Bem-vindo ao Fortaleza

Landing alongside another plane in Brrasilia

We landed a little after noon in the Fortaleza airport which was a major step up from the Brasilia airport.  The final approach revealed an interesting perspective as the majority of Fortaleza was flooded with red clay roof tiles.  It was reminiscent of flying into Miami but felt more authentic.  Most of the city is comprised of small two-story buildings in the same South American style architecture, but there is a drastic change in buildings as you get closer to the ocean as most people there live in high rise buildings.  The drive from the airport to the final destination at the Marina Park Hotel revealed a struggling side to Fortaleza and that the fifth-largest city in Brazil is very much like Chicago in that it has some nice areas, but if you go off the beaten path, even as you travel from the airport to the city center, you realize that not all is paradise in a city that has no winter.

We arrived at the hotel and checked in with ease and surprised Matt during a nap.  Out of hunger, we quickly headed down for Ben's and my first full authentic Brazilian meal in the hotel.  The shrimp risotto was fantastic, but it was the assortment of desserts including flan that set the meal apart.  After two plates of entrees and another taste of all of the desserts, we were ready to ignore anything anybody ever told us about waiting a half hour between eating and swimming.  We rushed back up to the room, donned our swimsuits (that I am still wearing) and noodled it up in the naturally sun-heated pools.

We also noticed that the urinals in the hotel tend to be filled with ice for some reason.  Maybe it is some kind of urban legend for reducing spray, but it is a strange concept no matter which way you cut it.  Of course, this has led to a game for the next 13 weeks: how much water can you drink during the day to try to melt all of the ice in one session (if you've ever tried to turn one of the blue urinal cakes green, you know exactly what I'm on about).  I would post a picture of this scenario, but this blog would no longer be suitable for a public audience.

Tomorrow is day one of work so I'll be sure to follow up with notes about the shipyard.

Until next time,

-David Rood