Thursday, June 26, 2014

Porto de Galinhas

A while back, when Isanon and I had just moved to Brasil, we were watching TV when a little infomercial came on about tourist-y places in Brasil. One of the places was called Porto de Galinhas, and it looked beautiful. It showed people swimming in the ocean and the water was so crystal clear, that you could see the beautiful fish swimming around you. It showed people diving in the clear water. It showed clean pretty beaches. And I looked at Isanon and said, "Take me there!"

This past Saturday, Isanon and his family made that happen....and it was the best day!

We got up on Saturday morning, packed our overnight bags and were dropped off at the airport with the name of the place that we were staying - and off we went. Isanon's brother and sister-in-law had found us the cutest little place to stay, we loved it.





We checked in, and were told that our place was being cleaned and that it would be a little bit - so we left our bags and headed for the beach. We went out the back door, headed down a little path and were at the beach in less than a 2 minute walk. We sat down at a little place with two beach chairs and a huge umbrella - ordered some french fries and a coke - and talked about how beautiful the beach was. 

After finishing our fries and coke, we headed back to see our place and get changed - cause we wanted in that crystal clear water! We fell in love with our little overnight space - it was the cutest! We were too excited to get back outside, that we didn't take any pictures of the room but while I was getting ready, Isanon was snapping pictures (selfies!) and got some of it in the background. The bathroom was my favorite - it had a little bench in it that had little spaces full of succulents! Sadly, we didn't get a picture of it though. 

After getting changed, we headed back out to explore. There is a huge open boardwalk area lined with stores and restaurants and people selling a bunch of different things. We walked along the boardwalk taking note of places we wanted to visit later that night - then headed to the water.

One of the things Porto de Galinhas offers are diving tours. They take you out a couple miles into the ocean, and you swim around for an hour. Isanon asked me if I wanted to do it....and I immediately said yes! A hundred what if's went swirling through my head, and the thought of being in the water in the middle of the ocean freaked me out - but I knew I needed to take this opportunity, and I am so glad I did.




















We had the best time swimming around in the water. The water was perfect and clear, and there were fish swimming around us all the time, unfortunately the photographer never captured a picture of us with the fish around us - but that is okay. It was an experience that neither of us will ever forget.

After the diving tour, we walked around the shops a little while waiting for our CD with pictures and then headed to our room to shower and get ready for dinner.



We had dinner at a little 'Mexican' restaurant and both got chicken Tacos. Speaking of 'Mexican', Porto de Galinhas was full of tourists because of the World Cup! Every five minutes or so, someone would start chanting "Mexico, Mexico, Mexico" and EVERYONE would join in...it was hilarious. 

After dinner, we walked along the beach some. It was so beautiful. We went in search of ice-cream and found this place that was playing live music. We sat at a little table to listen and watch people dancing...and then Isanon talked me into dancing with him. We danced some, then went and got ice-cream...and came back to dance some more. I am not a dancer, but my mister is - and I'm so glad I let him talk me into dancing with him, because it was the best time. We literally danced the night away. By the time we decided to head back to our room - it was 4am. 








The next morning, we got up...had breakfast, got ready and then headed down to the beach. We spent a couple hours sitting on the beach and talking before heading back to Recife. 



I do not even know how to put into words how happy this little trip made me. I know I've said it like a million times already in this little post - but we truly did have the best time. On the way back to Recife, both Isanon and I agreed that this was probably the best day in our marriage so far. We felt young, free and so in love.

A huge thank you to Isanon and his family for making this little dream of mine come true! I can not tell you all enough how special this day was to me, and how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to experience this with my love.