May 27 Leaving Jericoacoara.

This morning we got up around 10. I went to the main street to get an acai smoothy for breakfast but the place was closed so I walked down to the beach and bought 2 coconuts. I brought my camera and took some pictures of the picturesque village. I walked up the bluff at the east end of the beach and on the way back started talking to a Brazilian guy. He spoke no English but we actually managed to have a convo. My portugeuse consists of about 7 words mostly becuase there is the occasional cross over between Spanish, not that I have any real Spanish skills to speak of but I know a few words. Anyway, turned out that the guy was also from fortaleza but had moved to Jeri a year ago. When I told him I was from "Estados Unidos" (the united states) he said "oooh, Micheal Jackson!" haha.





I walked back to town and ran into Aline and we looked for a couple other places for acai but none were open. We t back to the hotel, jumped in the pool and then packed up and jumped in the back of truck for the ride through the dunes back to Jijoca to pick up the mini bus back to Fortaleza.

I've diagnosed myself with strep throat. I got an email from my mom saying that my brother might have it and my throat has been killing me for 5 days with pretty much nothing else feeling wrong. Today my throat is worse too. Before it only hurt when i swallowed but now it hurts all the time. Ramine is a nuero surgon and his sister Sara is an ER doctor so I'm in pretty good company. Sara took a quick look down my throat and said it looked red with some white splotche, she had a technical term but can't rember it. Oh it's Exudate. She's got some Azithromycin back in Fortaleza and I'm going to start taking it tonight. Hopefully it works fast cause I'm sick of this illness and we've got a concert in fortaleze to go to saturday night and a giant reggae beach party to go to Sunday night.

Tonight Aline's dad, Alvaro, is flying back into Fortaleza for the weekend and wants to take us out to dinner tonight. I think we're going to a restaurant on the beach for a special crab night with live music so that should be awesome and delicious. We're going back to stay Marina Park hotel in fortaleza which is alright but it's kinda expensive at about $35 per person per night uand we have 4 of us in a room. But I guess that's the easiest thing to do now since we have a big group.

Dinner was awesome! Live music at a place called Coco Beach at Praia de forturo. The crab was delicious too. It seemed kinda similar to dungeness crab and was about the same size but it was cooked in a delicious sauce that I can't really describe except that it was kinda like a curry but not spicy at all, just that kind of consistancy. We didn't get back to the hotel until 1am. Aline's dad Alvaro is awesome. I'm planning on going down to Recife next week which is where Alvaro and Aline's sister live. It is about 10 hours south by bus on the coast. Alvero has some award winning horses apparently and he wants to take me riding. haha he's pretty funny about too because he speaks about as much English as I speak Portuguese.

May 26, Jericoacoara.

We took dune buggies today to the Blue Lagoon. The ride was very cool. We probably went about 30k out there along deserted beaches and across rivers. At one point we had to put the buggies on wooden barges that could carry 2 buggies each. Then we went through a bunch of huge dunes and we stopped to do sand boarding again. This time the boards were more legit with bindings and looked like a snowboard. The hill was also much steaper and longer. I did it twice and actually was able to make some turns. The hike back up was gruelling though and the second time down I was exhausted and fell a bunch. Fun times though.





We continued on to the blue lagoon. It is a pretty big fresh water lake not far from the ocean and surounded by dunes. There were about 3 barracas on the beach of the the lagoon and we stopped at one and laid on hammocks in the water and had lunch.



Lunch at this barraca was the best I've had at a beach yet. We picked out a whole fish and the grilled it for us and served it with rice and beans. The fish was seasoned perfectly and was delicious and the rice and beans reminded me of central America. After lunch we got back in the buggies just as it started raining. We got cought in an absolute downpour which was pretty miserable. The storm was blowing rain and sand sideways and there was zero shelter offered by the open buggy cause the wind was coming from the right side and blew straight in the side. At one point we were trying to get up this huge dune and all the buggies made it up but ours kept getting stuck towards the top. It took about 5 tries to finally make it up. Our buggy was a total piece too. It kept stalling, the accelerater kept sticking, and at one point it just died and our driver had to go at the engine with a screw driver but whatever he did he was able to get it started. The downpour subsided for a little bit but we got cought in another downpour towards the end but made it home alive. I'm writing this on my iPod touch and it's awesome btw.

May 25 To Jericoacoara.

Today we left fortaleza for Jeri. The group was aline ramine, ramine's parents and sister Sara and dmitry Tony Jessie and I. We took a 14 passenger van that was very comfortable and had AC. The ride was about 4 hours and was pretty boring. It was definately nice to get out of the city though. During some parts there were some big mountains off to the west but the landscape was generally very flat and arid. We drove past what looked like some coconut plantations but they we kinda ramshackled. There were a couple cute villages along the way but we didn't stop in any for lunch.

At the end of the van ride we stopped in the last town before Jeri and swtched over to a 4x4 truck for the remaining 45 min ride to Jeri. This part was very cool. The road is completely sand and it twists it's way past huge sand dunes some probably 100 feet tall and remiscent of what you see in movies about the sahara. There were also a could lagoons in the dune area.





The ride was awesome and all off us except ramine's parents sat in the bed of the pickup. We got dropped off at our hotel Pousada de Norte which is very cool with lots of hammocks, nice grounds in a cute part of town, and a swimming pool. It is a little back from the beach but very nice. Upon arriving I fell asleep for 3 hours since I haven't been feeling very good and my throat has been extremely sore.



Around 730 Jessie sara Tony and I went to walk around town and get dinner. We first went down to the beach where there are little carts the make alcoholic mixed fruit drinks called caiperinia. The are made with the local Brazilian liquer cachasa which when drinken straight kinda tastes like tequila. Any way the drinks are very good and you can get almost any fruit you want. I got mango and orange combined which I figured would be a good combo and it was. They're also really cheap costing about $1.25usd each! We then found a great restaurant with the help of our van driver which had some live music. Tony and I split a filet mignon dish with sauted onions, rice, beans, mashed potatos and salad that fed 2 people and was delicious and only cost us each 12 bucks! I turned in early for the night becuase I really want to kick this illness. It's getting annoying.

May 24 Cumbuco Beach, 1hr north of Fortaleza.

Spent the day at cumbeuco beach at a barraca. There were some kite boarders but no surfers. There were alright waves for some body surfing but that's it. After tanning and swimming for a while we had lunch. I had some fish in a cream sauce with melted cheese And fried plantanes and some shrimp payeya type dish. Both were great especially the fish.



Behind the beach are a ton of huge sand dunes and aline Tony dmitry and I went on a sweet dune buggy ride and the driver took us over some pretty gnarly dunes. He asked if we wanted the ride "with excitement or without excitement" obviously we went with excitement. Half way through the ride we stopped at this sand boarding spot which was really cool. For about $2.50usd we rented boards which were pretty makeshift but they waxed up the bottoms and they moved pretty fast. You start at the top of this dune and ride the thing all the way down straight into a fresh water lagoon at the bottom. We started out sitting and then dmitry and I tried doing it standing up which was pretty challenging but I managed to make it down into the lagoon without crashing.



Dmitry got a Handle of it too but his board was too slow to make it to the lagoon. We took the buggy back to the beach and Aline dmitry and I got massages which were awesome. For about $13usd we got great 1hour massages which includede a facial cleanse and some sort of hair treatment. Very relaxing.

May 23 Fortaleza beach day.

Today we vot up before 10, ate breakfast at the hotel and headed to the beach Praiha de Forturo, the same beach we went to the first day. Today We went toa different barraca though. This one was giant and had a stage with live music, tons of beach seating and a swimming pool. Aline ordered 500 oysters from ioto and his brother came also to help with the shucking. They were so good again! I ate a ton but I think I may be allergic to oysters in large quantaties because I broke out in a bit of a rash of red spots on my torso and upper arms. Kinda weird but I did eat at least 30 of them and o had noticed it a little the first day we ate oysters too. Not a big deal and it went away quickly butt was kinda interesting because I didn't think I was allergic to anything. We spent the whole day at the beach. The 500 oysters only cost about $150usd which is awesome.




Dmitry Sara and I also got 1 hour massages on the beach which included a free facial and were only $10usd! Unbelievable deal and it was a great massage. The surf is not that great here but there are people surfing, I'd like to go but I didn't see any long boards for rent which is what I need at least at first cause I haven't surfed since Nicaragua in 2008.

After the beach we went back to the hotel to rest for a while and then at about 9 we went out to dinner at a restaurant that was really cool and had an outdoors jungle type them to it downtown.

May 22 Wedding Day!

Today we slept in late again and Dmitry tony and i just went to the pool to eat some lunch and relax. Jessie got dragged to the salon by the girls at like 7am which must have been miserable. Ramine met us at the pool later in the afternoon. Aroud 4 we went back to get ready for the wedding which was suppose to start at 515 but probably started closer to 630. That's 5:15 brazilian time, ha. The wedding was inside thank god because it was about 95 degrees outside. I walked one of the bridesmaids up the aisle and she was georgous but unfortunately speaks as much English as I speak portugeuse, which means zero. Aline looked beautiful in her dress and the wedding was great. Aline's little sister Manu, short for Manuella, was the ring bearer and whe w probably the cutest little kid I've ever seen. I think she's 7 and is like a mini Aline.




The reception was awesome and decorated beautifully. Dinner was served sort of buffet style so everyone was mingalling and drinking and eating sporadically which worked out really great. Eventually the dancing started and I ran up to my room and grabbed my neon orange and green sunglasses which Aline's dad, Alvaro, loved when he was at our graduation in Utah. The shades were a huge hit and pretty much everyone from Aline's grandfather to her little sister and everyone in between got a picture taken wearing them. It was hilarious.



After the reception a bunch of people went to the club we went to last night. That was a lot of fun and we stayed there very late. I think we got home around 4 and Tony Dmitry Jessie and I ordered room service which consisted of cheese burgers and this weird creamy spinach stew which Dmitry picked out and was not very good...

May 21 Fortaleza.

May 21 Fortaleza.
We slept in pretty late today and didn't leave the hotel until about 1. We took a cab to the main beach front road in downtown Fortaleza called Avenue Biera Mar to go to an ATM. The area is pretty cool with resaurants on the beach. The beach here isn't that popular for some reason though.

After walking around a bit we hopes in another cab to the main beach area called Praiah de Forturo. There are tons of Barracas (beach restaurants) and we went to one to meet up with Laryssa, one of Aline's best friends. She is great. She's a doctor in Sao Paolo and speaks English which was awesome. When we met up with her she found the oyster guy, ioto, and we had about 20 beers and 160 oysters between 4 of us. Dmitry Jessie and I paid for the oysters and it was oy $20usd each! The oysters were absolutely delicious too. Probably the best I've ever had! He shucks them r
Individually for you and sprinkles them with salt, lime juice, olive oil and if you want, a couple drips of hot sauce which was delicious too. When the sun set Laryssa give us a ride back to the hotel.

We showered and changed and met up with Tony who arrived today and then met up with Aline's sister Bruna and the rest of the family for a big dinner at a brazilian steak house. The food was amazing. The salad bar had everything a imaginable from carpacio to sushi to caviar! For dinner they brought all sorts of meats around on skewers for your choosing. I tried a chicken heart which was actually quite tasty. I sat across from Aline's oldest sister's husband who speaks some English and is hilarious. He is a big guy and enjoys his booze and we drank pretty much everything they had to offer! We had an odd but good sweet desert wine, caiperinias (mixed drinks made with fresh smashed fruit and sugar) and shots of cachasa (the local liquer which seems similar to tequila)

After dinner Bruna took us out to one of the biggest clubs. The place was absolutely huge and it had it's own credit card system where you just get a card and they swipe it when ever you order drinks and you pay the balance at the end of the night when you exit through the turnstyles. Entering and exiting felt like we were at a baseball stadium. I think we left there around 3am and walked back to our hotel which was just a few blocks away but bruna hired a security escort. I guess it can be pretty dangerous. Forteza is a huge city with over 2 million people and the slums are always close by so you need to be careful.

May 20 Arriving Brazil.

May 20 Arriving Brazil.
My flights to brazil were uneventful but VERY long. I was travelling
for a total of about 24 hours and the flight from Huston to Rio was 9
hours. Luckily no one was sitting next to me so I could stretch out a
bit. Ramine's and Aline met me at the airport and we waited for Jessie
and Dmitry and Ramine's parents to arrive. They were all on the same
flight from Sao Paolo and were suppose to get in 40min after me but
their flight got cancelled so we ended up waiting for 2 hours for them.

After picking everyone up we checked into the hotel and Dmitry and I
were able to relax for a bit. Aline was having a bridal shower so
Jessie had to leave right away to go to that. Around 9 Dmitry and I
went down to the restaurant for dinner and met up with Alvaro and
ramine's parents and aunt and uncle. We had dinner and drinks and
Aline and Jessie came back around 10 and we headed out to a club
called Orbita which had a live reggea band which was very good. Buying
drinks there is pretty werid though. You first enter this corrall type
thing and order and pay for your drinks. If you aren't. Ready with
your order they honk a big horn at you! Then you take your receipt to
one of the bars and have a bar tender make it for you. We stayed out
at that club until probably about... Actually I have idea what time we
left.

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