After being awake for 56 hours and traveling for 32, I arrived in Fortaleza, one of Brazil's large cities in the northeast which is notorious for its sunny weather and gorgeous beaches. Fortaleza carries a status in Brazil of being beautiful similar to the way Berkeley carries a status in the States of being a cool place. Every person (I have asked) has chimes into the choir "Oh! Fortaleza is so beautiful, beautiful beaches!" This is common Brazilian knowledge and having visited is not a prerequisite for knowing.
I am visiting my wonderful friend Cristina. We met 3 years ago when I volunteered with my school in a program near Fortaleza. She is unfortunately ill and I am unfortunately fending off a deep envy that even in her sickness she supports the stereotypical image of beautiful Brazilian goddess.
We visited Croco Beach, Cristina's favorite. There I was mourning my departure from the Amazon and suffering "civilization-shock" until I stepped onto the white sand and the turquoise water washed away all regrets and baptized me as a beach connesouir. Sense would say the beach ends at some location but observation shows the ivory sands dissolve into a mist on both sides, a mist which could easily be the door to infinity.
We returned to lunch at Cristina's apartment and after I ventured the 6 blocks to the beach nearest her home. Like so many others it is beautiful but after visiting some of the best of the world here, I noted such things which previously were trivialities - the waves kick up a bit of sand rather than breaking crystal clear and the occasional piece of seaweed floats by. These things would never exist at Croco Beach.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment