"Porto De Galinhas " a Pôrto das Galinhas Travel Page by mcblacktiger

During the 18th century the "chickens" were forced to come here from Africa to work: Now during the 21st century the "chickens" pay to come here from mostly Scandanavia to escape work. If you have not read what "chickens" were in the other VT sites, "chickens" was a code word for African slaves. Because it was technicly illegal to own slaves, when they were brought into port it was said that new "chickens" had come in and were available for purchase.

My trip to Brasil was the first expierence where almost everything that I had read about traveling there was wrong. I researched several websites and several books, in part because it is so hard to find anything about Porto and thought I had a good idea what to expect. But even the holy travel bible "Lonely Planet" was mostly incorect where it pertained specifically to Porto. In all of thier defence though, I spoke with some people that have traveled there before and they all said the every year it has changed a lot, especially where prices are concerned. Here is a short list:
... We used the hotel tap water and used ice everywhere with no problems... Restaurants are not cheap, many in the $10-$20 per plate range... Seafood was not that good, or cheap...Almost all of the prices are not negociable... Seemed to be pretty safe, even at night(but don't press your luck)and many police are in town.... Fresh produce was hard to find... All the places we tried had normal toilet paper that went into the toilet, not the garbage...

Unfortunatly, because it has been discovered by the rest of the world, I'm sure that it will continue to dramatically change. If you want to travel to a very laid back tropical destination, you better do it soon before all of the huge hotel chains, travel companies, and all of the other problems associated with too many travelers, make it just like the rest of Brasil. There is nothing exceptional about Porto itself; what makes it great is that it is a small town with no huge hotels, little crime, and miles of uncrowded beach and when that is gone it will be just like every other warm weather destination with lots of people to take your money and absoutly no personality left in it . I feel for the Brasilians that have gone there for many years because you can see it coming just over the horizon. But for now it is a great, friendly, quiet tropical destination.

* If you don't see the contradiction in the picture, look at the sign above the horse cart.