Fortaleza Brazil
,Backpacking Eight Months On the Road
By Bus Through South America
By David Rice  
Fortaleza Brazil
Page Sixteen
Fortaleza, Backpacking by Bus In
South America
Eight Months On the Road
By David Rice  
Fortaleza, Beaches
www.softseattravel.com
Page 10

I love beaches.
Between Fortaleza and Rio there are many great beaches, several of
which I had in my sights.  I would pause were I could on my way south
along the coast, planning a few extended stops at the more remarkable
beaches.
It took some doing to get to Fortaleza but the beaches made the trip
worthwhile. Warm Atlantic waters and sand beaches with hotels, bars,
and palm beach huts along the shore make this a good beach town.
Nightlife, especially on Monday and a European atmosphere made
Fortaleza fun.

From Fortaleza my next major beach stop would be Recife, where I
stayed for three days enjoying the great beaches and warm waters of
the Atlantic.  

Recife is a big crumbling old city with a wide river that barely moves and
with that lack of movement comes a strong odor. Nevertheless tour
ships dock in Recife and tourists visit this one time center of Brazilian
culture, usually staying in nearby Olinda, a town billed as the prettiest
town in Brazil.      
Preserved colonial buildings and cobble streets, grand old churches
and a nice hill with a view of the city made Olinda a pleasant but
expensive visit. A few items in the laundry cost me $14.; an unexpected
luxury scrubbing or was it a luxury drubbing.

Seeds

In a nice park I picked up seeds, a hobby with me, an old Missouri
farmer at heart. I like to work with them in my greenhouse back home or
I will put the particularly attractive ones in a jar for a decoration in the
kitchen. I check with a botanist friend first and make sure there is no
harm in planting them. Most every plant from other climes that will grow
in the US is already there he tells me.  Cruise ships, cargo ships, and
airplane freighters have spread the world's flora and fauna to all
continents far more rapidly than I ever could.

I love a good beach as a place to rest. I get off the bus when I am tired
and I like to rest at the beach where there is always music, ballgames,
stickball, frizbee, surfing, and of course great food. Brazil is a lively
place with parties on the street and bands playing Samba and the Latin
beats that I have heard in Mexico but they play them with far more
subtlety.
The people on these beaches were black and dark skinned people, a
mix of Portuguese and black African slaves with some indigenous
native mixed in. Brown-skinned people for the most part, they were a
fun-loving, music-loving group.

At my next stop I would find lots of African style dress hinting at the
strong African influence and, in fact I would find the African soul of
Brazil in  Salvador, Bahia. There I would spend a week.