Fortaleza

Tuesday, 12 June 2007

9am
You want to go from your house to some place which is a 30 minutes' walk away, but the traffic is horrible and also in the end you'll have to spend a quarter of an hour searching for a place to park your car? No problem... Walk, or ride your bicycle. Are you expecting a promotion, but instead your boss leaves you speechless by telling you that you are being laid off? Great! Get your hands on as much money as you can gather and go on that round the world trip you had been dreaming for years now, but kept postponing because you were always too busy. You had plans for dinner in a fancy "you can't get in unless you are wearing a suit and a tie" restaurant, but the last moment the plan is called off? Woo-hoo! Stay home, order a pizza, and watch that game you would miss while "enjoying" that formal dinner you didn't really want to go to, in the first place... Are you in Fortaleza, you wake up all anxious to go for a walk along the endless beach, but you see the sky all gloomy, as if a huge cloud decided to lie down on earth and take a nap? No sweat. Go buy that bus ticket you need for tomorrow, and the sky will clear up, eventually... (In the picture you see Catedral da Sé).

9:30
No offence meant, but this part of Fortaleza cannot exactly be described as "attractive". The ugly buildings far outnumber the... decent looking ones, but still, there are some small pedestrian streets, and basically there are people everywhere, which makes the area very lively. I am not left with my mouth open, admiring the architecture, but... big deal... Walking around this part of the city is kind of fun. The faces look different to the ones I had gotten used to in Rio de Janeiro, loud music is coming from a couple of CD stores that must have some kind of offers, other shops have loud speakers outside promoting their own offers, everyone seems to be either selling or buying something, all in all... I forgive the gloomy sky for messing up my plan for the day (as if I could do otherwise...).

10am
Praça dos Martires. There is a reason this seemingly meaningless picture is here. Last night I walked and walked along the coastal road of central Fortaleza, and despite all the stories I had read about prostitution in the city, I only saw ONE "night lady" who whistled and sent me a kiss from the other side of the street, hoping I would be her next client. ONE I say. As I am heading to the main tourist info office of the city, at ten in the morning, I come across this little park, and immediately I notice three women in their 35s sitting in different benches, smiling at me(!). Judging by the way they are dressed, I swear, you'd never tell that they were prostitutes, but as I walk around the tiny park, they approach me and say something from which I only understand "amor", or something very similar. Eham... I think it's quite safe to say that none of those three fell for me head over heels the moment they saw me, all three together(!!!). Who would have thought?... This looks like a park grandfathers must be coming with their grandchildren... (or else I am just too naive...).

12:30pm
Turns out I had to go all the way to the bus station, quite some distance away from the center, to buy my Canoa Quebrada ticket. Once again, a little dose of positive thinking works miracles. The sky is still too damn gloomy, and this IS my one and only full day at Fortaleza, but what the heck, the sun WILL come out, at some point, so, in the meantime, "touring" the city on city buses going to the bus station and back, doesn't go under the "waste of time" category. With the ticket bought, I am back to the center, at the Mercado Central, a place with dozens of little shops, and super opportunities for people watching... (Ok, I admit it, screw positive thinking, I DEMAND the sky to clear up ASAP, or else, or else, or else... or else I'll spend the rest of the day mumbling every now and then the worst words I know, turning the clouds red out of shame for being unfair to rotten spoiled me -suuuuuuure, as if the clouds could care less...).

1:10pm
There MAY be God, after all! Getting out of Mercado Central I get a coconut to drink, reminding myself of some total losers at casinos, who first lose all their money, and then, all despaired, turn to alcohol to find some comfort (Ok, I'm being a liiiiittle dramatic here, shoot me...). That's when hope blinks at me! A little ray of sunlight makes way through the clouds, this annoying grey sheet above our heads finally decides to move its butt and go spoil someone else's day, so on my feet I am, walking fast towards the beach. This picture is shot at Ponte Metalica, at the westernmost point of Praia de Iracema. Come oooooon sun! Come oooooooon blue sky! Come to think of it, it feels as if you are driving your car, seeing the gas sign blinking, letting you know that you have almost run out of gas. The thing is, you are in the middle of nowhere, so all you can do is repeat "come on, come on, come on", hoping the gas will last until the first gas station. You promise yourself you will never be that careless again, as to let the tank get that empty, but... whom are you kidding, really?... Some day you will do it again (or is it just me?). "Coooooome on, clear up you stupid sky, and I will never ask you the same thing again!" (Rrrrrrright).

1:20
Standing on the pier, facing east. I've never smoked in my life, I can't stand smoke, and I don't see myself smoking, ever. But, to be honest, there is one little-tiny-small thing I am curious about, regarding smoking. I wonder why smokers enjoy THAT much lightening up a cigarette right after sex... I wonder how come they look sooooooooo happy doing that. Anyhow, picture a smoker naked in bed, right after... you know, with that "life is goooooooooood, after all" look on his face, and you have me, here, looking at what I came to Fortaleza for, all ready to do what I came to Fortaleza for: enjoy a beach stroll under the sun. Not that much to ask...

2:20
In my city, Thessaloniki, Greece, by law, no building can be taller than 8-9 floors, excluding a couple of apartment blocks that have 12. That's it. Our "skyscrapers" are 12 floors high. For that reason, I am always impressed when I see tall buildings, the way some Amazon tribes are, I guess, when they see, first time ever, people with all blond hair and blue eyes. Fortaleza's beach front is dotted with tall buildings, many of which have "pronto para morar" ("ready to live in") signs hanging in front of them. During my little research before coming here, I read people's stories, I mean people from Europe (especially Scandinavian countries) and the US, who bought apartments here, and either moved, or just keep them to have a place to stay every time they want to escape from harsh weather back home. Why not? Seriously, why the heck not? I wonder how much an apartment like these costs. My question was meant to be answered later, the same day...

4pm
I walked and walked and walked, and at some point I saw a lady selling coconuts next to a marble bench along the coastal road. I have my coconut, close to me there is a guy lying on the marble bench, he looks homeless (harmless too), so I follow his example, something that leads to a rather... weird scene. This photo is taken as I am lying on the bench. A second later, the lady who sold me the coconut earlier, comes, and in Portuguese she says things I cannot understand. I do understand one word: ladrões (thieves). Even if I hadn't caught this one word, it would still be easy to understand that she was trying to advise me against being so... carefree as I seemed to be (as I WAS, actually). Her gestures speak for themselves. She must be saying that ladrões could appear any second now, hit me and steal the camera. I don't need a high IQ to get it... But, how can it be? Everything around looks so... peaceful. Sure, I have read about criminality in Brazil, but... give me a break... The sun is up, the coastal road is full of people, how can I possibly be in danger?...

4:20
Earlier during my walk, I met a guy named Ricky, some American from Bronx (originally from Puerto Rico), who came to Fortaleza years ago as a sailor, fell in love with a local, moved here, and now is making a living by selling tours to tourists he finds along the beach. I meet him again, he is a really chatty cheerful guy, I tell him about the coconut lady, and she acts as if the lady had told me the most natural thing in the world. No, she wasn't exaggerating, bad things could have happened to me if I stayed on that bench, "provoking" potential "ladrões" with my carefreeness... He tells me only last week a tourist had been stubbed, in broad daylight. Another tourist had gotten lucky, someone had warned him that a bunch of thieves were about to attack him, and the thieves got mad at the local who warned the tourist, and later the same day they stubbed the local himself. Ricky himself had his bag snatched a couple of days ago... How can I be so blind? How can I not see that things are not that dreamy as I have convinced myself they are? I don't know... I guess it's one of those cases that something needs to happen to YOU, or if not to you, then at least to someone else, but in front of your eyes, to fully believe what you are being told...

4:30
Ricky joins me for a beer. We talk about... practically everything. How he left his life in the States, how he struggles to make ends meet (is this the right expression?) in Fortaleza (I mean... financially), how his life used to be, how it is now, how it could be in the future, Fortaleza, things he likes here, things he can't stand, criminality, prostitution, foreigners buying apartments (he says a new one on the coastal road can cost as little as 40,000 American dollars!!!), Greece, traveling... All in all, I end up feeling that I am talking to a pal of mine. I feel jealous of and sad for him at the same time. Jealous, because... let's be serious now, he lives in a naturally blessed piece of land, he enjoys twelve months of summer a year, and he is sharing his life with a Brazilian girl. Let's face it, worse things can happen to someone than living in such a place, having a Brazilian woman waiting for him every night at home... On the other hand, money seems to be a problem for him, and I get the impression that he feels bad he can't give his girl all that he'd like. Plus, there are some other issues, money related, I'd prefer not to mention. That's life...

5:30pm
Being so close to the Equator, means that the sun doesn't stay up until that late. It's been a... great day, yet another one. Because of the morning weather I got to see a part of the city and a face of the city I would have, most probably, missed, otherwise. Later on, when my grumpiness had started taking control of me, the weather spared my spoiled ass, and offered me the chance to have one of the best walks EVER. I liked Fortaleza, and from now on I will crack a smile every time I think of this place. Apparently it's not the paradise on earth naive me thinks it is, but still, it is beautiful. The locals I talked to were cool, friendly, smiley, helpful, the beach is long, and (note to myself), super cool apartments in coastal apartment blocks cost anything but a fortune(......... I think the extra dots speak for themselves, disclosing inner thoughts/dreams of mine).