Chimu Adventures’ blogger and employee Miles describes a fascinating Northern Brazil Tour.
I stepped out of the airport at Recife at 1 o’clock in the morning, to feel the full brunt of a northern Brazil winter, after the sun has gone down: 30C heat with 80% humidity! Here I was met by my hosts, the Brazil National Travel Mart and whisked down the coast to the wonderfully-named
Porto de Galinhas - Northern Brazil
(Hens’ Port) where I checked into my hotel, The Dorisol, and went straight to bed.
Having arrived after dark, aside from the heat, it had been hard to get a sense of ‘Brazilianness’. This immediately changed in the brilliant light of day, when I took a walk down to the beach, which the hotel overlooked, to find a vast, empty stretch of impeccable sand, and water temperatures in the high 20s. Then, at breakfast, the buffet had a distinctly non-standard flavor: cashew nut juice, bananas cooked in cheese, pao de queijo (balls of cheese-stuffed tapioca bread); and one dish that I really wasn’t expecting … couscous.
It is the wonderful beach that has transformed Porto de Galinhas from a tiny fishing village to a resort destination, with some ten large hotels on the beachfront, catering to sun-worshippers. Nonetheless, the centre of Porto has managed to maintain an element of its past. So-named for the 19th Century practice of smuggling slaves to the port in boats officially carrying chickens, a few streets have been pedestrianized and there is still a sense of community, in the games of football on the beach; the capoeira band practicing on a nearby boat; and the bars filled with locals watching Flamengo of Rio de Janeiro v Corintians of Sao Paulo in the Copa Libertadores (Flamengo won 1-0, incidentally).
And it is a couple of hours’ drive to the historic city of Olinda, with a wonderful old quarter built on and around a hill, with great views of the Atlantic Ocean, and which is the focal point for one of Brazil’s most famous Carnaval celebrations.
It was while wandering Olinda that I was approached by a Brazilian TV crew to give my views on camera – in abysmal Portuguese – on the virtues of tapioca! The interview went as follows:
Q. What is your name?
A. Miles
Q. Where are you from?
A. England.
Q. What do you think of tapioca?
A. Very nice.
I am sure the viewers were suitably enlightened by my insight!
