Fortaleza, Brazil
Our last few hours in Jericoacoara began with some packing, and then breakfast at 7:30 am. After breakfast we finished up our packing, with about one hour to spare before our 9:30 departure.
During that final hour we took a walk along the beach front and snapped a few photos of some horses. The guys with the horses were trying to sell us a horse ride along the beach, which would have been nice, but instead we explained that we were on our way back to Fortaleza, then Canada, in less than an hour – all good things must come to an end! They didn’t try too hard to earn our business after that.
At 9:30 we met our driver, Sebastian, and we loaded our luggage in the diesel-powered Toyota Hilux, and away we went. The route back was entirely on the inland road – no beach running today. The road was paved and in good condition all the way. Here is some typical scenery along the highway:
Our driver was very quiet and didn’t really want to engage in any conversation, so we pulled out our guidebooks and started planning future itineraries in Brazil. Brazil is a big country, like Canada, and to see everything requires a few different trips. Right now, the Pantanal is speaking to us – the wildlife viewing is supposed to be exceptional. The Brazilian visas we obtained are good for five years, so it would make sense to make a return trip to Brazil before they expire 
We stopped for lunch at a road side self-serve restaurant around 12:30 pm. The food was decent and once again we just paid for what we ate by weight.
We rolled into Fortaleza at about 2:30 pm, so the drive was only five hours including a half hour lunch stop – much quicker than we expected. We were expecting another 8 hour drive, but obviously the inland route is much faster, but less interesting, than the beach route.
We checked into the Maredomus hotel, where our extra luggage was waiting in storage. Not wanting to waste our last hours in Brazil in a hotel room, we decided to hit the pavement and walked about ten blocks to the Mercado Central (central market). This place was a monstrosity! From the outside, it looked like a major league sports complex. On the inside, there were five levels of shops, with a maze of staircases connecting one floor to another. This market wasn’t as crowded as many other markets we’ve been to – the elbow room was much appreciated.
We didn’t buy any trinkets – there’s only so much of that you can put in your house back home. In fact, we haven’t been buying trinkets on our trips for many years now. Only if we find something very special do we buy anything now. We did, however, enjoy another fresh mango juice each – we’ll never get them that fresh and sweet back home! We also bought some Brazilian coffee to take home with us. We didn’t have one bad cup of coffee in four weeks so they must be doing something right with coffee in this country.
We spent the last hour before sunset on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. It was a nice way to relax and enjoy an urban sunset – our last in Brazil.
We had dinner at a restaurant called “La Casa”, a place we had walked by a few times when we were in Fortaleza earlier in the trip. It’s a quaint place along the malecon with a network of reflecting pools to give it great ambience. The food was pretty good, but the “chocolate fanatic” dessert was the best! On the walk back from the restaurant, we stopped and looked at the artists works along the malecon. One wood-carver in particular created some amazing pieces!
Overall, our trip to NE Brazil exceeded our expectations by a long shot.
In the next few days, we will post a summary of our trip – “Stader Stars” and “Stader Skips”. Basically we’ll write about our favorite parts of Brazil, favorite pousadas, activities, restaurants, etc. We’ll also give our opinion on areas that we would skip completely if we could do the trip all over again, or perhaps spend less time than we did.
Bon Viagem!
Horses on Jericoacoara beach
