We flew from the southern tip of South America almost to its north-eastern tip for a little party called Carnaval.  Instead of heading to the best known Carnaval in Rio, we decided to spend our Carnaval in the towns of Recife and Olinda upon the recommendation of our friend, Cara.  Recife and Olinda are known for their more cultural, authentic, safer, less expensive, and less commercial Carnaval than its more famous Rio rival.   It was a great choice!

We spent days in Olinda, a colonial town with a lot of character, with the young and costumed Carnaval crowd.   At night, we headed to Recife for big concerts and awesome decorations.   We had a blast joining the Carnaval madness with one exception: Jon was pickpocketed walking to the taxis at the end of the first night!   Luckily he had no cash, just dealing with the nuisance of canceling and…