North-east BRAZIL - the other side of the country of SAMBA - trip to South America part 3

When I was flying to Recife, the only thing I was worried about was passport control at the border regarding that I have no ticket back yet. I rented an onward ticket, but I wasn´t sure when the reservation expires, because its website didn´t work the best, and I also had an onward ticket to Paraguay, but in fact it was only scan of its paper version, so I wasn´t sure if they are gonna believe me so easily that I actually plan to come back. I know that a lot of people haven´t been asked for anything on the arrival to Brazil but I know also the ones that had to explain a lot to officers. Luckily, I didn´t have to show a single thing apart from the passport.

First days I spent in Recife, but this place made me feel so exhausted. Sound of the cars woke me up at 6 am every day while I was there. But thanks to the people I was hosted by and I met there, I spent amazing time there.

My next stop was Maceio. This town is located 250 km on the South from Recife, however it´s already another state. I tried to choose the places on my route located not so far from each other as I was planning to hitchhike here, and even though I was warned by many people not to do that in Brazil, I stayed pretty stubborn. Until I came here. To get out of any city here by public transport I would need around 2 hours. And most of the spots which would be great to start hitchhiking, are on the outskirts of the city, where mostly are favelas. And these favelas aren´t like in Foz do Iguacu, where I hardly could realize they weren´t regular houses. So now I´m using buses, but maybe in the south I will try to hitchhike.

Why only in the south?

Well, north-east Brazil is beautiful. With its endless summer, because even now during the winter average temperature is 25 degrees even during the night, exotic plants and animals like monkeys or crabs everywhere, it seems like a Paradise. As it´s low season right now, the beaches are almost empty and it´s cheap as well. The culture is completely different from the one that I got to know – it shouldn´t be surprising as Foz do Iguacu where I spent most of my time in Brazil, is located around 4000 km from the place where I am now. But there is the other side of it – poverty.

Of course nobody is running on the street with a gun in their hand like in the movies about Brazilian favelas. But it´s hardly to find even less or more safe district, as you can find yourself on not so safe street just one block away from the richest areas. People are amazing, like always here – warm, smiling and helpful. But you can easily see how many problems they are struggling with here. Tourism exists here of course, but mostly you can see only Brazilians here – at least in low season. So since I arrived in the airport, I haven´t heard any language apart from Portuguese. It´s a huge upside for me regarding that I can practice my Portuguese and really get to know the local culture. But there´s always a downside – you can imagine how much attention European, blonde girl is calling here. If I wanted to compare the part of Brazil that I got to know to this region, I can surely call the south of the country ´Brazilian Europe´. I realized all of these differences in this country once I saw enormous amount of homeless people here, kids of 8-10 years old working in the tube selling food, or even some small things like the way they drive here or how unorganized is any kind of transport.

But even seeing all of that and being aware of all the problems here, I´m just loving it. I´m getting better and better in Portuguese, I meet fantastic local people who are so warm and helpful, and they want to show me around all the great places here, they take me to some local parties and try to teach me how to dance forro, or teach me how to eat fruits that I haven´t ever seen in my life. I seriously feel blessed!

Next stop – Aracaju, and then Salvador.