Partying in Recife, recovering in Porto de Galinhas & Praia da Pipa

What a change it was to be suddenly in a city with loads of people partying in the streets as opposed to the rather quiet little beach towns! Terça Negra ("Black Tuesday") is a free party taking place every Tuesday in the center of Recife with live music, mainly Afro-Brazilian and Reggae. And everywhere really good-looking Afro-Brazilians!

I met up with some people from the hostel and some locals who took us along to another even better party, a Reggae party with a couple of live bands, one playing out on the street and the other one in something like an underground club, I think it was called "Garagem". At the end of the night we again had invested all of our money (except the taxi fare) in beer and in caipirinha, so I have to say, it was quite a good night out!

The punishment followed - slow and lasting... since consuming these lovely caipirinhas with the apparently not so lovely icecubes in a local bar, I´m back on my diet of coconut water, bananas and crackers - for a whole week already.

So my visit to Porto de Galinhas was nice but I wasn´t at my best, as was the weather. I stayed in an albergue that was recommended to me, Casa de Alberto, which was cheap but a little strange. I was lucky, however, there were 2 guys working there who were also into surfing (and - to my surprise - also advanced beginners) and we had a couple of great sessions. I successfully surfed a rather big wave on a rather short board (6'1"). One day we even got up at 5 a.m. to catch good waves!

The main attraction of Porto de Galinhas are the "piscinas naturais" - natural pools in the coral that are visible at low tide. People walk around the coral (I don't know if that's a good thing) and snorkel in the pools. Loads of fish remain in each pool and when you snorkel it is as if you were in a massive aquarium.



2 days ago I moved on to Praia da Pipa, which is already in another state, Natal. It is a beautiful beautiful place and quite developed (loads of expensive boutiques but also relaxed and with a great nightlife). It is the first place on this trip that actually has a lot of other European tourists around.

The beach that impressed me the most, Baía dos Golfinhos, is surrounded by red cliffs and you can swim with dolphins!! They are all over the place and come as close as 1 meter.

The next beach, Praia do Madeiro, has the most perfect, small beginner waves I've ever seen. They are easy to catch, straight lines and roll in slowly. When I saw them I immediately rented a longboard, caught loads of looong looong rides and was for once one of the better surfers on the beach :)



My second day in Praia da Pipa was the most beautiful and hottest day of my whole trip. Now I can imagine what it's like in summer here! To make up for it, the weather was truly shitty the day before and after.

My beach days are already counted - I'm heading to the city of Natal next to do a crazy buggy ride in the dunes (they take you to the "Wall of Death" and the "Vertical Descent"), then I'm staying in Jericoacora for a few days, a place that many people told me is absolutely great, and my last bigger excursion will be to the Parque Nacional Lençoís Maranhenses, a massive expanse of sand dunes. From nearby São Luis I will fly back into Salvador on June 4th and back to Europe on June 6th.

I don't know if I will be able to update the blog again during this trip, let's see...

I uploaded some more pictures of Recife, Porto de Galinhas and Praia da Pipa to this webalbum:

Pernambuco & Natal