Porto de Galinhas is a
major tourist destination in Brazil, located 60 Km south of Recife, the capital
of the Pernambuco state. The beach is famous for its bright and warm water and
the natural pools. It has been voted "Best Brazilian Beach" for many times
in a row by the Brazilian
magazine “Viagem e Turismo” because of many factors combined: the beauty of the
natural pools, the ecological trails, the hotel infrastructure and the
proximity to a large city and the airport in Recife.
During the period of the slave trade and especially after its abolition in 1850, slaves were illegally smuggled from Africa and hidden under crates of guinea fowl and brought to the country. The arrival of these slaves was announced using the expression "there are new chicken in the harbour". The region eventually became known as "Porto de Galinhas" ("chicken harbour") and continues to be known as such until today.
Of course the first thing we did after arriving at the hotel and cheching in, was to go to the beach and feel the warm water of the northeast coast (average temp. 28°C).
Our hotel was located a little bit far from the village center, so we had to take either a bus or a van and drive a few kilometers (all the resorts are located in this farer area). It used to be a fishing village and it continues to be so. The typical boats (a fishing raft with sail) they use are also what makes the place famous and they're called jangada. In the aternoon, the beach is full of them.
One of the places we've visited was the Pontal de Maracaípe. It's the river Maracaípe's Estuary. On one side a beautifull blue ocean can be seen, and on the other side, the mangrove. The mangrove is the natural habitat for many species. We took a ride with a jangada and could experience the wild life there!
mangrove
The beautiful beach at the Pontal de Maracaípe
One of the things I first told Sven about, was the fact that Porto de Galinhas is located much closer to the Ecuador, therefore, warmer and the sun hits it directly. It means that a person can get a bad sunburn really easily, even with sunscreen. And that was the lesson that Sven learned, as one can see the sunburn right on his face, making the exact shape as where the sunglasses were!!
Sven's Sunburn
As I mentioned the story with the village's name before - "chicken harbour" - it's not to wonder why the chicken is a motive you see everywhere you go: in a bar, the hairdresser, talking on the public phone, you see chickens everywhere!!
The next day we did a typical brazilian thing: we went to the beach in the morning and sat under the umbrella, drank some delicious coconut water, enjoyed the sound of the ocean, the beauty of the place and -of course- tryed to ignore the many people passing by selling all sort of stuff to the tourists. Sven liked one thing in special though, the small bottles of cachaça with stuff inside (crabs, fruits, etc).
When the level of the ocean is low, many natural pools are formed by the coral reefs and they are so close from the cost that tourists can take a ride in the jangadas and in little under 5 minutes
from the beach, they can relax in a natural pool of crystal clear warm
water and photograph the small tropical fish and the many hidden sea urchins.
the coral reefs sea urchins
One thing that also deserves comments was the hotel. Well, it was actually a really nice resort called Enotel. It was huge and right in front of the beach. There were so many pools and you can really spend the entire day swimming or doing some gymnastics in the water with an instructor, or drink something by the bar (being still inside of the pool). Really cool place!
So my friends, I know many of you have seen those pictures already, but I'm sure it was worth the explanation. What is also worth is a visit to Porto de Galinhas! If you like visiting beaches, that is the right place for you!
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