We arrived in Fortaleza, Brazil, and disembarked at 8 am. It took us all by surprise to see all the high rise buildings along the beach. We took the H. Stern (a jewelry company) van to town since it was free and then 6 of us crammed into a taxi and had it take us to the center of town for $7 – such a deal! He dropped us off at a four-story market. We found the prices to be very high. We then walked to the Cathedral, which is the third largest church in Brazil.
We were glad we started early because it was warming up quick. Being a Sunday the streets were almost deserted. It was an easy walk to the visitor’s center that also was another market with more handicrafts. The printed tourist information said to see the Englishmen Bridge. We had a map so we started walking; the closer we got to the water the more graffiti we saw and bums. We were told not to wear any jewelry and keep everything close because there is a lot of petty crime in this city. When we arrived at the beach, we saw quite a few people set up to spend the day. We were going to walk out to the bridge but several people came up to us speaking Portuguese (we didn’t understand a word) and told us with hand gestures to leave NOW because it was very dangerous! We took their advice and headed back to the ship. You know it’s bad when the bums and prostitutes also come up to you and tell you to leave their neighborhood. (That evening on the ship we were told that 6 guests from the ship were mugged!)
By now it was REALLY HOT so we stopped and Bob got a cold Artica beer. He tasted it and said it tasted like chocolate so we all had to try it – it was delicious! Next stop a grocery store where we got money from an ATM and I bought an Artica beer that Bobby and I shared – it hit the spot! We now arrived at the Malacon which is about a two mile walkway along the beach. It was a lot cooler here and more interesting seeing all the families at the beach for the day and the vendors. We walked to the end arriving at the hotel that H. Stern was in and took their van back to the ship.
Tonight was Heidi’s birthday so we celebrated in their room with wine. The head waiter said he would send a cheese platter to their room for us. At dinner he asked how we liked it and we said it never arrived – he was shocked. Come to find out, housekeeping transposed the numbers! To make up for the mistake, they sent us a bottle of champagne and a delicious birthday cake!
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| From Fortaleza, Brazil |
February 9, 2009
Today several of us played 9 holes of miniature golf outside. The guys stayed and played another round so we met them for lunch at noon. When we got to the restaurant, they looked totally exhausted so we asked them what they had done and they said “you’d be exhausted too if you had just played 18 holes of golf without a cart!”
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