The town of Piranhas

 The town of Piranhas is so cute! The streets are old square cobble stones, all grey and uneven. The houses were painted bright colors, and it was nestled in some big hills on the bank of a river. Almost seemed Alpine to me.


The place we stayed was a pousada, which is like a step above (and more private) than a hostel, but a step lower than a hotel in terms of amenities. It a was a bit funny to me in this way: in Brazil, I've seen many places that are outside but pretend to be inside. Like a restaurant with a roof but no walls, so it is what I consider outside, since it is not shielded from the elements (and flies). This pousada had the opposite thing going on. It was all inside but made to seem like the hallways were outside. There were gardens with cacti. Each of the interior walls was stuccoed and the windows all had shutters. I found it hilarious.


I got a triple room and we checked it out. The room was yellow and so were the sheets on the single bed. It was cute. BUT The bathroom smelled like the rainforest at the zoo. We told the front desk that the bathroom smelled terrible and they just came in and flushed the toilet and sort of laughed at us. That obviously didn't help, so we told them to come back, and they moved us to different rooms. There were no more triples available so I got a single.

We got ourselves arranged and then went to dinner. There was sort of a town square that had 3 restaurants serving in the same area of tables. I got a sushi thing that was basically a California roll but with mango too, and we all shared some pizza. A live band set up to play, and the weather was perfect.

During dinner, we had a show with some regional dancers. There was a guy around the area named Lampeao, who was like Robin Hood or Billy the Kid, along with his lady Maria Bonita. The state government actually put a $50,000 prize on his head. He was killed in 1940. Here's a photo from a museum we stopped in:




 Anyway, these dancers where dressed like him and his band and did some dances for us. THEN we got to dance with them. I'm a terrible dancer because I'm not very good at following, which is crucial for the woman in these dances. A few of our group danced a lot and were really good.

We walked back in the dark and saw some huge toads just hanging out everywhere. If you walk slowly enough you can see some cool stuff anywhere you are, I guess. Everyone had planned on sort of partying at the hotel, they had brought some alcohol, but in the end we were really tired and all asleep before midnight!

The next morning, we woke up early and had the included breakfast. It was ok. THEN we went hiking around the town. On both sides there are huge old staircases that go up to the tops of the hills, one with a church on it and the other with a monument of some sort.



Of course we got really hot from all that climbing, so we hopped in the "sweet" water of the river soon after. We had woken up early enough that we still had time for showers in the hotel before the 4 hour drive home.t The shower was confusing because both sides slid open from the corner...but it never really sealed properly.

Many naps on the ride home, then lesson planning for the week. We all felt really relaxed after a break from Maceio and a mostly rain-free weekend.