A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
007. Beach paradise
FEBRUARY 2005: Beach paradise
A real beach paradise is located at about fifty kilometers south of Recife: Porto de Galinhas. The beach resort once was called Porto Rico. When slave trade was banned in the nineteenth century, slaves were transported illegally from Africa. They were hidden in covert compartments, under a layer of hens from Angola (‘galinhas’ in Portuguese). When a new transport of slaves had arrived in Porto Rico, the messengers were sent to spread the news among the slave traders that the ‘galinhas’ had arrived. Hence, the actual name Porto de Galinhas. The beach resort is famous for the so-called ‘piscinas naturais’: shallow waters, surrounded by coral reefs. At low tide, boat trips are offered to the sandbanks at a few kilometers off the coast. The combination of warm sea water, white beach sands, and a large variety of leisure activities in the center attract many tourists from Brazil and abroad.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2005, 2014
