Grand South America & South America Voyage, Fortaleza, Brazil... Part 2 of 2

 I was fighting heavy winds and rainstorms sailing into Fortaleza. We were about an hour late getting off the ship due docking issues. Ann, Cathy and I left the ship as soon as we docked and secured a taxi for a tour of Fortaleza. The driver spoke some English, so we were off with a list of sites we wanted to see. Fortaleza is the 5th largest city in Brazil with approximately 4 million inhabitants including its metropolitan region. It is the capital of the state Ceará, located in the Northeast region of Brazil. Our first stop was a walk in the rain on the pier at Iracema Beach. Next, we went to the center of town to see the 17th century Portuguese fort known as Nossa Senhora de Assunção Fortress/Fortress of Our Lady of the Assumption.  It was built by the Dutch in 1649 but was captured and held by the Portuguese for several years. The building now serves as a tourist attraction, museum, and memorial site. Across the street from the Fortress, we visited the Metropolitan Cathedral of Fortaleza a neo-gothic cathedral in Brazil. It is the third largest church in the country and can accommodate around 5,000 worshippers. Construction started in 1938 and was completed in 1978.  We then walked next door to the Mercado Central and looked around...this shopping area is multiple floors and has over 500 stalls. Driving through the street of downtown Fortaleza we saw lots of wall art on our way to the Old City Prison. The former prison is now the Centro de Turismo and a market shopping area. On this visit we were able to see the Jose de Alencar Theatre as the renovation had been completed since our last visit to Fortaleza in 2020. We then went to Mercado dos Pinhões but it was closed. This building was first constructed as the meat market in 1897 and its iron structure was designed by Eiffel. Next, we made a quick stop at Ferreira Plaza to see the interesting Art Deco clock tower…with Christmas less than a month away, the annual Christmas tree was already erected. From here we headed to Futuro Beach, a clean length of soft sand stretching 3 miles along Fortaleza’s east-facing coast. It's lined by huge restaurants known as barracas, which serve seafood. You can buy fresh fish at the Mercado de Peixes do Mucuripe or fish market adjacent to the restaurants. After we left Futuro Beach we drove through the Murcuripe area on our way to see the Mucuripe Lighthouse. This area is the slums or favelas of Fortaleza where many of the poor of Fortaleza live in shanty-shacks very close to the port. With no planned tour we escaped the rain and enjoyed our day within Fortaleza. I was able to spend a few hours in the sun. We are at sea for the next three days heading for the Amazon River.  Despite the record low water levels that the Amazon has recently experience, we just had an announcement by Captain Arne Smit that it’s a go for us heading up the Amazon to Manaus.  Recent rainfall has made this possible, I had little hope of this happening so it’s a pleasant surprise…