão, which Gordy was able to sing along with in perfect Brazilian nasal tone.</p>
<p>We had a couple days in the region, and we started off by going to Recife Antigo. It was very old, and pretty urban feeling after Natal. <a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/inrecifeantiqua.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/inrecifeantiqua-small.jpg" alt="Navigating the streets of Recife Antigua" width="400" height="268" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/inrecifeantiqua.jpg"></a></p>
<p>High on our list of sights was the oldest synagogue in the Americas! Basically, much of the coolest, oldest stuff in Recife dates from the era of Dutch occupation in the late 1500s. With the Dutch in charge, and an inquisition going on in Europe, Sephardic Jews flocked to Recife, forming a vital part of the community, and comprising 1/3 of the white population. Dutch religious tolerance was such that they were able to build a synagogue, <img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0351.jpg" alt="Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel, the oldest in the Americas" width="200" height="133" align="left" /> Kahal Zur Israel, on the main street of their district, known as Rua dos Judéos. Of course this story has a dark period, when the Dutch are forced out of Brazil by the Portuguese, fleeing to their colony in Nassau County NY (aka New Amsterdam). The street was renamed Rua de Bom Jesus, and the synagogue was repurposed while the local Jewish population converted or fled. Interestingly, Ashkenazi Jews migrated to Recife in the past century, and do have an active community, but the Kahal Zur Israel was restored as a museum, not as a functional place of worship.<img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0360-1.jpg" alt="DSC 0360" width="236" height="164" align="right" /></p>
<p>While we were checking it out, a group of students from the local Catholic university asked if they could interview us about our response to the place. Holding out for the Oscar..</p>
<p>Next stop? Instituto Ricardo Brennand. This is a odd complex on the western edge of the city, comprising a ceramic tile factory and various estates and castles of the tile barons, which have been turned into museums. There is a great deal of variety here, but through a bit of linguistic confusion we only managed to see one gallery, missing the weapons collection and supposedly trippy sculpture garden featuring the work of <em>Francisco</em> <em>Brennand</em> (next time). Still, what we did see was very good, including collections from the Dutch period, which give some idea of what the area must have looked like before the Atlantic Forest was destroyed..</p>
<p>Back in Olinda&#8230;</p>
<p><span id="more-7"></span></p>
<p><a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bodega-1.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0437.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bodega-2.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bodega-2-small.jpg" alt="Bodega do Véio - Need rope, or olives?" width="400" height="268" /></a>Coming back to Olinda was like coming home. It&#8217;s funny, even though we had only been there a day, the shopkeepers were just so friendly, and the streets so cute and neighborhoody, that we felt adopted immediately. Maybe part of it was the trees.<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0399-1.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0399-1-small.jpg" alt="Leafy! Olinda was filled with big old trees." width="400" height="267" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0399.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Clearly, Leafbloggers like Letty felt at home amongst trees like these.<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0398.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0398-small.jpg" alt="Crazy old trees in olinda" width="200" height="299" align="right" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/olinda-tree-2.jpg"></a>Actually, between the trees and the narrow streets, it felt like we spent most of the time in the shade, which is crucial in these ecuatorial parts. We walked all over, very grateful for Gordy&#8217;s finely-tuned sense of direction.</p>
<p>As any street tout will tell you, the best part of Olinda is the Alto da Sé, which is a cathedral up on the hill in Olinda. We duly marched up there, and actually this place did provide some of the highlights of our trip. For one thing, its where Gordy got to experience his first caranjé!</p>
<p>What is a carajé, you ask? Well we are not exactly sure, but, it is a deep-fried ball of goodness, stuffed with shrimps, and then (usually) coated with blazing hot <img style="width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0445.jpg" border="0" alt="Hooray for caranjé. Spicy food in Brazil!" hspace="0" width="200" height="133" align="left" />sauce, making it the only spicy food that we&#8217;ve been able to find in Brazil thus far. Consequently, it becomes Gordy&#8217;s favorite food. Oh, and most importantly, the caranjé is provided by a woman named Edite.</p>
<p>After our culinary conquest, we struggled up the last bit of hill and were rewarded with the fabled view from the Alto da Sé. 20 of Olinda&#8217;s 22 churches were visible, as was the Atlantic Ocean, as was the metropolis that is Recife!<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/letty-alto-da-se-1.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/letty-alto-da-se-1-small.jpg" alt="Letty in front of Olinda and the Atlantic Ocean" width="400" height="268" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/letty-alto-da-se.jpg"></a></p>
<p>We met a supermodel up there! Actually, its Leafblogger Letty. And here is proof that Gordy and I were t there too. Brasíl!<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/adam-gordy-alto-1.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/adam-gordy-alto-1-small.jpg" alt="Adam Gordy Alto" width="400" height="268" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/alto-da-se.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/alto-da-se-1.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/alto-da-se-1-small.jpg" alt="Alto da Sé, Olinda. View of Recife." width="400" height="268" /></a>We walked around more, and by now, we felt like old members of the Olinda community. We keep running into another group of tourists.<img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/patrick-and-friends-1.jpg" alt="patrick and friends" width="200" height="132" align="right" /> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/patrick-and-friends.jpg"></a>They include an endomorphic German named Patrick, who has been robbed 3 times in Brazil and mostly wants to stay in Olinda because it is safe. Also included were an ectomorphic German, who thought everything was &#8220;cool,&#8221; and an Argentine woman. The dorkiest member of the group was actually the only Brazilian! But of course, he is from the south, near Curitiba, which is like saying he&#8217;s from Greenwich.</p>
<p>It was Saturday night, and we had heard that there was going to be Afoxé playing up at the Preto Velho. Afoxé is a local drum rhythm, like samba or maracatu. It was good, just a small group of people taking turns singing an <img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/afoxe-1.jpg" alt="afoxe" width="200" height="150" align="left" />dancing. One of these singers was Andre. I asked him if there was any other good music going on, and he offered to take us with him. He may have had a crush on Gordy. Or me.</p>
<p>Still, we happily followed him, and brought along our tourist amigos. We wound up at a bar belonging to one of Olinda&#8217;s Carnaval Blocos (groups). They were having a fund-raiser and had some of the local musicians in playing Choro, which is like Brazilian ragtime jazz. They had a lottery and we won small replicas of the most famous Olinda Bloco Banners. Meanwhile Letty is at the bar, has revealed her nationality and folks are in a frenzy about Barack Obama. This happens; they are much smitten with him (and not just because he looks brazilian), and  infrequently encounter USers to express it to.</p>
<p>All in all, great music, but a little slow for Saturday night, so we urged Andre to take us to where the real party was. He said that there was a spot where there were playing Cocó nearby. Yet another regional rhythm. We went along, walked a long way, but as we get close, Curitiba turns to Gordy and says, &#8220;This place bad, very bad.&#8221; Andre assures us that the neighborhood might be a little dangerous, but as long as we stick close to him, everything is OK. &#8220;Cool,&#8221; says Ectomorphic German.</p>
<p>We don&#8217;t have any pictures of the Coco festa, which consisted of dozens of Afro-Brazilians beating frenetic drums and stomping the cobblestones at the end of a tiny alleyway. Trance-like, and with people in various states of inebriation, strips of confetti made of potato chip bags overhead, Patrick the much-robbed German did ok for 45 minutes, and then he and Curitiba insisted that Andre extract us from the neighborhood immediatly.<a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/astral-1.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/astral-1-small.jpg" alt="Pousada Astral - 5 Leaves!" width="200" height="298" align="right" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/astral.jpg"></a></p>
<p>We recuperated for much of the next day in our new Pousada, the much-loved (by us) Astral. This place gets 5 Leaves!</p>
<p>Then it was time to leave Olinda and get (back) to the beach. We decided on Porto de Galhinas, described to us as the &#8220;Pipa of Pernambuco&#8221; (more on Pipa later).</p>
<p>A little more about the place: Like every beach town in the Northeast, it was a small fishing village until discovered by surfers 20 years ago, now undergoing explosive growth in tourism. Oh, and incidentally, it was the spot, during the 20 year-period in which the Slave Trade was illegal, but Slavery was still ok, that new slaves were smuggled into the country under crates of chickens (galinhas). Kind of a dark history for a vacation spot.</p>
<p>PDG does have some remarkable beauty, particularly the reefs 20 yards offshore. <a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0611.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0611-small.jpg" alt="Jangadas like Manueles ply the reef of Porto de Galhinhas" width="200" height="133" align="left" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/jangada2.jpg"></a>Jangadas, which are small single-sailed fishing vessels, ply the aquamarine waters around the reef. The Jangadeiros, like Manuele, an older once-fisherman with a large mustache (bigode) characteristic of these parts, act as your guide when you are out walking on the reef. Yep, at low tide, the top of the reef is exposed, and they have the tourist walk on it. We decided that the top part was dead , so it was ok, but there was definitely live coral in the nooks an crannies. They do keep some parts of blocked off. Presumably for environmental reasons. Or they might just want to keep people out of the pool shaped like the map of Brazil (below).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0624.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0624-small.jpg" alt="This pool is shaped like the map of brazil, only with the water and the land reversed. Totally," width="200" height="133" align="left" /></a> PDG did have some downsides, though. The touts were ever-present. Lulled into a sense of complacency by one tout who happened to be a Swiss expat (who ever heard of a dishonest Swiss?), we agreed to on a &#8220;buggy-tour.&#8221;</p>
<p>We did get some amazing pictures, like this:<img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0579.jpg" alt="One of the few lying Swiss people." width="400" height="214" /></p>
<p>But then our tour took a darker and more annoying turn, with Kaleb, our 21 year-old Swiss guide, taking us a long way past slums to meet his girlfriend, with whom he had already fathered 2 kids (after him only 3 years living in Brazil), and trying to squeeze money out of us, eventually conning us out of gas money. The kids were so cute, and we could only hope that some of the cash got to them. <a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0585.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0585-small.jpg" alt="Buggy Ride Continues" width="400" height="267" /></a> <a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0585.jpg"></a></p>
<p>The income disparity can be so shocking. The favelas in Rio and the settlements of the MST (short for &#8216;Movemiento Sem Terra&#8217; or landless peasant movement) we passed in/out of PDG were reminders. It makes you realize that there is a time and place to be <img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0533.jpg" alt="Very grimy favela just outside of Porto de Galinhas" width="200" height="87" align="right" /> a tourist, and a time and place to work and pitch in. It gets uncomfortable when you are pushed out of the tourist zone while that is your role. However, we did succeed in getting Gordy to someplace he might not likely go with his wife and kids in the future!</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0431.jpg"><img src="http://www.leafyworld.org/leafyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc-0431-small.jpg" alt="This dog probably spends a lot of time here" width="400" height="267" /></a><a href="http://leafyworld.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/olinda-wall.jpg"></a></p>
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