Brazil - Fortaleza

Fortaleza. One of the largest cities in the North East of Brazil best known for its fishing port and commercial center. It´s very hot and very humid here. I still sweat profusively but by now I feel that I actually starting to get used to the hot-humid climate.

Despite what everyone had told me about Fortaleza (lots of crime, under-aged prostitutes, cross dressers and lack of tourist attractions) I decided to go there anyways just to prove a point. The point was that you can have a good time in a place as long as you know someone there to show you around and you don´t just go wandering around like a clueless tourist not knowing anyone and staying at a youth hostel. God forbid anyone who stays at the hostel in my hometown in Calgary and wanders around the neighbourhood looking for clubs and nightlife. I know they would speak badly of Calgary if they did so.


So for this very reason, I´m eager to start Couchsurfing again. Hanging out with Roberta in Jeri was a really positive experience and I hope to keep it going as there are many benefits of meeting and staying with locals such as, free accomodations (Brazil is really expensive, the most expensive country that I have visited so far), knowing what and what not to do, and helping me with my Portuguese (which is getting quite good by the way, I´m already caught up with my spanish more or less).

I meet my host, Jose, a spanish teacher who doesn´t speak very much english. So we speak in Portuguese at all times and when I don´t understand we switch to Spanish. Aside from teaching spanish, he also is a wedding planner, event/party organizer and singer. Het met me at the bus terminal, escorted me back to his house and told me that I am welcome to stay as long as I wish. At the moment he wasn´t teaching or planning parties so he had plenty of time to show me around.

Centro Cultural Dragão do Mar & Museu de Arte Contemporanea. It´s true, there isn´t much to do or see in Fortaleza. But I appreciated the accompany and guidance of my resident host, Jose, more than anything else. He always knew what to do, where and when, and most importantly how to get there which saved me trying to ask for directions poorly in Portuguese. But I´m practicing everyday trust me: ´´Discupla, sabe onde fica o Centro Cultural? E como fazer ir la?´´. I felt safe and confident with walking around with Jose, knowing that we wouldn´t just go wandering into an unsafe street by accident. It also helped that he knew things about his own city and pointed out things that I would otherwise miss if I had passed by there on my own. For instance... this acoustical dome art installation that we walked through.

At first sight I though it was just a standard structural art, but this acoustical dome trapped in and echoed sounds within the area underneath it so that if you stood directly in the middle and spoke your voice would be reflected really loudly while others around you couldn´t hear you. Jose sung loudly inside of it and it sounded like a whisper standing just outside of the pillars. In fact, people remained sleeping at the base of the pilars while Jose sung out at the top of lungs in the middle.

Artesans outside of the museum. My favourite is the gynecologist.

Downtown Fortaleza. Just before I took this photo, a man was busking for money by handing us a piece of paper with lyrics on it and rather than singing the lyrics he said instead ``The song goes something like this... ´la la la... la la la la.... la la la... la la la la....´ ´´. If you´re going to busk for money, at least make an effort, but then again, maybe he couldn´t read the lyrics in the first place. Then just moments after I took this photo, I walked passed a hair salon and a girl came running outside and started hissing at me. When I turned around to look at her she curled up one of her hands as if making an `O´ and started shaking it vigorously in front of her face as if to suggest that I wanted a blowjob. I turned to Jose and said ´´WTF?´´. He returned the same confused look as I had.

Suco de Açai. Açai is this purple berry grown on a palm tree and is supposed to be an exotic brazillian fruit. They make sucos (fruit drinks) with it and also serve it as Açai na tigela which is kind of like a frozen slushie served in a bowl called with bananas, guaraná syrop and granola. It makes for a good breakfast and morning energy booster.

Some Brazilian cartoon characters.

Me, my host Jose and his friend Jacquelyn in the middle. Later at night we went to a Forroh show, one of the many typical folk music genres here in Brazil. Forroh music typically includes an acordian player and a triangle accompanied by a guitar and drum. I learned how to dance forroh, terribly and also decided that I needed to buy some shoes if I were going to more social outings since flip flops and hiking shoes usually get you turned around at the door and it also makes you look like a fool dancing in them.

The next day we headed out to Praia do Futuro (Beach of the Future). Since the inner-city beaches near downtown are usually crowded and the water is polluted, most city dwellers head for one of the many surrounding beaches near the city limits on the weekends which are easily accessible by bus or car within an hour or so of commuting. This was one of the more ´organized´ and ´developed´ beaches that I´ve been to with lots of tables, umbrellas for shade, chairs for tanning or sitting, shops and restaurants. It´s not quite a remote paradise but at least its a convenient place to go for an afternoon or weekend excursion from the concrete jungle of Fortaleza.

Intense Beach Raquetball. Even the women can hit the ball so fast that I´m intimidated to try for fear of getting hit in the face by the ball.

Eating mussels on the beach. I think I could get used to living in a city next to a beach.

Jose talking business as usual on one of his 3 cell phones at this classy party held at Beach Park resort. On my last night in Fortaleza, Jose surprised me with tickets to this party. One of the perks of his being a singer/party planner was his contacts, many of whom owed him favours. He managed to hook up 8 free tickets to this Condo selling party. Most of the guests were high class rich businessmen or businesswomen who were actually serious about buying the newly developed condos that were for sale. We were just there for the open bar, free food and concerts. I freeloaded as much food, whiskey and beer as I could. Eu estava muito bébedo.

Just to give you an idea of the kind of people that were at the party, to end off the night Jose passed a few words with Mayor of the City. Ritzy and classy people left, right and center. Clearly I did not belong there and if I traveled here alone I surely wouldn´t have found my way in, but there I was thanks to my host Jose. I think I proved my point by coming to Fortaleza. It truly does make a difference if you know someone where you are staying and I hope to use Couchsurfing to spice up the rest of my travels. I have to give a big thanks to Jose and all of his friends who were so hospitable to me and patient with my portuguese as terrible as it was. Eu tenho resaca agora y eu tenho que dormir. Até mais. Don´t forget to write comments. tchau.