Side Trip to Fortaleza: Adventures

This is a continuation of yesterdays blog post, and our adventures in Fortaleza. Well as you should have read Jen and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast. After that, we were on our way to the bus ticket office which was located about 6 km across the city to get tickets for the bus that would take us back to Jeri at 5:30 that night. We mainly walked along the smaller side streets to get more of a feel for Fortaleza. The area where we started was in the center of the city, and much more worn down then near the beach promenade. It was an extreme reverse of anything you would see in Vancouver. There were essentially no plants or green spaces, each home had a high concrete wall surrounding it or the buildings were just built out to the street so no one had any yard space. The sidewalks seemed to be the responsibly of the people that lived next to them. It was clear how some cared for their small bit of sidewalk by putting down tiles, sweeping and cleaning their area regularly. Others however did not, you definitely always have to watch your step when walking through the neighbourhoods.

After reaching the Avenida Beira Mar, the boardwalk along the ocean, we had a cool and refreshing coconut. The beach was nice, we walked along with our feet in the ocean and admired the huge buildings. It seemed weird to see the high rises because Jeri is in the middle of a national park and there are strict building restrictions. There are new modern buildings mixed in with semi torn down ones and some that are a decade or so old. The mix creates a unique capture of Fortaleza. Along our walk we ran into an old and rusty boat that is slowly deteriorating on the beach. You couldn't see that back in Canada, there would be all kinds of chemical tests and environmental issues brought up.

We walked to the Dragão do Mar Center of Art and Culture. There was some modern art that we had a look at, I realized I'm not a fan of was passes for modern art. It was interesting to look at and there was one section on the Brazil coffee, beans and rice industry and its history which I found interesting. From there we walked over to the massive Central Market. It is a building the size of a shopping mall, but all open in the center. There were five floors of one shop after another. You can buy any and everything there. We ended up bartering for a hammock each, only R$25! They have already been well used as we just happen to have two hammock hooks in our room. The market also had a big buffet of the typical Brazilian foods we engorged on: Lots of different flavours of rice, beans, fried things, marinated meats and some fruit for dessert.

After the overwhelming market atmosphere we walked over to have a look at the near by Fortaleza Metropolitan Cathedral. It looked quite dingy from the outside, but once you entered there was calming music, beautiful stain glass windows and sculpted pillars. By this time our feet were pointing us in the direction of the beach. We walked back to where the bus would pick us up as the sun was setting on our day in Fortaleza. One sleepy bus ride later and we were back in Jericoacoara by 2am. I found the big city was too overwhelming to spend much time there, it was nice for a day, but I much prefer to call the little town in the dunes my home.