Berimbau tocou na capoeira, Berimbau tocou, eu vou jogar

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. The computers we use at the internet cafe here are painfully slow sometimes and uploading a picture take forever--if it works at all. But today, it seems to be working great, so I will upload all that I can.

These first three pictures are of Jan (whom we live with) helping Mike and I make berimbaus. For non-capoeira people, a berimbau is the primary instrument used in capoeira. We bought the beriba (the stick part) and the cabaca (the gourd used to amplify the sound) for next to nothing at the market in Recife and then went to work cutting and sanding all the necessary bits before stringing it all together. They turned out beautifully; simple and raw looking. As much as I like to look at the berimbau I made, I still struggle to play it. In fact, my pinkie finger, which bears the brunt of the weight of the berimbau appears to be permanently numb--or at least it has been for the last couple of days from practicing. Soldado assures me that this is normal but I am not sure if I believe him or not.




These next few pictures were taken around Olinda, about 10 minutes from where we are living by bus. We have been to the Sé, as it is called, a couple of times now but mostly in the evening when it is too dark for good pictures. So we decided to take a guided tour the other day to learn a little about the history. Can't say I learned much of the history but at least I got some good daytime pictures.

This is a typical street in the old part of Olinda with charming, brightly coloured buildings slowly slipping into decay.

At first I thought that this church had been through rough times in which the tower on the other side had fallen over (which isn't all that rare an occurrence--it happened at the Vatican once) but it turns out that Portuguese churches only have one tower, as opposed to Dutch churches which have two. I think I have that the right way around...at least I don't ever remember seeing churches with only one tower in the Netherlands when I was there.

We went into a monastery on our tour. This picture is from the courtyard. It was very peaceful there, although the building was also a lookout over the ocean to keep watch for any pesky Dutch ships (the Dutch wanted a piece of the sugar wealth here)and hence had escape tunnels and such things down to a fortress with cannons.

Finally, this is a picture from the Sé overlooking the city of Recife (basically attached to the city of Olinda).

In other news, it has been rather rainy here the last few days. In fact, it has poured here to the point that the main road in our neighbourhood flood. We attempted to get out one of those days to stave off cabin fever but mostly just ended up getting soaked despite our best efforts. Capoeira is still going well, when our bodies are up to it that is. My neck is still killing me. I aggravated it the other day doing some super sweet skills with Mestre Borracha. I couldn't not participate though, he teaches the most unique skills and we were having a private class on the beach.

Anyway, that is all for now. Hope everyone is doing great. Thanks to everyone who writes me emails, I love to hear from home (hint hint Dad and brother). Sorry some of the pics are the wrong way...it won't let me fix them right now, so you'll just have to crane your neck.

Leanna and mike