NOTES FROM BEN Know it is the biggest party in the world when, Phone company removes all pay phones from entire city. During the month of Carnaval entire city of Olinda sinks 2 cm. Pile of recyled been cans piled in huge mound outside of city (still not sure how I got there and back) is highest point in the state of Peroumbouco, and in marked on aviation charts as a radar hazard. Specialist hired by Guiness book of world records, set up video camreas and laser counting equiptiment to measure croud density. Bearded gringo periodicaly seen with big smile on face and bottle of quality vodka. More ether/nirtrous/chlorphorm Argentiian huffing drug stuff sold by wieght then mineral water. Communist party band is the biggest and best funded by the communist mayor of Olinda. Not uncommon to see 12 foot high dancing people, capoera fighers, and brazilina marching bands, defy laws of physics and occupy same point in space. Courtship ritual modified to highly efficient water gun fight, where squirting somebody establishes willingness to make-out. In downtown Recife at the chicken bridge, they take your class bottles of booze away but security provides pastic equivelent with lid and even transfers for you if desired. Signs I partied a little hard Several days later still can't multiply 24 by 6 and add a few to figure out how long you were under the influence. Paint chips in pizza no problem. Have trouble diffenetiating actual experiences from dreams, never can quite figure out how you got home, where the hell she came from, or why you have a big smily face henna tatoo. After second day brushing teeth with beer doesn't seem that weird. After biting you moskitoes die instantly after a couple secods of drunken flight. Squirting police officers and offering them drinks occasionally seems like a good idea. Just starting to regain feeling in right thumb after being evicted from inflatable jumping toy, that huge bouncer explained to you in Portugeese was only for children. Think you might have broken a diffenen't dudes hand after he kept trying to take your hard fought spot carrying the huge wood door that girls would get on, the honored few would lift them up in the middle of a very powerful mob, and when the door was fully raised the girl would do a strip tease, until we lifted her up onto a roof or second story sanctuary, so the mob didn't get her when she was done. Carrying around 65 pound bag of ice on back, yelling ice for sale in english before dumping contents on heads of hot could seem like the logical thing to do one hot afternoon. Everyday when other gringos asked about me at the apartment, my Canadian housmates relplied with same honest answer "I don't know where he is we saw him earlier but he jumped in the back of some truck/van/car." I thought of a bunch of others but can't remember them.