The temple is closed for two weeks . . . some leave for home some go sight seeing

Bob and Vonnie Baird from Provo have finished their 18 months and are loading their luggage into the temple pick-up. 

Jerry  took this picture with Hadleys on the left, President Gelson Pizzirani and I in the middle and the Bairds  on the right.

From the ruins of an old brick and tile factory has emerged a fascinating  art museum . This is the entrance  to the complex of restored buildings and large open plazas.

The open areas outside are adorned with  ceramic and brass statutes and are almost entirely of a modern impressionistic style. Here the "four comedians" greet visitors as they enter. 

These huge galleries contain thousands of art objects.

Some rooms are filled with pottery.  The entire complex is surrounded by remnants of the Atlantic rain forest. The Brazilian government keeps it as near to being as it was to the point of not allowing even an asphalt road to be built..

The whole museum and the grounds are well maintained. There were very few visitors here on the day (April 9th) we were there.

We noticed that there were several large black swans roaming about with warning signs to beware of the "wild swans"

They seemed pretty docile while we were there. But then we did nothing to provoke them, either.

Some of the architecture looked somewhat like pictures we have seen of ancient Chinese and Egyptian cultures.

We are now several miles away from the museum in what the  natives call "Old Recife" We are looking out across part of the bay towards a reef. (Recife means reef in Portuguese)

This is were the first Portuguese settled in the 16th Century. It is no longer allowed for any one to tear down any of these older buildings in this part of the city.

Ocean going vessels go up and down this part of the bay. Here we are approaching a huge circle made of colored rocks along the water front

In the very center is this brass marker. It is the reference point  from which all roads, buildings and even other cities are laid out in the whole state. They call it the "marco zero" which we would probably call ground zero.

The unassuming building behind the lamp post is a restored Jewish synagogue . It is the oldest Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Built by Jews who came from Holland during the Dutch occupation of Northeastern Brazil in the late 1500s, it serves today as a museum.  Descendants of these Jews later came to New York and one or more of them were contacted by Joseph Smith to teach Hebrew in the School of the Prophets   

We leave you now from the historic streets of Old Recife. Tchau!