Weekend 1

Where do I even begin to describe the weekend? In one word – fabulous. In two words – really fabulous :-) Friday night the whole team plus a few extras took a 1 hour bus ride to Porto de Galinhas. For all of you none Portuguese and Spanish speakers that would be Port of Chickens. Weird name right? The story goes that when the slave trade was outlawed in Brazil, there were still some people who did slave trading illegally and specifically at this particular port. Whenever a ship load of illegal slaves arrived at the port, the people would say that a shipload of chickens had arrived; therefore, the port was known as Porto de Galinhas.

As with everywhere that we have been to so far, there is just an amazing breeze coming off the ocean side. When we arrived at Porto de Galinhas, it definitely was not what I had expected. First, we stayed at a very ‘cozy’ posada (think of it as a big guest house, but not quite like a hostel). It definitely made you feel like you were 20 again and backpacking! We had all the basics, which is really all you needed as we spent most of our time on the beach or out in general. The town of Porto de Galinhas and the beach had a very artsy, hippie-kind of feel to it. We definitely stood out as the tourists! The views (as usual) were amazing with a full moon shining over the water and little boats dotting the coastline when we arrived. Everyone on the team let loose and relaxed on Friday night and into the wee hours of the morning on Saturday after a long week of information overload and traveling.

Our Posada

Saturday was mostly spent on the beach of Porto de Galinhas and it was quite the experience! The water is crystal clear with reefs starting about 50 yards past the coastline, creating natural pools of fishes that you can see swimming clear as day. The most popular fish is a ‘bee fish’ as it has yellow and black strips. There are hundreds of them in these natural pools that swim all around you. I tried to catch one but was unsuccessful. Slippery little devils!

You will not believe the number of vendors that walk around the beach with their little carts selling every type of drink and food imaginable. You basically don’t have to leave the comfort of your towel/chair/umbrella since everything is brought to you. They had FRESH shrimp, lobsters, fishes, fruits, and drinks – every one of them more mouthwatering than the other. The amazing part is that all of this activity and commotion is pretty much centered to one spot of the beach and then you walk down about 5 minutes north or south from this central spot and you find completely pristine and isolated beaches. We wandered there after lunch and it was just total heaven. The water is calm, completely clear, and warm. It’s funny, but the quietness of this side of the beach after all the business from the central part made the waves sound almost deafening. We watched the sunset and it was quite a sight to behold.  

Some local dishes from Porto - fish with fried yucca and AMAZING pina coladas (has to be amazing when they dump a whole can of condensed milk, mash up the pineapple chunks inside, and add a healthy dose of alcohol).

On Sunday we took the more adventurous route and took a buggy (a mix between a dune buggy and a four wheeler) through the country side and other, out of the way beaches near Porto de Galinhas. The natural beauty of the country side and the peacefulness of the deserted beaches were just amazing. Aside from our buggy breaking down and having three girls push the buggy while our guide tried to jump start the buggy, it was quite the experience.

 And of course it would not be a weekend without some mishap on the part of Queen Klutz over here. Never fails!! Lets just say that somehow, the sidewalk decided to move and caused me to trip oh-so-very gracefully as per my usual habit, to the point that several people came up to ask if I was OK and help me about. I have to say that the Brazilians were very nice in making sure I was OK and offering assistance, even though I could not stop laughing (as usual also) on how badly I fell. Not badly as in I hurt myself (all bones are in tact and not a scratch on me), but more so on how badly the fall looked :-)

Very impressive weekend and definitely looking forward to exploring more!!