sweat and surf: a digital nomad’s first 72 in recife, brazil

«recife is one of those places that just refuses to let you leave. i arrived with a suitcase of lukewarm coffee and a laptop that had given up the ghost halfway to the airport, but the wifi at a coworking space nearruava was blessedly merciful. the humidity? it’s like a sauna that forgot to invite you to the party. 28c, feels like 30.4… no, scratch that-it’s 27.93. the air doesn’t just cling to you, it wraps around your bones like a stranger who won’t stop talking about their divorce.
above the afonso pena international terminal, someone told me that the once tried to rob a toddler with a banana. yes, a banana. wild, right? i heard another rumor from a guy in a Hawaiian shirt backing up a tuk-tuk: “soleticia ferreira’s got the cheapest cachaça, but the bathroom’s basically a bunny farm." 😧

my first full day, i chased the heat to poa, where the waves were dropping bombs on the cliffs. met a surfer named rafael who claimed his board was legally married to the ocean. his rendering of the local breakfast? typing with one eye. 🨢 but when i mentioned my laptop battery was a sad potato, he just shrugged and said, “dude, just surf… whatever’s left of your wifi, k?"
definitely tried a “healthy” acaí taxicab smoothie-it was 70% palm sugar. dragon fruit? more like dragon ¿reborn. later, at a spot called, fried and forgot, the empanadas tasted like regret, but also like my fourth cup of oat milk chai. pro tip: the subway here doesn’t run on ‘snacks." it runs on ‘toxins.’ 🔪

recife’s neighborhoods are like a telenovela’s wardrobe department-every block has a vibe. innaar someone’s streaming reggaeton and selling knockoff audemars for $2. in scarpino, old men play dominoes while judging my flip flops. the neighbors here don’t wave. they just yell things like, “gestures at my glowing laptop screen… you got internet? 🚚«
don’t fret-if you get bored, olinda’s cobblestone streets and sugar cane plantations are just a 45-minute mad dash away. or kmart: their restrooms are basically a whirlwind of secrets. «

would i come back? if my wifi was hotter than my mom’s hotdish, maybe. until then, this city stays in the ”what-happened-here?” category. 💤

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