FORTALEZA, BRAZIL – April 17th

Fortaleza sits in northeastern Brazil on the Atlantic Coast, about 1,420 miles from the capital of Brasilia.  As of 2016, it has a population of 2,609,716.  While Portuguese is the official language, there are more than 180 native languages spoken in Brazil.  Brazil is the fifth largest country on earth and is the largest beef and poultry exporter in the world. 

The excursions onboard offered just three options:  a “best of”, the Cachaca Museum dedicated to the production of this genuinely Brazilian drink, and another beach and dune ride adventure.  Nothing appealed to us nor was I interested in doing any more shopping other than for….you know what.  

The cruise terminal was beautiful and clean and we arrived after lunch to take a look around.  I was fortunate to meet a very gracious and talented, Elias, who made magnificent necklaces.  I had seen my friend, Cindy, when we were on the way to the terminal and she showed me her purchases and I fell in love with a necklace which she bought from Elias. I was very happy to pay the $16.00 a piece for these one-of-a-kind masterpieces.  We’ve since become friends on Facebook and I look forward to seeing more of his creations.  

Also in the terminal was our friend, Rochelle, who was waiting for several personalized keychains to be made before she had to board her bus for an afternoon tour.  We weren’t in any hurry so I told her I’d wait for the keychains and bring them to dinner that night.  She left me the list of names she was having made, together with her money ($2.00 per keychains) and she happily left the terminal to find her seat on the bus.  Having looked at the wares being sold by the half dozen vendors in the terminal, surprisingly, no one was selling magnets so I asked the man selling the keychains to make me a “Fortaleza” keychain which Michael will make into a magnet.  It didn’t occur to us, until after Rochelle left, to ask her to pick up a magnet somewhere during her excursion.  Nevertheless, we were happy with our handmade “magnet” from Fortaleza.  

We’d been here several years ago when we were on our Three Continents cruise.  I remember Michael having to speak with a man at the taxi stand who spoke Spanish who, in turn, communicated with a taxi driver, who only spoke Portuguese, to take us shopping, wait while we shopped, and return us to the port.  Like I’ve said in the last few posts, I’m waiting for my big shopping in Puerto Vallarta and was extremely happy with my purchases in the terminal.  

MICHAEL’S OBSERVATIONS:   When Leona and I got off at the Fortaleza terminal, I was so happy to see vendors in this air-conditioned paradise.  I emphasize air-conditioned paradise because I recalled the last time I was in Fortaleza it was extremely humid and hot and if you’ve been following Leona’s blog you know she doesn’t do well in that kind of environment. 

What’s really amazing is the technology which affords the sellers to utilize credit cards.  Leona talked about the necklace maker, Elias;  the man definitely has an eye for creativity, color and style.  Leona has received many compliments about her purchases from Elias.  When we saw our friend, Rochelle, waiting at the terminal for her keychains, Leona kindly suggested we wait for them and she gave Leona the money to pay the seller.  In my usual style, after Rochelle left, I turned to Leona and said, “you know we could stiff her and keep the money.”  As the saying goes, “behind every great man there’s a woman rolling her eyes” which is exactly what she did.  Later that evening, when we caught up with Rochelle to give her the keychains, I told her I suggested we stiff her and keep the money, and, in a blink of an eye, she said, “Michael if you need $20 I’d be happy to give it to you.”  We had a good laugh.  All in all, it was a wonderful visit to this very hot country.