#flathal #flatstanley #olinda #recife #brazil
The flat fellas took a bus tour around town and saw a lot of sights. Some days you see so much, and hear so much information you can only hope you learned at least half of it. If we are really lucky, more. Let’s see what the flat fellas came away with.
The language of Brazil is Portuguese, and Olinda comes from the word for beautiful. The community was built in a place with a beautiful view, and beautiful tile was used in many of the places we visited.
Our first stop was the San Francisco Convent. It has roots going back to the 1580s, but was rebuilt in the 1630s. The Dutch and Portuguese both wanted control of Brazil.
When the San Francisco Convent was built, not everyone was allowed inside, but the faith was for everyone. To accommodate those who were not allowed to enter, a cross was built across the street, and all the ground around the convent was “sacred”.
Think of it this way — the playground is outside the school building, but still part of the school grounds. The same rules apply.
Rangoon Creeper, scientifically known as Combretum indicum (formerly Quisqualis indica)
The convent now welcomes everyone to come in and see their grounds, but they have kept the cross across the street as a reminder of how things were when it was first built.
There was also an interesting cross on the outside of the church near the doors. Our guide did not explain this one, but it has the letters INRI on it. It is possible this was done to indicate the monks were Catholic.
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)
