One of my goals, when I was looking for a remote job, was to be able to travel more. To be able to be with my family and still have vacation days left to explore the world. After the first 3 months working on my new amazing job at Automattic, I have decided that I was ready and confident enough to start working from other places outside my bedroom comfort zone.

My grandma’s 90-year-old birthday was coming, so I’ve decided that it was the perfect time to spread my wings and fly for the first time as a remote worker.

So I purchased a flight ticket to Recife (Brazil – where part of my family lives) and told no one except my sisters and some friends. Getting here (I’m still in Recife as I write it) was amazing, my parent’s reaction and my grandma’s reaction were priceless (I’ll admit I was a little scared they were going to have a heart attack).

So the weekend after I got here I went with my little sister and some friends to visit 3 beaches to the south of Recife: Porto de Galinhas, Muro Alto and Calhetas.

The first one was Porto. It’s the most famous one, the most crowded (annoyingly crowded) and the most expensive one. I have been to Porto many times before, and always had a good experience, but not this time.

We got up early. I’m the crazy girl who wakes up at 5:00 am when we have to hit the road (or when we don’t. I’m a morning person). The way there was really ok. You get there through the BR-101 Sul (Something like Highway 101 south). It’s a Toll Road and you pay R$7,30 per car each way. No issues on the way. Getting there we had no trouble finding a parking lot (R$5.00 per car all day and really close to the beach). We then went to the beach and settled down in one of the “barracas” which are basically a group of 2 or 3 people who run a small business where they provide chairs, beach umbrellas and they serve food and drinks.

When we got there we were told that we didn’t have to pay for the chairs as long as we had something to eat. And this was where the issue started. They offered another Umbrella because we were 7 people. We sat down and asked for the menu. The cheapest thing was R$75.00. The food was not good, the meat felt like chewing gum… but who cares?

After 2 hours there we decided to take off. There were way too many people, people turning their stereos on and listening to terrible music (yes, I’m old this way) and the tide was starting to rise. So we asked for the bill. Then we were told that we had to pay for the food AND for the chairs (R$50.00) because we had used two umbrellas and the dish we ordered would only cover for one.

And that really pissed me off. Not because of the price, but because we were told something else when we got there and asked for the price. Also, they did not accept credit card and we had to walk A LOT to find an ATM which charged me a R$25.00 fee to withdraw money. WTF???

But, water under the bridge, we paid and left to Muro Alto.

Muro Alto has a very peculiar setting. It has a very extensive and high barrier reef which prevents the high tide to reach the shore leaving a giant natural pool where you can kayak, see little fishes and other stuff and the best part, they have chairs and tables in the water where you can sit, eat, drink, etc.

You don’t need to pay if you don’t eat, you can just sit there. We But we did eat at the “Barraca da Ana”. The food was cheaper and waaaaaaaaaay better than what we had in Porto. And they accepted credit card.

We spent the afternoon there. Ordered two dishes, 7 sodas and paid way less compared to what we paid in Porto. There were fewer people there, the water was amazingly delicious and we rented 3 kayaks (R$25.00 each for 2 people).

We had a really good time in Muro Alto. The only downside is parking. Really hard to find. But it was a Saturday, so it’s kinda normal.

We enjoyed there so much we ended up kind of giving up on Calhetas and went there for a very brief period of time. Calhetas is a very tiny bay area. There’s a restaurant/bar called Bar do Arthur which has an amazing view and had a really good food when I went there 15 years ago LOL I don’t know if it’s still good now, but it’s there. We didn’t eat there because we had more than enough food in Muro Alto and we had our bellies full.

It was a really quick stop to take some pictures, and to be honest after Muro Alto nothing was good enough.

But I think it’s a good place to go, only maybe get there earlier and have lunch at Bar do Arthur would be a good idea.

At the end, it was a really nice day at the beach!! <3