Share Fortaleza, Brazil
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After liking Natal so much Fortaleza was a bit of a let down. We stayed in a hostel in Iracema which is OK but not great. The beach is only a block away but again was OK.
Huge shipping boats lined the shores and when we walked down the pier to get some photos its just a wall of high rise flats and office buildings. Nothing there for a postcard home that is for sure.
Our view of the city was tarnished somewhat more by a scammer going by the name of Eric. We had just left the pier and he started up a conversation about the weather (could see this pale skin was clearly from the UK already as we love a bit of weather smalltalk) in perfect English.
I foolishly tried to get out of said conversation by asking where the supermarket was, and obviously he knew and proceeded to walk us there. On the way he then offered us a map of the city and said “I don’t want any money for it, but could you please just buy me some powdered milk for my baby?”. I reluctantly agreed as this was our way out of the conversation and not just giving him money.
He followed us into the shop and pointed at some expensive brands until I said no, you’ll have this one, the cheapest one. He waited outside for his milk, no doubt to pawn for drugs (I don’t hold Eric in high regard), maybe even drugs for his baby (he looked very shady).
In the end though Eric was an amazing conman, as when we returned to our hostel the maps were in a pile, free for us to take.
We sat on the closest beach to the hostel but only from 3PM as it was unbearably hot in the middle of the day to do much of anything but sit and sweat.
We didn’t enjoy the setting or much really about the place, if you have to go, get in and get out. If we had more time we would of stayed in Jericoacoara and probably had the time of our lives. Next time ay?!
We did meet one really nice guy though, the taxi driver to the airport. He spoke slowly in Portuguese so we could understand and asked us all about our time in Brazil, we just about managed the conversation. He also had Samba on his CD player so gave us a list of artists to download. Really nice guy, so not everyone is out to scam you.