Brazil – Diary of a Tearfund Trip

Brazil – Diary of a Tearfund Trip

Thursday 18th June
Got to Rio airport very early. This was lucky as check in on airport computer took a while. It printed out boarding cards which resembled the crunchy variety of toilet paper – lots of perforations. Ken’s machine had run out of paper, so he had to fetch someone to refill it. It then spat out all the last few boarding cards and half of his.
Flight okay. Landed in Recife. Raining hard. Lots of aggressive people in airport offering taxis, which you just knew would turn out to be an expensive ‘limo’ service. Found official taxi rank. By the time the taxi arrived at hotel it had stopped raining but was so humid my glasses steamed up!
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Area is very mixed. We saw some expensive cars and very nice housing. Also saw a family sharing a bike, small roadside stalls selling fruit, lots of concrete.
When we stopped at red lights, people walked amongst the cars selling stuff ( like steering wheel covers)  and there was a man juggling in the road.
Staying at Cult Hotel. Has some interesting art – mainly phallic in style. It’s clean but basic. No mirror in room but a massive tele. They seem to favour beige a lot. It also smells of mould (guess humidity a problem here.)
Met the other people on our trip and had dinner in nice restaurant next to sea. Better go now, have to meet everyone in lobby. We’re going to Instituto Solidare. Main info we’ve been given is the high murder rate. Super.
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