Contributed by: filbert Thursday, December 17 2009 @ 07:00 AM CST
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert
Part Thirty-two
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| December 8th sunset |
December 9 (Wednesday, Day 42, Fortaleza, Brazil) –
We enjoyed a relaxing morning (Snookums attended a fitness class and Filbert worked on the journal) and while we ate lunch, Snookums did a load of laundry. Unfortunately, the dryers on the 7th deck continue to leave black grease marks on our shirts and t-shirts so she had to take them to the front desk and then they get sent to the ship’s laundry and get cleaned properly. One of the dryers was removed for about two weeks, but even after it was put back, it continued to leave black marks. The other dryer does, too, so from now on Snookums will not use the dryers on Deck 7.
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| The wind turbines of Fortaleza |
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| Muddy water, clear water |
We entered Fortaleza harbor, and were greeted by a small forest of wind turbines on a spit of land facing the sea. The harbor had very muddy water, which flowed well out to sea. Although we didn’t see a river, Filbert thought that a pretty silty river must empty into the Atlantic at Fortaleza.
The ship docked at 1 PM and we immediately got on the free shuttle to Fortaleza. Fortaleza is the fifth largest city in Brazil and had a really nice skyline with lots of high rise condos on the beachfront. No shore excursions were ever planned since there was supposed to be an exclusive Regent event at the historic municipal theatre for all guests. However, we received a note a few days ago saying that there was a technical problem with the stage and therefore the ballet couldn’t occur. This really didn’t upset us at all. The shuttle dropped everyone off at the Mercado Central. It’s an open-air four-floor shopping center that has 600 stores selling all types of handicrafts (lace items, leather items, hot peppers, t shirts, etc.). We walked all around it and then left and decided to find a store that sold deodorant since Filbert had run out. The ship sells it, but what fun is that?
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| Inside Mercado Central |
The Metropolitan Cathedral was next to the Mercado and was inspired by the cathedral in Cologne, Germany and has a decided Gothic look. We took the obligatory photo and kept walking in search of a drug store. We walked along one street that had stores that sold nothing but office supplies and then we stumbled upon the block that sold fabric and sewing supplies. Then we finally found a street that had normal stores on either side and sidewalk vendors in the middle. We found a drug store and realized that Brazil only use aerosol or roll-on deodorant. Filbert bought the smallest bottle of roll-on for $1.27. According to the receipt, it was even on sale which made Snookums happy. The process to buy it reminded Snookums of Russia or Beijing. The salesman behind the counter handed us a variety of deodorants. Filbert picked the one he wanted. The salesman wrote up a receipt. We took that to the cashier and paid. The cashier gave us a receipt that we handed to a different woman who then gave us the deodorant. Three workers were involved in this simple transaction – wow!
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| Metropolitan Cathedral |
We continued walking around and Snookums saw a large metal roof in the distance with a bunch of kiosks in front of it. She thought it might be a farmer’s market so we had to explore. It ended up being a clothing market for locals. We went inside the claustrophobic shed and took ten steps before deciding we didn’t need to be there and left. On our way back to the shuttle we still had 1.40 reals so Snookums bought a soft serve ice cream cone for 1.25 real ($0.72). A lot of locals were buying them, too. It wasn’t anything special, but it hit the spot and left us with only $0.09 of Brazilian currency that we left on the seat of the shuttle. We withdrew 40 reals ($22.94) from the ATM in Rio de Janeiro and did a great job of budgeting them.
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| Mercado Central, on the way back to the bus |
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| Building dressed for Christmas |
We got back to the ship and Snookums immediately went to the folkloric dance show that was onboard instead of at the historic municipal theatre. She took a couple of photos and left since all of the singing and commentary was in Portuguese.
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| The folkloric dance show |
Meanwhile, Filbert took a shower and relaxed in the cabin, and noticed that wind-surfers were racing just beyond the harbor. Snookums returned, and sat on the balcony, enjoying the remaining sun until we sailed away at 5:30 PM. Filbert joined her after the sun went down around 5 PM.
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| Wind surfer races |
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| Fortaleza sundown |
The Internet was down all day, and at about 4:30 PM they announced that it would be another 12 hours at least because of “satellite problems.” We’re supposed to watch the channel Fox News has been on – if that starts working, then we’ll have Internet again. Filbert is reduced to muttering darkly, and drinking Manhattans.
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| Internet problems–Fox News is locked up! |
We ate in Compass Rose but left after our salad course was served since service was so bad. Filbert’s water glass was empty for almost 15 minutes and he never received freshly ground pepper on his courses. These are little things, but they get annoying after awhile. Filbert tried to get someone’s attention and after about 10 minutes went to the maitre d’s stand and asked for the maitre d to come to our table. We waited another 5 minutes and left and ate the rest of our meal in our room from Room Service.
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| Post-sundown rays of light |
Next: Internet problems! Empty water glasses! Mass panic!