A small, small dot in Brazil

Imagine a tourist from Brazil visiting England and spending all their time in Leigh-on-Sea. They might have a lovely time and visit the shops on the Broadway, have a nice meal, eat seafood in Old Leigh, but would they be able to experience everything about life in the United Kingdom? No! They would know nothing of what it is like to live in the countryside in Yorkshire or a busy industrial city like Glasgow or about the lives of poorer people living on the streets in London. 

You might be wondering why I have started my blog this way but it is simple: If you look on a map of Brazil, you will see the vast nature of the country and that Recife in merely a dot. That dot is a huge city and to get from one part of it to another can sometimes take two hours or more on public transport. The things that I have explained to you exist here and many of these aspects exist elsewhere in Brazil but so do many other very different things too. For example, in some parts of Brazil, it is considered that people are more friendly or more hardworking. So really I am trying to say, do not judge all of Brazil on what you read in this blog; there is so much more to learn.

I have recently learned about another region in the north-east of Brazil called the Sertao. It is an area of Brazil which is very hot and often very dry, and in parts is a desert. You only need to compare the two following photos to see the comparisons between two regions which are both in the north-east of Brazil.

The desert in the Sertao

View from the base in Camaragibe

Another difference which I have learned of relates to foreigners visiting Brazil. Normally, tourists go to certain places when in Brazil - Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon Rainforest, Manaus but rarely Camaragibe on the outskirts of Recife, where we are. For this reason, we stand out as we look different to the vast majority of people here. 

I haven't mentioned wildlife too much recently so perhaps it is time to explain why caterpillars are dangerous. There is a fury caterpillar that exists here and if you were unlucky enough to touch it, it would cause the skin that it came into contact with it suffer a burning pain! A friend of ours explained this to us and that the pain lasted for hours. I have been more wary of caterpillars since then.

On Saturday, we spent the day in Boa Viagem (the area by the beach in Recife). It is beautiful there and there are lots of hotels for tourists but the sign in the photo below clearly put me off going for a swim in the sea!

Finally, with Christmas approaching, I'm sure you have seen more and more displays of Christmas trees and decorations in shops. We have seen that too but it seems strange especially when we consider the weather. We associate Christmas with the idea of snow but at Christmas here, it is the middle of the Summer! Also, even in their winter the average minimum temperature (at night) is 21 degrees celsius so anyone living in this part of Brazil who has not travelled far, will never have seen snow; it is merely something they have heard about. And this is why it is a dream for one of the boys at Hope House to see snow in his lifetime.