There are two
things that set the beaches of Ceara, Brazil apart from
all others...their beautiful colors and the huge dunes
that sweep back from the ocean.
Fortaleza is on
a point, which means the beaches where the warm South
Atlantic brushes the shore lie in both directions from
the city.
If we start at
the middle and work out it’s something like this.
Meireles is the
beach area of the main tourist area, called Aldeota.
There is a large concentration of high-rise condo and
hotel buildings along the BeiraMar, or oceanside avenida.
Early in the
morning and at dusk, both of which occur around 5.30,
either am or pm, you can find hundreds of the city’s
population, tourists, and locals, walking, jogging,
running or just socializing at one of the manay barracas
(pronounced ba-hackas) along the beach, both close to the
water’s edge and also along the avenida, depending
on whether you want to have your toes in the white sand.
There is also a
tourist market each evening, beginnning around 6pm.
The vendors start setting up at noon and close around
11pm-12am.
You may
purchase everything from cashews to bikinis to shoulder
bags to sandals to arts and crafts, in particular, little
bottles filled with colored sand poured to make pictures.
It’s quite fascinating.
Mostly, it’s
the locals who hang out at the city beaches. The
tourists take a taxi or onibus and travel a little
farther.
Facing the
ocean and moving towards your right, after passing the
port, you come to Praia do Futuro. Along this
three mile stretch of beach, there is cleaner water and
many barracas where most tourists and many locals go on
weekends, particularly Sundays.
There’s
lots of beautiful women, cervaza (beer) and regular or
seafood.
The vendors
wander through the tables set up under palm frond
canopies and sell anything from lobster to shrimp, to CD’s
and DVD’s to sunglasses and bikinis.
If you are
willing to travel a little further, say about 30km, you
come to Prainha, my favorite beach. It is cleaner
still...they rake the sand every night...the barracas are
just as good and the prices are less than Futuro. That’s
because most tourists won’t go that far for a beach
and the barracas are filled mostly with locals.
If you go
further you come to Morro Branco, and later Canoa Quebrada.
More about them ...............
On the other
side of the city, out past Iracema, which doesn’t
have clean water really and even the locals don’t
swim there, is Cumbuco.
This beach
community is the weekend home of many of the rich Brazileiros
and their families. There are many mansions along
the beach that would match the rich enclaves anywhere in
the world.
Further along this coast, you come to Mundau, lagoinha,
Paracuru and then:
six hours up the coast, you come to the beaches and incredible dunes of the
legendary Jericocoara, on the list of
Top Ten Beaches in
the World.
Jericocoara
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