Feb 8 - Fortaleza, Brazil

SANDY SHORE : Not really feeling good enough to get off the ship in Fortaleza, but I didn’t go to the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco TWICE to get my Brazilian Visa so that I could sit these ports out. So look out Brazil, here I come.

Fortaleza (“fortress” in Portuguese) is located just below the equator… it’s Brazil’s 4th largest city with some 2.5 million people.

The edgy city didn’t show its best side to us this hot Sunday morning… the tour guide on the bus was quick to fill us in on the local politics & unrest, vandalism and the below standard living conditions for many tax paying citizens in the city.

We were told how the residents live much of their lives at the beaches for socializing, music, dancing and eating… but we were not taken to those beaches. Rather we were taken to an assortment of odd gathering places surrounded by random tagging and local youth who seemed both amused and disinterested in the tourists.

I did however, enjoy a brief stop at a Fortaleza shopping area where the community gathers to exchange local goods. That was cool and our tour guide hooked us up with an incredible fresh fruit smoothie that was lovingly blended from all local grown produce. Wonderful!

We also saw some really good surfing at the “Englishman Bridge” which is neither English nor a bridge, rather it’s more of a pier similar to the one we visit often in Santa Cruz, CA. The Brazilians were enjoying some nice sets!

The Fortress managed to keep out the crazy fun we had hoped for in Brazil this close to Carnaval… many secretly and not so secretly hoped that this was not the best of our Brazilian adventures. ~ss

DONNA KAY PHILLIPS : Ahh Brazil. Two trips to Saõ Francisco for the special Visa to allow us entrance into Carnaval crazed BRAZIL (2 weeks and counting). I have often wondered how I would ever have the means to travel to any of these countries in South America and this is one of the biggies. I could never imagine the long flight or attempting to vett the hotels or neighborhoods online. Cruising solves a lot of these issues, the main tradeoff is that a day in each port is an appetizer size portion of the place and in the case of Fortaleza, that is just the right portion.

Our guide, Portugese-born "Maggie," provided us great insights into the politics and economics of her city. We learned that Brazilians will always complain about their government, they have approved of their current President by 85% and it is very possible that his successor will be a woman who is very popular. After hearing this new woman compared to Hillary Clinton, it appears that despite the recent election results, her enormous success has radiated out into the world and may break the glass ceiling in bigger ways that any of us imagined at the time.

Fortaleza is beautifully positioned just south of the Equator on Brazil's farthest northeast corner. The emerald coastlines are a central and cultural focus for it's people - surfing, fishing, swimming, dining - life is lived on the beach. In fact Alanis Morrisette played at one of the big arenas near the beach recently. However, there is a great divide along monetary lines - million dollar condos along the beach with favellas (barrios) along the outskirts of the metro areas. There is an element of pickpocketing, jewelry snatching, even sculpture thieving and plenty of tagging on every local monument.

Normally, we prefer to walk and BE in an area on our own, but considering our compromised health and the warnings from the ship's staff, we opted for the hermetically sealed tour bus, so we know our experience was definitely tainted. Although, we did have THE BEST mixed fruit smoothies EVER at the local market place. Brazil's got the fruit drinks goin' on ya'll. -dkp