Arrive Recife, Brazil

Positions:
11/1/05 05 13.970S, 32 12.383W 0600 UTC
11/1/05 05 58.673S, 32 51.940W 1800 UTC
11/2/05 06 43.982S, 33 34.248W 0600 UTC
11/2/05 07 20.079S, 34 09.175W 1800 UTC
11/3/05 07 54.103S, 34 39.107W 0615 UTC
11/3/05 08 04.190S, 34 52.360W 1100 UTC Arrive Recife, Brazil

Sorry for not getting in touch sooner but as soon as we arrived in Recife we met up with the Dutch couple, Hans and Roos, that we met in Tarrafal, Sao Nicolau. They immediately had us over for coffee and then we all took off for the town of Olinda, 7km north of Recife. The city has been declared an historical site and has lots of small restaurants and art shops and historic buildings. The next day we had to deal with the authorities to check in - and that took all day and we’re still not done. Americans have one extra step - we have to be photographed and finger printed (and everyone says it’s because of George Bush!) and that can only been done at the airport. Since that took extra time one of the authorities we needed to visit was closed and we won’t be able to finish until Monday. And we plan on leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday and will have to visit them all again to check out.

Today was the first day I was able to get to an internet site. Being in a city it’s hard using our onboard email. So....after finishing here on the Internet we’re going to Brazil’s largest mall to go shopping. Apparently the best super market is at the mall. We’ll see. I will spend tomorrow with more details on Recife and our first impressions of Brazil and then transmit on Monday. OK?

Thanks for worrying about us. Sometimes communicating takes a back seat.  I apologize.