The Old Center, Burning on the Beach, and Forro!

Since I slacked off on putting a post up on Friday I decided this would be a good time to catch up. Friday we had the awesome opportunity to go to the temple of Recife, and yes, it was very beautiful. It was built in 2000, and has served as one of the closest points for many people to visit until the Manuas temple opened. The best part about going to the temple is that Cristina was tired of the buses and decided to pay for a taxi for herself, Cindy, Michelle, and myself. So cruising in an air conditioned car and chatting it up with a really nice taxi driver was a great way to start the day. We got on the subject of music and he said he preferred American music even if he couldn't understand it, then started teasing Cindy about how she knows more about Brazilian music than he does (in all honesty she probably does, she listens to it so much I am starting to learn the words whether I want to or not just from exposure alone). We got there early and were able to take a few snapshots:

It was a really nice session and it was fun to do it in portuguese. I haven't done that since my mission so it was pretty fun. 

After the temple we went to the old center of the city where we visited the Casa de Cultura which is an old prison that has been turned into a place where people can sell things that are related to the culture of Brasil. There were a ton of leather things and little trinkets. It was pretty fun to visit, but the best part is that they had this group of people walking around the entire time playing forro, a brazilian type of music of the northeast, and this old man started dancing and let me tell ya, it was awesome. He was surprisingly agile, check it out on Cindy's blog, it rocks. They had a lady dressed up to be the center of attraction but she ended up getting edged out by this old man. He has the moves that she can't compete with hehe.

 This was the group walking around the entire time playing forro.

 This is the inside of the prison. Several of the old cells still had the metal bars for doors.

The guy in the blue was rockin, the guy in the red did well but eventually gave up. The blue guy never stopped. Oh yeah.

On Saturday we finally got a much needed day off. We were going like crazy all week and finally got to relax on the beach and have a day to chill. We slept in to about 9 and went to the beach around 10 ish. I stayed until about 1 and Cindy stayed til 2. While there we bought a couple homemade kites that we didn't get to fly because apparently you're supposed to bring your own string to the beach to fly kites. Next time i'll have to keep that in mind lol. We also bought some fresh pineapple that tasted wonderful. Fresh, hand cut, full pineapple for $1.25. The only bad thing about the beach is that apparently I burn pretty easily here, and, not having put on any sunscreen, I proceeded to burn worse than I think I ever have before. I am currently VERY red, and I hurt everywhere. My favorite thing about Brasil is that people are very touchy and LOVE to give you frequent smacks on the back and, even better, on the shoulders. It has made my life soooooooooooo much fun recently. Josh and Joe, being some good sized american guys, have also adopted this habit so yes, I have to give them crap too, hehe. Thanks for the smacks guys!

So, to finish off the night, we went to a party for Sao Joao which is a huge Catholic Holiday that everyone celebrates in the north of Brasil. It was way fun, even if I was fried as red as a lobster. I danced it up. I had Morgan and Malorie show me how to dance. They are seriously legit pernambucanas, they even have the accent! They are makin things fun at the Jones residence! I got to play soccer with some kids and I think i was having a mini heat stroke cuz i had to go sit down for a bit before I passed out lol. Everyone was crazy sweaty. I then went back in and danced with Cindy for a while. I tried to get my Prof. Vanessa to dance with me but she turned me down. She is the first person to ever turn me down for a dance!

 This was some crazy line dancing thing we did

 Yeah, you can tell i was sweating a little bit..

Not a real stache, I had them painted on with some sideburns. A custom for Sao Joao. 

All in all, a great last couple of days. Now I just need to go put on some more aloe vera...