Yesterday we docked in Fortaleza about 8:00 am. Fortaleza is a rather large ocean front city and does not have a lot of significant history or historic sites. We opted to take a city highlights bus tour in the afternoon. You’ll see in some of the pictures ocean front high rise apartments and businesses however, at ground lots of graffiti and poverty. Brazil adopted a socialist government in the 60’s and things flourished until the early 80’s when they realized they couldn’t afford everything for everyone. This became obvious during the tour as the guide kept pointing out landmarks but they were all built in the 70’s and 80’s. As a consequence, many are in disrepair and very dated. The good news is they are still trying to work their way out of this, but it will take time. The positive thing is the beaches run for miles and are beautiful.
