Yesterday we turned the corner around Brazil, changing our heading from Northeast to hard Northwest. We were told that we were now closer to Africa than we were to Peru. This part of South America is wide…

Pop quiz – which three South American countries do the equator go thru? No peeking, answer below.

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Fortaleza, whose name literally means “fortress”, is our last port in Brazil. I would place it between Rio and Recife. It’s a bit run-down, but seems to be coming on strong.

I took the “explore + lunch” tour. It started poorly, with an hour wandering thru town with “look, another shopping center”, but it seems our guide was setting up the rest of the day. We started by visiting the Jose de Alencar theater, which is one of those old-fashioned theaters that would have been demolished if it wasn’t so artsy. However, this does seem to have a bit of character. I hope they follow thru with the renovations.

I’m not usually a fan of “old timey” decoration. But for some reason I like the metal scroll work here.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen wicker theater seats.

We then visited the concrete cathedral of St. Joseph’s. It’s rather new, and the gray concrete doesn’t really hide the tropics dark smudge. However, the stained glass is quite good.

These were the big things. We also visited an old prison which is now a local craft village (So. Much. Lace). I found out that this part of Brazil exports cashews, so I bought a big bag. We had lunch at a Brazilian BBQ place. I was embarrassed that I found that surprising. We certainly did not leave hungry.

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Answer: Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil. I forgot that Colombia drops that far south.