Fortaleza
is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population close to 2.55
million (metropolitan region over 3.6 million), Fortaleza is the 5th largest life of
the city city in Brazil.
[source:
Wikipedia]
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MAASDAM passed the length of the city from south
to north before turning hard to port, entering the harbor under cloudy
skies. While the ship was tying up, we
noticed a large number of wind turbine blades on the pier as well as three wind
turbines on the jetty. According to one authoritative(?)
source, a large German manufacturer uses Fortaleza as a staging area for the
construction of wind turbines. Note the size of the blades vis-a-vis the freight cars in front of them.
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TOUR:
Fortaleza Highlights
Description
Located on the northeastern
seaboard of Brazil, and capital of the State of Ceara, Forteleza is a light and
airy city bordered by some of the country’s best beaches. This tour offers the
highlights of the region including a visit to the interesting neo-Classical cathedral, with its beautiful
stained-glass windows, and the José de Alencar Theater—a memorial to the famous
poet from Ceará. Also, enjoy a panoramic
drive via a palm-fringed
beach and through Aldeota—the sophisticated residential area of Fortaleza. A
visit to the Mercado Central (Central
Market) gives you time to
browse among the delicate, handmade lace and embroidery for which the region is
noted. Native hammocks and craftwork can also be purchased here at very
reasonable prices. Your last stop is at the metallic bridge, which numbers among the major attractions of the city. The old
iron construction is covered with a wooden roof and is known for having the
most beautiful sunset views in Brazil.
[source:
MAASDAM cruise website]
Our Experience
Before we even left the pier our guide was
explaining that there were some things we could not see and detours we would
need to make as the city prepared to be one of the destinations for the World’s
Cup soccer games hosted by Brazil. From
what we saw, Fortaleza has a lot to get done in approximately 90 days, but no
one seemed to be working too hard at it.
And adding to the list of things we could not see, it being a Monday,
museums were closed. Could it be we were
on a highlights tour devoid of highlights?
Our first destination was an abandoned,
uninteresting, graffiti-covered lighthouse.
(It looks better from afar; the picture below was taken from the ship.) Fortunately it was just a drive-by “highlight”. We then drove into the city on poorly
maintained roads through shabby neighborhoods with little of interest to see. To keep the upbeat tour tempo going, it
started to rain.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph,
some of the areas we drove through we a bit sketchy, but everywhere we went
security was obviously a primary consideration.
All upscale buildings were guarded.
In commercial areas it was not atypical to see a wall topped like this
one with chain-link fence…and concertina wire…and electrification.
In the city, we stared out through
rain-blurred windows at a memorial to some past Brazilian leader – another
drive-by highlight.
We of course were not lucky enough to just
drive by the Mercado Central - the
inevitable crafts
market.
Once back on the bus, it was a short trip to the
main cathedral. Fairly ordinary on the
outside, the simplicity of the design on the inside provided a surprisingly
pronounced sense of tranquility and serenity.
Returning to the bus, the serenity
continued; the speaker system used by the guide failed.
We disembarked at the cultural center
assured that after walking through it we would find another bus waiting for us
with an operable PA system. So walk
through the center we did, followed but standing, sitting, leaning, staring at Christ the Redeemer, reading signs and wondering about a seemingly abandoned food cart, all while waiting for said other bus.
The bus eventually did turn up. It seems that the office that had told the
guide to change buses and told the bus driver to pick us up neglected to tell
the guide or bus driver how to get in touch with each other, where specifically
to meet, etc. resulting in the bus driving by us twice before the guide and driver
established contact.
Our next stop was a pier sticking out into
the harbor from which we would have a view up and down the shoreline.
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The open configuration of the harbor and
the direction of the swell had kept MAASDAM in motion all day. To mitigate the motion, the captain lowered
the outboard anchor. When it came time to leave we hauled the anchor, then untied from
the pier. The ship sailed just after
sunset.
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Lesser measures having failed, while we
were off on the tour the crew of MAASDAM was putting in a lot of time and
hard work cleaning the ship in an effort to stop the spread of the
gastro-intestinal illness that has haunted the ship since Rio. The situation was made worse by a passenger
with this highly communicable illness wandering the ship for three days rather
than inconveniencing himself/herself by staying in their room. Another passenger did the same thing for a
full day before admitting to the condition.
Hopefully the hard work of the crew and the ongoing campaign to “wash
your hands – wash your hands – wash your hands” left this bug ashore in
Fortaleza.
Pam & I are good about washing our
hands when aboard, using hand sanitizer both on board and ashore and generally
being cautious, so we significantly mitigate our likelihood of getting the GI
illness, but the concern that we could nevertheless get it casts a bit of a
shadow over our activities.
Okay, enough of that and concluding this
post on a positive note, we are excited about having three days of R&R as
we cross the equator and begin steaming up the Amazon. We will then have six
consecutive days of activities ashore in various ports along the river.
As I said in an e-mail to you, in the 1960s when ashore at this port there were no tourist and plenty of Army walking around with auto weapons. My fondest memory is sitting in an open bar under spreading trees and looking out over the tropical Atlantic. Still remember that day.
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