Beach Days

6/15-16/14

What to do on a rainy day with no futebol games to go to? Well, if you’re hanging out at Praia do Japão outside of Fortaleza, you go to the beach. Albeit a rather windy beach. Brazil is certainly nothing if not beautiful. We spent the morning strolling along the beach outside of the resort in search of a barraca (‘ba-ha-ka’) – open air restaurants on the beach – that had both wifi and a tv. A more challenging request than one might realize, coming from the US. Almost all restaurants here have tvs (many of which were probably purchased and installed just for La Copa) but the wifi is still a bit tricky to find. But find it we did and, oddly enough, it was a barraca owned by a Dutch family that still had all of its orange decorations up in celebration of their recent win over Spain (bye bye Spain!).

Cat, Fe, & Filipe

Fortaleza in the distance

Jangadas, traditional fishing boats

Barraca

We walked along the beach but soon realized it was too windy to hang out by the water - you could see (and feel the impact of) the shifting sands blowing across the beach [Nick: Oh, but the patterns the wind-blown sand were making on the ground were really mysterious and beautiful.] – plus it started to rain, so we spent the better part of the day drinking, eating (fresh crab – YUM!) and watching the matches at the barraca. (Which is now Nick’s new retirement plan. [Nick: I’m thinking a Brazilian barraca with a place to take naps called Siesta Fiesta and Fe said she would invest to have a laundry service as well. Everything the traveler needs.]) Our traveling companions, Fe and Filipe, had some friends, Bagi and Claudia, who were also in town, having scored tickets to the Mexico v. Brazil game in Fortaleza (so envious!), so we met up with them that night to watch the Argentina v. Bosnia and Herzegovina game. I, of course, was rooting for Argentina because how can you NOT root for Lionel Messi?! He plays such a beautiful game and has real talent and control of the ball – no diving or drama. But I did not realize the extent of the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina. We may have been the only ones in the restaurant that cheered for Messi’s goal. Brazilians like Messi when he plays for Barcelona but they will unfailingly cheer for anyone who plays AGAINST Argentina. The entire place exploded with cheers for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s one goal – nothing like your enemy’s current enemy to bring people together. [Nick: However even our Brazilian friends admit that it is hard not to root for Messi due to his combination of skill, honest play, off-court humility, and decency. His goal typified what is good about him: as he dribbled, a defender stuck out his leg in a tackle. Most players would have let themselves be hit, writhed on the ground like they had a lost a limb, and hoped the ref called a penalty. Not Messi. He flicked the ball, jumped over the leg, came back down with superb command, and drilled the shot to the corner of the net. It was beautiful.]

As you will no doubt realize while reading this, our days have a very predictable pattern: wake up, find a place for lunch with a tv, watch the day’s first game; move to a new location with tv and watch the second game (or travel time); find a place for dinner with a tv to watch the last game of the day. The bigger the screen, the better; wifi is a bonus. Seriously, our days revolve around eating and watching tv. Quite different from any of our previous travel itineraries. ;o)

Nick on Vacation

After very little sleep (also a pattern on this trip) we decided to indulge in a lazy morning at the resort’s jacuzzi…completely forgetting that this place has no hot water. And let me tell you, a cold water jacuzzi is a very underwhelming thing. But not to worry, the beautiful beach was just a short walk away! So we hung out at the beach all day, sipping fresh coconut water, lounging in hammocks, and enjoying our good fortune of being in Brazil right now. Bagi and Claudia came out to join us and watch the day’s games. We had a bit of a foreign language lesson, as we learned there are quite a few words in English that are very hard for Brazilians to pronounce properly. Due to the Portuguese pronunciation of the English “I” as a long “E” sound, we had a hysterical time trying to teach them how to pronounce bitch from beach, live from leave, and sheet from shit. Sharing of idioms and homonyms is rather entertaining when traveling.  [Nick: Portuguese speakers also have a hard time saying a hard “T” sound; they pronounce it as a “Ch” sound instead. So at the games, when we chant “Ticos, Ticos” they have a hard time understanding what we are saying. The Brazilians have been cheering for the Ticos (as you can imagine, seeing an underdog do so well) but they cheer “Chicos, Chicos.” It is endearing and just so nice to feel the Brazilian support for our little “zebra” team (the equivalent Brazilian saying for “underdog” is “zebra”). Of course, I have a hard time pronouncing most words in Portuguese, particularly when “r” is the first letter and sounds like an “h”: as in “Costa Hica”.]

We spent the break in between games taking a buggy ride across the sand dunes – SO MUCH FUN!! – and bruising the hell out of my ass by going down the largest improvised slip-and-slide I've ever been on. Worst wedgie of my life for sure, but still a lot of fun! This region of Brazil is known for its lace makers, so we also stopped by a handy crafts market to check out the women weaving lace. It’s amazing how fast their hands work with such fine threads! It sounds cheesy, but the intricate designs almost appear by magic, they work so fast. The lacework was beautiful. [Nick: They even had lace place mats resembling the Brazilian flag, perfect feminine touch for your Man Cave.]

Our Dune Buggy

Burrowing Owls!

Nick Holding Cat

Filipe Holding Fe

Nick;s Sand Angel

Local Soccer Game

Lace Making

We ended the night in front of the largest tv screen yet (it took up an entire wall) to watch the U.S. v. Ghana game. I wasn't sure how the U.S. team would do without Donovan – I’m sure no one did – but they clearly came to play and Dempsey (aside from the broken nose) seems like he might be the U.S.’s next soccer star. Ya veremos.  [Nick: Go USA!]